There are a few things that signal the
end of summer; a new series of the Xfactor starting, the last bank holiday of
the year, the BSPS Summer Champs…
The Overall Supreme on the Saturday
evening of the British Show Pony Society Summer Championships remains a coveted
title in the showing world.
This year it was won by the Welsh Section
C, Menai Thomas. He went beautifully & looked truly immaculate under the
spotlights yet in announcing a Section C, ridden by an adult, as Supreme of the
show it sparked the debate as to whether the BSPS actually does what it says on
the tin.
While I’m in no way suggesting that Menai
Thomas was not a deserving winner, it was a win at the British Show Pony
Society Championships, a society that ‘aims to promote competitions for
children’s ponies.’
A show pony society, one would imagine,
would be for show ponies. The additions of the Working Hunter Ponies in 1970
& the Show Hunter Ponies in 1983 may have marginally diluted that statement
but they are, by in large, the same breed. The Heritage Mountain and Moorland
classes were more recently introduced in 1996 and have continued to grow in
strength. Class numbers for the heritage classes are often the largest by some
margin and, as someone commented this weekend, without them the society would
struggle. But, does this mean that they should dominate? There is now a
separate Heritage Championship Show that allows them to be celebrated in their
own right. Should show ponies be given the same opportunity?
The second point of contention is that of
age. As I said earlier, the society was established with ‘aims to protect and improve
the showing of the Children's Riding Ponies by promoting classes and
competitions for Children's Ponies.’ However, under today’s rules you can compete in the BSPS
up until the age of 25 – so not a child by definition. This is widely accepted
(and I for one am glad about it), but it is a little strange if you think about
it. Why was 25 deemed the cut off point? Nonetheless, whether you ride an
Intermediate Show Riding Type, an Intermediate Show Hunter, or an Intermediate
Working Hunter you must be under the age of 25. Yet in the Heritage classes the
rider may be any age (with the obvious exceptions). Within its own section this
does not appear to cause any problems, and there are young rider classes, but
it does lead to situations such as these in which young children are competing
against adults. Although is that any different to competing against a 25 year
old? Perhaps so if it is against a well experienced professional.
This debate is not an easy one to find a solution
to. It is, however, without doubt that that the BSPS must continue to cater for
its ever-growing membership and evolve in a way that does not jeopardise a fair playing field for all its members.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Does it matter? Do all BSPS classes need to be capped at 25? Should the age limit be lowered to 18? Get in touch...
Twitter: @showingbusiness
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