Amateur riders are welcoming two new up-to-height Trailblazers showjumping classes due to start next month.

The open-to-anyone “unaffiliated” Trailblazers competitions will include 1.10m and 1.15m classes — the equivalent of British Showjumping’s (BS) newcomers and just lower than its Foxhunters.

Working rider Ian Asher, from Blackburn, told H&H: “As an amateur, it’s not financially viable to affiliate with all three bodies [British Dressage (BD), BS and British Eventing (BE)].

“My wife and I have a couple of horses we compete with BE and hunt during the winter, so to be able to jump well-built tracks at well-run centres without affiliating is superb.”

Trailblazers director Norman Bargh from Osbaldeston Riding Centre in Lancashire, which holds the first classes on 26 September, said the move is in response to rider requests.

“We often see a horse doing dressage with the mother and showjumping with the daughter — people are finding it too expensive to join all the disciplines,” he said.

Unlike BS, for which full adult membership costs £120, with horse registration fees starting at £20, there is no Trailblazers membership fee and entries are just £10 a class. But unlike BS, there is little or no prize-money.

“People use it to get ‘ringcraft’,” explained Mr Bargh.

Fiona Lace from Ormskirk said it will be good practice for her intermediate eventer, adding: “The existing classes are too small — but I do BS classes on a day ticket, too.”

Mr Bargh rebuffs any suggestion that Trailblazers is aiming to compete with BS.

BS chief executive Iain Graham concurs, adding: “We have been working together and we wish them well.

“We recognise the costs [of affiliating to three disciplines]and work is being done to review member benefits [letters, 5 August],” he said.

“BS will be announcing some changes by 1 January.”

This news story was first published in Horse & Hound (19 August, 2010)

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Amateur riders will have the chance to compete nationally in a combined training championship following the introduction of a fourth national series by Trailblazers.

The first round of qualifiers for the Trailblazers combined training will be held in May 2010, with competitions taking place throughout the summer and winter, culminating in a championship final in the spring of 2011.

Trailblazers already runs national series in show jumping, dressage and showing, and with no annual subscriptions or registration fees, and organisers believe the combined training will be highly popular.

“This has been introduced to offer grass root riders more opportunities”, said Jennifer Dalton, speaking on behalf of Trailblazers.

“We want to make these sorts of competitions accessible and available to more riders.”

The competition has been specifically designed to be rider-friendly. Each show, held at one of Trailblazers 60 approved centres, will feature a variety of five classes that range from a preliminary dressage test with a show jumping of 70cm, to an elementary dressage test with a show jumping of 90cm.

Riders, who will be judged on an accumulated score from their dressage and show jumping, will be able to enter several classes and progress up the levels as they grow in confidence. The competition will also be divided into juniors, for riders aged under 16, and seniors.

“We expect combined training to appeal to a broad range of competitors from across all disciplines,” explained Norman Bargh, chairman of Trailblazers. “The format will enable riders and their horses and ponies to have a really good day out at each show.”

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A new working hunter series has been launched this month by Trailblazers to run alongside its current dressage, show jumping and showing classes.

The working hunter classes — of traditional rustic jumping and a showing element — will be held in the standard Trailblazers format with open-to-all first round qualifiers leading eventually to the championship final at Stoneleigh Park (31 July/1 August 2010).

There are classes for everyone — including working hunters exceeding 148cm (with jumps at 70cm and 90cm), 148cm and under (60cm and 80cm), mountain and moorland large, mountain and moorland small, working cob and nursery stakes for ponies under 133cm and rider 12 years and under.

The series is already underway at some of the 60-plus show centres approved by Trailblazers nationwide.

“We’ve launched this in response to popular demand,” said Trailblazers chairman Norman Bargh of Osbaldeston Riding Centre in Lancashire.

Trailblazers was founded 10 years ago by a group of equestrian centre proprietors who wanted to organise a series of structured but easily accessible competitions for competitors of all ages.

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The 2007 Trailblazers Championships at Stoneleigh Park (1-5 August) are to be sponsored by Spillers. Now in its seventh year, the Trailblazers unaffiliated amateur show jumping and dressage series is aimed at the true recreational rider and is supported by South Essex Insurance Brokers (SEIB). For the next two years Spillers will sponsor the championships while SEIB will continue to support the rest of the series.

Trailblazers was established by a group of indoor show centre owners who saw the need for an achievable goal for amateur riders. With the potential kudos of qualifying for the Spillers Trailblazers Championships at Stoneleigh, the series has been welcomed by hundreds of enthusiastic amateur dressage riders and show jumpers.

