Rebecca Penny shares her ideas on new lessons and tack rule adjustments as the brand new exhibiting season will get underway
Lastly, it appears like we’re getting a break from the relentless rain, and a brand new season is quick approaching. With it comes change, a few of it a constructive step ahead, and a few of it extra contentious. I totally assist guidelines that shield equine welfare, but not each replace evokes confidence.
On the constructive aspect, the growing recognition of the London Worldwide has introduced some thrilling additions. The 2 new working sports activities pony lessons are a welcome inclusion. So, too, are the primary pony of hunter sort and cradle stakes on the Royal Worldwide (RIHS) as these lessons give our youthful riders a unbelievable introduction to top-level exhibiting.
I’ve managed to attend a few winter reveals with some newly damaged ponies, and I popped alongside to an unaffiliated occasion. It was pretty to see lessons with 20-plus entries so early within the yr, regardless that I used to be supposedly out for a quiet outing for purely instructional functions.
Veteran lessons have additionally been launched to the Horse of the 12 months Present (HOYS) line-up this yr, which is undoubtedly an excellent addition. Nonetheless, I’m certain I wouldn’t be the one one dissatisfied to see these lessons restricted to novice riders.
Amateurs are being given increasingly more alternatives, which is unbelievable. Nonetheless I nonetheless imagine HOYS must be a showcase for one of the best horses within the nation, whatever the proprietor’s standing.
It appears like an actual kick within the tooth for rivals who don’t match into that bracket, significantly homeowners with older horses or ponies that they not want to compete in open lessons, however who they’ve saved and cared for over a few years.
The place is the science?
Among the Nationwide Pony Society’s (NPS) newly adopted tack rules for 2026 elevate severe questions.
Take the blanket ban on the Swedish crank noseband, solely adopted by the NPS. This design is solely authorized beneath FEI guidelines and extensively utilized in British Dressage.
The FEI is an organisation that has invested important time, experience and monetary useful resource into researching tack, biomechanics and equine welfare, so why has the society taken a distinct stance? What proof, session, or analysis underpins this choice?
In-depth research present a correctly fitted crank noseband exerts no extra stress than a cavesson. Points happen predominantly when it’s misused, both by incorrect becoming or over-tightening. The usage of the FEI noseband measuring instrument to identify verify appears to be the method all different associations have adopted.
The truth that the NPS has independently adopted this rule additionally creates battle when a HOYS qualifier is held at an NPS present, as HOYS guidelines take priority, that means a crank noseband could possibly be utilized in that class. How can two conflicting tack guidelines be utilized on the similar present?
Within the context of navigating a crowded ring on a big breed stallion with 20 or extra ponies cantering at velocity, mares passing in shut proximity and heightened ranges of pleasure, I can perceive why a rider would possibly choose to make use of a appropriately fitted crank noseband. It’s sometimes padded, and designed to distribute stress in a extra steady manner ought to a pony turn out to be unsettled and attempt to cross his jaw.
In such a situation, a small grownup rider, significantly one driving inside the permitted 20% weight ratio, has a greater likelihood of sustaining security and guaranteeing an gratifying expertise.
It additionally appears illogical that these rules can prohibit skilled grownup riders the place management and security are essential. But in stark distinction, novice M&M first ridden lessons enable kids as younger as six or seven to have extra freedom over their bitting selection, regardless that their stability and talent to keep up constant contact are nonetheless growing.
This inconsistency highlights each sensible and security issues. Guidelines must be knowledgeable, sensible, and evidence-based. Ignoring driving realities and established analysis dangers compromising each rider security and horse welfare.
● What do you consider latest rule and sophistication adjustments? Tell us at hhletters@futurenet.com, together with your title, nearest city and county, for the possibility to have your views printed in a future concern of Horse & Hound journal
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A well-fitted padded cavesson with crank closure and flash attachment.
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