USEF/USHJA ZONE 12

Here are the final standings for the 2008 competition year in all Zone 12 divisions (this was the program for Zone 12's April 2009 awards banquet).

In a tradition that began in 2001, each year Zone 12 awards ribbons and perpetual trophies to the champions in 25 hunter, jumper, and hunt seat equitation divisions.

In nine of these divisions (listed below), USEF itself tracks the annual point standings for Zone Horse of the Year awards:

Standings for the above divisions are available on USEF's website. To qualify, horses must be recorded with USEF and owned by USEF members. At the end of the year, the Zone Horse of the Year champions in these divisions are entitled to a photo in USEF's monthly publication Equestrian, and their names are printed in USEF's nationwide Roster of Champions. The Roster is handed out at Zone 12's annual awards banquet.

For 18 additional divisions listed below, Zone 12 computes points earned by USEF-recorded horses and equitation riders:

Zone 12 uses final point tallies from USEF and its own count to present ribbons and trophies at Zone 12's annual awards ceremony.

In addition, beginning in 2007, USHJA began presenting its USHJA Foundation Awards for each zone's top eight horses in the following divisions, counting only those points earned at B- and C-rated horse shows (typically all Alaska shows are B and C shows):

To qualify, horses must be recorded with USEF, and owners must be members of USHJA.

USEF Zone 12's awards program is different from the awards program of Alaska State Horseshows, Inc. (ASH). To be eligible for USEF Zone 12 awards in any category, a horse must be annually or lifetime-recorded with USEF, and horse owners or equitation riders must be members of USEF. To be eligible for ASH awards, a single annual recording fee must be paid for a horse's points to count in any and all of ASH's "performance" divisions (those judged on the horse's performance), and a separate, single fee must be paid for the rider's points to count in any and all ASH Medal or equitation divisions. In addition, the rider (in an equitation division) or the owner of the horse (in a performance division) must be an ASH member. You can be eligible for both USEF Zone 12's and ASH's award programs by joining and recording with both USEF and ASH.

Here's an example of what a typical young competitor might record in and enter at a horse show.

Ten-year-old Teresa has a Welsh cross gelding who is classified as a medium pony (a pony more than 12.2 hands but no more than 13.2 hands, according to an official USEF measuring card). Her sister Fiona is 14 years old. Fiona has a large pony (over 13.2 hands). Both girls want to be eligible for all available award programs, so they join USEF and USHJA--both organizations are covered in one application form--as well as ASH. Their ponies are lifetime-recorded with USEF. ASH does not offer lifetime recording, so the girls annually record their ponies with ASH and record themselves with ASH for equitation classes.

Teresa and Fiona ride at schooling shows whenever they can, even though ribbons at schooling shows don't count toward USEF or ASH awards, because they both love to jump and want extra practice. They also enter classes at "recognized" shows that do count toward USEF or ASH awards. Teresa enters all the Short Stirrup classes, which are for kids 12 and under: the Short Stirrup Hunter division (three jumping classes plus one "flat" or "under saddle" class in which there's no jumping) and Short Stirrup Equitation division (two jumping classes and one "flat" class, all judged on the rider's ability). The Short Stirrup divisions have a 2' jump height and a cross-entry restriction to protect entrants from having to compete against much more experienced riders: Short Stirrup riders can't jump over 2'6" at the same show.

That cross-entry restriction still leaves plenty of extra divisions for Teresa to choose from: ASH's Hunter Performance division (Zone 12 calls this Hunter Pleasure), which has three flat classes, one of which includes two 2' jumps; Low Hunter, three classes at 2'6" and a flat class; Beginning Jumper, three jumping classes up to 2'3" with twistier courses in which speed is important and style doesn't count; and Pony Hunter, which calls for medium ponies to jump 2'3". All of these divisions count for Zone 12 awards as well as ASH's (Pony Hunter became a separate ASH division for the first time in 2005; ASH's Pony Performance division will no longer include Pony Hunter classes). In addition, Teresa can enter the Modified Children's/Adult Amateur Hunter and Equitation divisions, which are held at 2'6" and have no cross-entry restrictions.

Teresa's sister Fiona hopes to move up to the open equitation division soon, but the jump height for her age group in open equitation classes is 3'0". She's not ready for that height yet, so she opts for the Long Stirrup divisions instead. They are just like Short Stirrup--three divisions with a 2' jump height and a cross-entry clause prohibiting entrants from jumping higher than 2'6" at the same show--but are for children 13 and older and for adults. She is interested in entering her pony in the same additional divisions as Teresa: Hunter Performance, Low Hunter, Beginning Jumper, Modified Children's/Adult Amateur Hunter, Modified Children's/Adult Amateur Equitation, and Pony Hunter. But large ponies must jump 2'9" in Pony Hunter, which exceeds the height restriction for the Long Stirrup divisions. So if Fiona enters Pony Hunter, she will ask a friend to ride her pony in the over-fences classes.

For further details on the differences between ASH and Zone 12 award programs, see the chart.