Putting age restrictions on HOYS finals – like the Foxhunter, won in 2024 by then eight-year-old Eddie GZ (Michaela Scott) – will give young horses a better chance, says Rowland Fernyhough.
Former international showjumper turned horse producer Rowland Fernyhough shares his thoughts on the “mockery” of HOYS qualification and suggests a possible solution...
As I see it, the qualifiers for Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) are an open invitation for people to manipulate the system.
The newcomers, Foxhunter, grade C and talent seekers finals are fundamentally aimed at the same cohort of young horses. But despite this, all ages of horse are permitted in all of those finals.
If the rules restricted the newcomers to seven-year-olds and under and Foxhunter to eight-year-olds and under, it would at least bring the classes somewhere in line.
It would also help to stop horses who have competed up to CSI2* abroad but don’t have the winnings on their records, which is making a mockery of the system.
Currently, advanced eventers are even eligible – it’s treading on a lot of young horses and giving them no chance.
The timescales for qualifying are also too long, meaning that some horses have got their double clears 18 months earlier and are way ahead of the class.
Horse & Hound Newsletter
Never miss out on the latest happenings in the equestrian world
When you factor in the height of the fences in the second rounds, you end up with a competition that bears no resemblance to the spirit of newcomers and Foxhunter classes.
The format of the second rounds also makes little sense. It’s pointless to have three rounds when it still turns into a gallop to qualify. There are often 100-plus in the class competing for two HOYS tickets, which can take more than five hours to judge.
How is it fair on the horses? And if horses have to jump a newcomers and a Foxhunter second round, and maybe even a talent seekers at the same show, that’s eight rounds, which is too much.
HOYS qualifiers: a potential solution
Qualifiers should be cut to two rounds but with the numbers restricted by allowing horses one attempt at qualifying, instead of four, with three tickets available at each regional.
Three of the finals at HOYS are held over just two days, which is also asking too much of young horses who have qualified for multiple championships.
In addition, I don’t believe that the talent seekers and Foxhunter finals should be 9pm main-draw classes; they never were in my day.
As for the grade C final, should it even have a place at HOYS? We see a lot of older horses in both this class and the talent seekers.
If a 12-year-old horse still isn’t grade A, they’re either not a very talented horse or our points system is rather flawed.
Why not replace the grade C and talent seekers with a county show series for grade As, where three horses qualify for HOYS directly, creating a final made up of 24 horses?
I think that this would help to rejuvenate the county show circuit and increase the chances of getting more horse and rider combinations ready for Nations Cup contests and grands prix.
Good horses are being produced
The gold and stairway leagues are a route to the international classes at HOYS but the numbers that actually get to jump are miniscule. I believe that money put into this series and subsidising suitable combinations to go abroad would be a better use of this funding.
Good horses are being produced in this country, but this is in spite of the system not because of it. We need to have a system in place that improves the standards, rather than lowers them.
● What do you think about Rowland Fernyhough’s suggestions? Let us know at hhletters@futurenet.com, including your name, nearest town and county, for the chance for your letter to appear in a forthcoming issue of the magazine
Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now
Former international showjumper Rowland Fernyhough, who represented Britain on Nations Cups and at the Olympics, is now well known as a producer and now buys and sells competition horses.
