Young adults compete against their seniors in many sports, like Michael Pender who won the Hickstead Derby at 19. So why are junior show riders struggling to transition to horses?
The successful show horse producer asks why young riders are struggling to transition to horses in the show ring, when in other sports the best young talents are beating their older peers
The British Show Pony Society (BSPS) has included some experimental intermediate horse classes in the schedule of the 2024 Winter Championships (12–14 April), with specific classes for hack and riding horse types and their riders aged under 25 years.
This is a positive step forward as the intermediate show riding type class has lost its way over the years in terms of type. It bemuses me to watch a 148cm show pony masquerading as a hack, and I struggle to categorise some of these animals as specific horse types. The class needs bringing back to the original context of young adults riding horses.
Only a small number of these younger jockeys compete in both the adult and intermediate classes. Because of this, I wonder if the class in its current guise is a success at moving these riders into the adult ranks, or if it is having a Peter Pan effect?
The class ought to be preparatory, with a clear aim of positively progressing BSPS riders into adult ranks, with emphasis on type, way of going, correct conduct and turnout.
“Children outgrow their ponies”
A question I am asked a lot is, “What can my son or daughter do with their outgrown pony?” The answer is fairly simple; they probably need to move on as sadly a pony will not be a success if they do not fit the criteria for horse classes.
Perhaps the BSPS may add more performance-style classes for riders of any age, of unspecified category, but I must stress that the rider still needs to be suitably mounted.
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It is a fact of life that children outgrow their ponies. I loved some of my jumping ponies as a kid, but when the time came I moved on to horses. I was never tall, but I enjoyed riding horses.
Perhaps we have to accept that times have changed. I remember competing a 16.2hh called Apostle in a grade C class aged 16. I left home at 17 to work for a dealer in the Cotswolds producing horses to go into the hunting field, also gaining my BHSAI at Hartpury College. At 19, I became a yard manager buying and producing hunters and competition horses. At 22, I found, produced and showed an 18hh heavyweight hunter called Granite to be second at Horse of the Year Show (HOYS), beaten only by top showman Vin Toulson on Invincible.
Are we becoming too soft?
I am asking if we are possibly too protective of these young adults today? At 16 you can get married, at 17 drive a car, pilot a plane or fly a helicopter. At 18 you can go to the pub and drink, and at 21 you can drive an HGV.
At age 16 Luke Littler was runner-up in the world darts championships against adults. Michael Pender won the Hickstead Derby at 19, and Michael Whitaker and Marion Coakes won the same title aged 20. British Showjumping introduced children-on-horses classes for those aged 12 to 14 competing at 1.30m. Mike Tyson won the World Boxing Council heavyweight championship at 20 by total knockout, a title Muhammad Ali also won aged 22.
If all these things have been possible for people under the age of 25, surely we can say with confidence that these young adults can ride a horse and be capable of preparing it for a judge to ride?
I broached this subject quite a few years ago, and suggested that a ride judge be introduced to the intermediate classes, but it went down like a lead balloon. Yet if the class is to be transitional, we need to prepare the horse and rider for the classes they are intending to progress to in the same format.
● Is it time to change the format of intermediate classes for good? Let us know your thoughts at hhletters@futurenet.com, including your name, nearest town and country, for the chance for your letter to appear in a forthcoming magazine
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Simon is a show horse producer, whose most successful horse to date has been maxi cob Hallmark IX. A regular Horse & Hound columnist, you can read Simon’s views in the magazine and online.