“Every year we are invited to sponsor a wide variety of shows and events and it’s usually very tough choosing who to support, but in the case of Trailblazers it was easy to make a decision,” said Spillers brand manager Sarah Hill. “This sponsorship is so exciting because it gives us a fabulous opportunity to help the thousands of grass roots riders in this country who enjoy competing for the fun of it. Because of their enthusiasm, unaffiliated competitions are growing significantly in popularity in the UK and they really do deserve our support.”

The Trailblazers series takes place at approved Trailblazers Centres and boasts four levels of show jumping (0.75m/0.85 m/0.95m and 1.05m) and three levels of dressage (preliminary, novice and elementary). Competitions are split into senior and junior sections and riders must compete with the same horse each time.

Each venue holds one second round for dressage riders who have achieved 58% or above in round one and show jumpers who have jumped a double clear. Four dressage riders and four show jumpers from each second round competition qualify for the finals at Stoneleigh Park.

For more information about the Trailblazers Series visit: www.trailblazerschampionships.com

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Golden Cross, East Sussex, 18 March 2007

TB 75cm 1st Chatterbox (A. Tingley); 2nd Vinnie Pie (A. Lelliott); 3rd Seamus (J. Collins). TB 85cm – 1st Vinnie Pie (A. Lelliott); 2nd Twiggy (M. Corner); 3rd Mr Tom (J. Burton). TB 95cm – 1st Pokeys Bally Milo (S. Penn); 2nd No Regrets (A. Lelliott); 3rd Greta (H. Armstrong).

Show jumping and dressage series Trailblazers has launched a performance scheme that will allow riders to have a proven record of their results in the championship.

Competitors will be able to purchase a performance card for £10 — or £15 if buying one that covers both show jumping and dressage — which will keep track of each of their horses and ponies within the series. Recorded results will be authenticated with a show centre’s stamp.

“The Performance Card can be seen as the icing on the cake [for Trailblazers],” says series chairman Norman Bargh. “Riders can become Trailblazers members, register their horses and have a record of what they do. [It] is a fun way to keep a proven record of a horse or pony’s success throughout its career.”

The mechanics of the system are very simple, which is why, according to Bargh, it costs so little. “We [issue] one card per horse per discipline, but it all goes into the same folder we give competitors,” he explains. “At the end of each show, each competitor fills in the performance card [with the points his horse scored] and takes it to the show secretary to get it stamped.”

The Trailblazers team have mailed application forms for the performance card to some 13,000 riders and are striving to have the scheme in place by 1 September. At a later stage, Bargh hopes show centres will start competitions among their members where people who have the highest number of points on their Trailblazers card win a prize.

However, he is keen to point out that riders are under no obligation to get a card and that Trailblazers will continue to keep its informal atmosphere. “There is absolutely no pressure from us to join anything,” he explains. “The only thing people have to do to compete in the series is to write their registration form when they enter Trailblazers. Everything else is voluntary all the way down the line.”

The Trailblazers scheme, which is supported by the series’ sponsor, South Essex Insurance Brokers, comes at a time when the British Show Jumping Association is hoping to bring unaffiliated riders under its umbrella. However, Bargh denies that his initiative is a response to the BSJA’s plans. “We discussed this idea at last year’s Trailblazers final. It has been in planning for over twelve months. The scheme was not done to undermine the BSJA at all.”

That said, he admits that Trailblazers was created to fill a competition gap left open by the BSJA and British Dressage. “Trailblazers was formed because the affiliated organs were not catering to grassroots levels. We needed to cater to the mass market and we have been [doing so],” he says. “With all the due respect, there won’t be 35,000 horses at affiliated level, and when you consider that some 650,000 horses have been registered under the passport scheme, that’s why riding centres need to look at the mass-market.”

Bargh says he initially brought the Trailblazers concept to the BSJA six years ago, but they weren’t interested in running it at the time. “We do wish BSJA and BD well. But, unlike football or swimming, the equestrian world doesn’t even look at competitors unless they are three-quarters of the way up. We’d all love to work at the top end, but there isn’t enough membership to go round.”

According Bargh, Trailblazers is a third level of competition that falls between unaffiliated and affiliated. “There is now Trailblazers and affiliated, as well as thriving riding club competitions,” he says.

He points out that the series attracts a huge number of entries every year from riders that are neither members of a club nor of a federation but want to compete in a professional environment. “Trailblazers is run by professional show organisers that make their living from running shows,” he says. “[These people] are the first point of contact for competitors. Where Trailblazers has been successful is that show organisers listened to what people wanted. There is no point in serving people something they do not want.”

For more information on Trailblazers, visit www.trailblazerschampionships.com.

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