I reviewed and gave significant thought to the latest proposal for the pony hunters and the current measurement issue. I am a traditionalist and particularly like the pony hunter divisions. I fully acknowledge that we have a problem. I love the new rule change that changes the age from 6 to 8 years old for a standard measurement card. The latest proposal to open up the divisions to a pony of any size with age restrictions, in my view, further waters down the pony divisions. It was bad enough with oversized ponies showing in the incorrect division. To me, the pony hunters is the foundation of the hunters and we should be teaching these children to ride the right pony in the right division (its not supposed to be easy); if children are not ready to compete at division height, we have the childrens pony hunter division. With the latest proposal, we are blurring the lines between a children’s hunter pony/rider with a division pony/rider. Just think of all the old large division ponies that show in large children’s pony division (or same for the mediums),with the new proposal, those ponies can just drop down and do the new division we are creating by this rule proposal. The current situation with oversized ponies showing in the incorrect division is wrong. By allowing a pony to show at varying heights is much of the same. We will just be saying its ok for the 13h pony to jump 2’3 and the 14h pony to jump 2’6. That is what we have today, not much will really change except it will be sanctioned by the USEF. More importantly, what is the solution? The current environment is not good for the industry and really tough on the little guy who now unfortunately owns an oversized pony. I would propose that we acknowledge that we have a problem that was over 20 years in the making and come up with a 5 year plan to solve. The new measurement rule is a great start for young ponies. I suggest that for the existing ponies with a standard measurement card we set a date in the future in which all ponies will be remeasured. I suggest 5 years because that will allow current owners to recoup the present value of the pony through a sale or a lease over a three year period (assuming the industry standard of a lease for a pony being 1/3 of its purchase price) with the final two years as a grey area of insurance. Perhaps add in the that USEF will use laser measurement in 2020 to ensure authenticity coupled with the current rule changes/proposals that hold trainers and stewards accountable for accurate measurements. By setting a long-term time table the value of existing ponies will remain the same which is fair to the current owners. As time gets closer the value of oversized ponies will decrease but certainly their lease value over at least the next 3 years will remain the same and only decrease in the 4th and 5th years. It took over 20 years to get to where we are today and it is only fair to the current membership to take a few years to correct the problem.
Posted on: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 21:58:27 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015