New guidelines are being introduced this year for measuring showjumping ponies, to bring the national process in line with international policy.

British Showjumping (BS) is bringing in a national measuring system for all ponies who need a height certificate to compete. Those who have an FEI lifetime certificate, a valid FEI interim height certificate or a Joint Measurement Board (JMB) full height certificate will not need to be measured again to compete in national classes.

Ponies with an annual JMB certificate will need either a lifetime or an interim BS certificate. BS said there will be a “temporary relaxation of the requirements to have a valid measurement certificate until 1 April 2024 by which point the new British Showjumping measuring process will be in place”.

“Following the introduction of the FEI pony measuring system, British Showjumping has been monitoring the advantages and the opportunity to align a national measuring process that mirrors the international system,” a BS spokesman said.

“There are several advantages of following the FEI system: due to the measurement being carried out by two vets, once a certificate is issued it cannot be challenged by third parties, and there is a tolerance in the height allowed so that ponies can be presented for measuring with shoes on.”

BS said it will accept JMB measurements, annual and life height, for ponies who have been booked in for a JMB measure before 5pm today (5 January), but not those booked after this date. The measurement may be after this date but the booking must have been made before the deadline.

There will be at least one approved measuring facility in each BS region, the spokesman said, and sessions will be available from March. Annual JMB certificates will no longer be needed.

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The Joint Measurement Board (JMB) is to carry out random dope testing at routine annual and full measurements from 1 January 2018.

As is already the case for re-measurements and those for gold certificates, animals presented for annual or full certificates will be selected at random for body-fluid samples, usually blood, from next year, the JMB has confirmed.

A spokesman for the board confirmed that official measurers have always been able to take samples if they feel this is necessary, but that the new protocol “adds a stronger dimension”.

“We have no hard evidence that doping does occur, but a progressive and pragmatic regulator should cover the possibility and deter the temptation,” she said.

“Some random testing should satisfy these factors.

“Many of the member societies of the JMB are re-visiting their doping rules, so this move supports the general aim to provide a level playing field to all competitors across all disciplines which use height as a competition classification.”

Equines will be selected using “anonymised data issued by the JMB office”, and all costs will be borne by the JMB.

“This new procedure should go a long way to ensure that animals presented for measurements are free from prohibited substances, are in a healthy condition and mirroring the rules of their relevant competition, be it pony racing, showjumping or showing,” said a JMB statement.

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Information including a list of prohibited substances, a definition of the different certificates and a guide to preparation for measurement is available on the JMB website.

The member societies are: British Showjumping, the Pony Racing Association, the British Show Horse Association, Sport Horse Breeding (GB), the National Pony Society, the British Show Pony Society, Ponies (UK), the Coloured Horse and Pony Society, the British Skewbald and Piebald Association, the British Connemara Society and the Welsh Pony and Cob Society.

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The father of a jockey whose racing pony proved almost 5cm taller than its height certificate has accused the Joint Measurement Board (JMB) of being “unfit for purpose“.

In January, John Whyte paid £4,000 for nine-year-old Little Pea, who helped take Ned Curtis to the 2011 Charles Owen 148cm championship title.

However, at Marks Tey on 25 March there was a complaint. When remeasured, the mare recorded 152.7cm – too tall for pony racing.

Now Mr Whyte, of Beccles, Suffolk, intends to sue the JMB for professional misconduct.

“There needs to be more regulation of the full height certificate, we need to be able to trust it,” he told H&H.

Little Pea was twice measured at 148cm – for an annual measurement in 2010 and a full certificate in 2011.

But Mr Whyte says he can prove the thoroughbred was not that height.

“We recently took a sarcoid off her so she was heavily sedated, and even then the lowest she measured was 151cm, yet two vets claim to have measured her at 148cm.”

Howard Robinson of the JMB sympathised with Mr Whyte, but said full measurement certificates can be challenged.

“We are always concerned about inaccuracy – whether that is due to the animal growing, insufficient preparation by the owner or skulduggery,” he added.

Mr Whyte has asked the Pony Racing Authority (PRA) to follow the French model and allow ponies of up to 152cm to race. No one at the PRA was available to comment.

This news story was first published in the current issue of H&H (28 June 2012)

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Laser measurement of horses and ponies is to be investigated further by the Joint Measurement Board (JMB) after research showed the method might be more consistent than the current manual procedure (news, 14 October).

Owners of equines put forward for measurement with selected JMB measurers across the country will be invited to volunteer their animals to be measured with a laser as well as a stick.

The stick measurement will be officially recorded on the certificate and the laser reading used as part of further research.

The 11 societies that use the JMB for official measurements met on 11 October to discuss research by the Liverpool Vet School into the measurement procedure.

Simon Somers, JMB steward for the British Show Horse Association, said: “We all applauded the JMB for commissioning this research.

“It showed that while the measuring stick is accurate, due to user error there could be minor discrepancies.

“We wanted further research into the possibility of using a horizontal laser.”

The trial is limited to a small number of vets across the country and horse owners are under no pressure to take part.

The JMB said it did not wish make any further comment at this time.

This article was first published in Horse & Hound (21 October ’10)

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All horses and ponies applying for a Joint Measurement Board (JMB) height certificate from January must be microchipped as part of a bid to crack down on cheating in the ring.

Howard Robinson, who runs the JMB, said that from 1 January unchipped animals put forward for measuring will be chipped on the spot.

“We have had cases this year where we had to revoke certificates due to concerns over the identification of horses,” said Mr Robinson (news, 9 October).

“There is no way to gauge how widespread the practice of ‘recycling’ horses [where a horse is presented for measurement under a new name] is within showing and show jumping.

