Years ago people just used to post a height eg. Show Jumping 80cm Pony - some places still do this, but then the judges turn up and ask whether its on speed, faults, is there a jump off... etc. Then the riders get confused when the bells ring/or don't ring, then have no idea why they placed where they did!
This is a bit of a lay-person's post about how to decipher all of this for our competition and some links to help you out. I'm not a Show Jump judge so there will be some finer points I'm sure that I have missed - let us know and we can refine this post!
We are running the following classes at our Waitangi Day Show Jumping competition in 2018:
- TAM5 238.2.2
- 2Phase 274.5.2
- 2Phase 274.5.2 & Style (grass arena only)
- Best Style (Beginners ring only)
- Gamblers Stakes (Beginners ring only)
Firstly the words - these are really to give you a quick idea of what the class is about and how the penalties are scored, but its not all you need to know. The Number refer to the Articles (or the place) in the ESNZ Jumping Rule book (you can read that here).
TAM5 238.2.2
- This refers to Table A scoring: (per the rule book above this refers to)....... "Adding the penalties for faults at the obstacles and the time penalties gives the score obtained by the competitor for the round. Time may be taken into consideration to separate equality for first place and/or following places according to the conditions laid down for the competition."
That is.... you knock a rail and you go over the time allowed, this will add to your score... higher scores are worse obviously! - M5 or Article 238.2.2 in the rule book refers to Competitions under Table A, Against the clock (ie. speed).
Under this Article, it says "AM 5 a competition against the clock, but in the event of equality of penalties for first place, there will be one jump-off against the clock. Other competitors are placed according to their penalties and time in the first round."
.... So this means there is only a jump-off for 1st place IF two people tie on their scores for 1st place. If there are people tieing for 2nd - there will not be a jump-off and there will just be two ribbons awarded. - So simply put this class is a speed class, faster times with no faults (stops or rails etc) will win. However, a slow clear round may accumulate too many penalties than someone going fast and taking 1 rail.
- As always my advice is ride the round you need for training you and your horse - these classes are risky for nervous riders riding too far out of their comfort zone or for green horses - don't scare them racing around like a bat out of hell. These classes are designed for the experienced jumper wanting to perfect their speed craft! However, anyone can enter these and ride at a sensible speed.
2Phase 274.5.2
- Article 274 or 2Phase refers to (page 65 of the ESNZ Rule Book) a Competition in Two Phases. There is a lot of reading on this, but basically there are two parts to the course - Phase 1 and Phase 2.
- Phase 1 can have 7-9 jumps, Phase 2 can have 4-6 jumps.
- If the rider jumps Phase 1 clear, they immediately continue with the Phase 2 jumps. If they have taken too much time and received time faults or taken a rail or any other faults, the judge will ring their bell to indicate they should not continue to phase 2.
- On the course plan you will see the time allowed for Phase 1 - depending on your horse and the course you will need to decide how you need to ride the Phase 1.
- 274.5.2 in the ESNZ Rule book shows the option we've chosen for scoring each phase. "5.2 Not against the clock (Table A) Against the clock (Table A) According to the penalties and time in the second phase and, if necessary, to the penalties in the 1st phase."
In simple terms, this means you need to go clear (no faults) in Phase 1 and ride it within the time allowed but Phase 1 is NOT judged on speed - so ride it the best way to get no faults but not too slow! Phase 2 is speed and faults - so the 2nd phase needs to be done fast with as little faults as possible. The time taken in Phase 1 is recorded but only used for equality of placings. - Often you will see IJO or 2 Phase. IJO which we are NOT using, means the rider stops after the first part then waits for the bell to continue - there will always be people we see doing this accidently under 2 phase and it just adds to their time and if they circle they may also have other faults recorded. Under 2 Phase, you just keep riding until you hear a bell (to stop) or pass the finish flags of phase 2.
2Phase 274.5.2 AND Style (Grass Ring Only)
- So the reason we run this class in the grass arena at the lower heights is to give people two chances to win - we have one set of judges judging the 2 Phase competition (read the full info on that above) then we have a Style judge who separately looks at how the rider rides the course and rider style/position each fence.
- This isn't specifically show hunter or RTR or working hunter judging but incorporates all of that to some extent. So these classes are great for riders who cant or dont want to go fast in the speed rounds, but still have the opportunity to place if they have ridden a course well.
- Obviously good jumping position counts, but great lines and a good steady rhythm are important.
- The judges controlling the 2Phase judging still decide whether you're eliminated or not, so you still need a live score, however you may win with great style even if your time was too long for the 2phase competition.
Best Style (Beginners ring only)
- We have a Style judge who looks at how your ride the course and the rider's style/position for each fence. They will also add in faults - rails knocked, stops etc.
- This is a shorter Round the Ring type course of show jumps. You will see the jumps numbered and you typically jump the fences on the edge of the ring then head through the middle to finish.
- The rider should salute the judge at the start and end of their round, by facing the judge at a halt, hold reins in their left hand and dropping their right hand down while bowing their head briefly.
- The judge will ring a bell to start and if there are too many faults they may also ring the bell to stop the rider.
- This is a great ring designed for those who want a friendly environment to start jumping or get their young horses out to experience the competition environment.
Gamblers Stakes (Beginners ring only)
- This course completes the show jumps as in the best style class above but instead of being judged on style, they accumulate points for the difficulty of the fences they chose to jump or obstacles they choose to complete! The course also heads out to our training area amongst the trees and cross country jumps to tackle other fences and obstacles.
- There is a time allowed and the rider can chose which fences they want to jump or obstacles to tackle to get the best points. So there might be a scary fence you dont want to jump - so the rider can just skip that one and gather points for the fences they feel happy with jumping.
- As this is called Gamblers Stakes - There will also be a Joker fence - this is often the hardest fence on the course. If you jump the Joker successfully, you get a heap of points. However, if you try to jump the joker and kock a rail or have a stop or another fault.... you lose that many points! So if you're having a great round, give it a go!
- You can also jump the fences or tackle the obstacles in any order, however you must jump our fences in the direction as they are marked. Some fences may be marked with points on both sides - this means its safe to jump the other way and counts as the points marked that way also. Some fences may be setup as oxers which means they are not designed to be jumped both ways. Generally there will be an obvious flow to the course layout which would give you the best time.
- You are only allowed to jump a fence or do an obstacle once to add to your score. If the fence is numbered on both sides that counts as two separate fences.
- So who ever has the most points gained within the time allowed wins. For any equality of points the time taken to gain the points will have the faster person win.
- The rider should salute the judge at the start and end of their round, by facing the judge at a halt, hold reins in their left hand and dropping their right hand down while bowing their head briefly.
- The judge will ring a bell to start and if there are too many faults they may also ring the bell to stop the rider.
- This is a great ring designed for those who want a friendly environment to start jumping or get their young horses out to experience the competition environment.