Changes made to Horse of the Year show

Further to the extensive research Grandstand Media Ltd have done over the last 12 months into the current HOYS qualifying series, Grandstand Media Ltd have today announced the first steps in a number of changes to be made, aimed at making the show more competitor friendly.

Whilst conducting focus groups with Societies, Shows and Competitors earlier this year Grandstand Media Ltd admit that initial discussions into the proposed changes were met with mixed reactions, however a number of positive suggestions came to the fore. In response to this Grandstand Media Ltd are to introduce a number of changes to help the equestrian community in the current economic climate. These changes are aimed at making the show ring more affordable and to encourage new competitors into the sport.

The first major change to the qualifiers means that members of the National Pony Society (NPS), Ponies (UK) (PUK) and the British Show Pony Society (BSPS) can now all enter qualifiers for the Show Pony, Show Hunter Pony, Working Hunter Pony, Intermediate Show Riding Type and Intermediate Show Hunter classes at HOYS 2011. In previous year’s only members of the BSPS could qualify for the above classes affectionately known to the industry as the plaited pony classes.

In addition, Grandstand Media Ltd are pleased to announce that as a starting point, the above mentioned classes (with the exception of the Working Hunter Pony) will now be judged using a 50:50 marks ratio in all qualifiers as well as at the finals, this is part of an ongoing strategy to unify the qualifying processes, rules and judging protocol across the board.

This is in response to the strong feelings that were echoed during the focus groups regarding major inconsistencies across the classes and societies that fall underneath the HOYS umbrella. Grandstand Media Ltd also hopes that this will encourage breeders to showcase their best animals giving them a shop window for their stud, due to the equal emphasis on both conformation and performance.

These changes are the first in a series of steps where Grandstand Media Ltd will look to start promoting consistency across all HOYS Showing qualifiers and it is hoped that these are met with a positive reaction by all concerned.

During the focus groups, Grandstand Media Ltd also presented the embryonic ideas for a league table based qualification system, many valid arguments were raised from the floor both for and against this system and it was agreed that a great deal of planning and evolution of this idea would be required before it could be brought back to the table for further discussion.

However, it was not ruled out that a league table of some description would indeed work in the future helping to identify the most consistent horses in the country. Neither Grandstand Media Ltd nor the equestrian community wish for any changes to affect people’s finances in an already difficult time and with this in mind the current qualifying system will stay in place until a suitable idea can be agreed upon by all parties.

Grandstand Media Ltd would like to emphasise that they are open to discussions on how the industry can move forward with the times to ensure HOYS remains the greatest horse show in the world.