“But this gives us another string to our bow to fight it. It will also help when horses are stolen and to ensure passports correspond to the correct horse, rather than relying solely on the silhouette.”

He said the JMB measures around 4,000 show jumpers and showing horses each year. JMB certificates are needed when horses compete in classes with a height criteria, for example a large hack showing class or the height classes in pony show jumping.

There has been mixed reaction to the news in the horseworld, with some groups concerned about the expense (approximately £25-£35).

Caroline Noakes, chief executive of the National Pony Society (NPS), said: “We welcome these proposals. The NPS was recently involved in a case where the JMB could not positively identify a pony [for its height certificate] — this will knock that sort of concern on the head once and for all.”

Jan Rogers, of the British Equestrian Federation’s equine development team said it was important that there was “a clear identification of horses throughout their careers”.

But the British Show Jumping Association said microchipping had been forced upon them without consultation.

A spokesman said: “It has come as a bolt from the blue. As much as we may understand the thought process behind microchipping, we are still surprised there have been no prior discussions, bearing in mind the compulsory financial impact this will have.”

And Linda Lodge, chairman of the British Skewbald and Piebald Society, said: “There are plenty of unaffiliated shows that do not need a height certificate and I can see more people choosing to go to those.”

This article was first published in Horse & Hound (4 December, ’08)

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Two Horse of the Year Show (HOYS)-qualified horses connected to Southampton-based showing producer Adam Wimbourne have had life height certificates withdrawn by the Joint Measurement Board (JMB).

Mr Wimbourne has confirmed that 133cm Out Of The Blue V was measured at 137cm by the JMB when competing under the name Finkley Chitter Chatter.

He said the gelding was bought by owner Regina Daly of Co Cork without any papers and was given a passport and measured at 133cm under the Out Of The Blue V moniker.

In May, an unnamed informant reported the horse to the JMB and its height certificate was invalidated, resulting in disqualification from the 133cm and under show hunter pony section at HOYS this week.

“It’s a child’s pony and the little boy [Gavin Daly, who rides him] has had a lot of upset over this,” said Mr Wimbourne. “It was a genuine mistake, but this is what happens when you buy a pony without documentation.”

A second horse, Jewel Of The Night, was bought by Jane Gill of Harrogate from Mr Wimbourne last October.

But in August 2008, after rumours circulated that it was actually 159.5cm Weltseiger, she returned the gelding.

“Mr Wimbourne took it straight back and refunded my money,” she said.

Howard Robinson, who runs the JMB, told H&H that Jewel Of The Night’s measurement certificate was declared invalid on 4 September after it was found the horse had the same freeze-mark as Weltseiger.

Jewel Of The Night had qualified for the not-exceeding 158cm intermediate show riding type class at HOYS.

For more on this, see the current issue of Horse & Hound (9 October 2008).

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Captain Hastings, the HOYS small riding horse champion who measured out in December, has failed his remeasurement.

Producer Allister Hood told H&H last month that he had objected to the result of the original measurement and would be appealing. But last week he confirmed that the gelding had, once again, been found to be taller than his stated height of 15.2hh. Mr Hood did not wish to make any further comment.

It now remains to be seen if Captain Hastings will be stripped of his riding horse of the year title. HOYS director Mark Wein told H&H last month he would resist moves to withdraw the championship on the basis of an invalid height certificate.

This week, Mr Wein sain he stood by his pevious comments: “At the time of the competition that animal had a life height certificate – how can we now prove he was overheight then?”

The certificate the gelding competed with at HOYS will now be withdrawn and replaced with one issued by the Joint Measurement Board stating his new height.

This news story can be read in full in today’s Horse & Hound (1 March, ’07)

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Two show horses at October’s Horse of the Year Show (HOYS), including riding horse of the year Captain Hastings, have “measured out” (been found to be too tall for the class in which they compete) but there is no clear view on what should be done about it.

As HOYS finalists, the horses were automatically measured in December by stewards from the Joint Measuring Board (JMB). In addition to Captain Hastings, Sadie Pickup’s Hamptonne Prince Of Tides, who finished reserve in the intermediate show riding type class, also measured out. But Prince Of Tides has since been retired, a decision made before the measurement failure.

Captain Hastings, who took the HOYS championship after winning the small riding horse class, was found to be 2.5cm over the 15.2hh class limit. If the gelding had entered the large riding horse class, he would still have won the championship.

Captain Hastings’s producer, Allister Hood, told H&H he has objected to the result of the measurement. He said: “We’ve appealed and I hope we will get him remeasured very shortly.”

Mr Hood added that he had never had the gelding measured because he had a full measurement certificate, which used to be known as a life height certificate. Measurement certificates are issued by the JMB.

The JMB’s Howard Robinson would neither confirm nor deny that Captain Hastings will be remeasured. He said possession of a full certificate does not guarantee that a horse or pony would be the same height all their life.

“A useful analogy is a life prison sentence,” he said. “Life doesn’t mean life and the full certificate is the same — the animal’s height isn’t set in stone.”

But this view does not sit well with HOYS director Mark Wein. Until contacted by H&H, Mr Wein was unaware that Captain Hastings has measured out. He said HOYS would resist moves to withdraw the championship from the horse on the basis of an invalid height certificate.

He said: “If a competitor comes to HOYS with a valid height certificate, how can we then turn around and say that the certificate is invalid?”

For a championship to be withdrawn, HOYS must liaise with the governing body for that particular class. In the case of Captain Hastings, this would be the British Show Horse Association. The chairman of the association was unavailable for comment.

• This news report was first published in Horse & Hound (18 January, ’07)

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