Rider's Guide to British Showjumping Junior Pony Classes Ages 5-16 2026

• Starting age: you can't compete in any British Showjumping competition, including Club and Just For Schools, until the year of your 5th birthday.
• Up to the year before your 8th birthday: you can't jump classes with a first-round height above 90cm. The exception is a national class with a start height above 90cm that you and your pony have qualified for.
• 8 and under: you can only compete on ponies 138cm and below.

Yes. Junior members can compete in pony classes on ponies and in adult (senior) classes on horses, but not on ponies in adult classes. Senior competitions are open to horses ridden by Adult, Associate or Junior members.

There are age limits on horse class heights (first-round starting height):

From October 2026 there's an exception for combinations selected for Nations Cups. If they've jumped a 1.30m Nations Cup (or its Grand Prix) and achieved "a clear round and 4 faults or better", they can jump up to 1.40m. The same result at 1.40m lets them jump up to 1.45m.

Young Rider classes are open to riders up to the end of the year they turn 21.

• Only junior members can ride a pony anywhere on the showground for the whole show, except in Senior Club Classes. Breaking this can lead to disqualification.
• Only the competitor can jump the pony anywhere on the showground. Someone else can lunge it or work it in hand.
• Only the rider who starts a competition can finish it.
• A horse or pony can't compete more than once in any round of the same competition.

Membership and registration
British Showjumping affiliated shows are limited to horses and ponies registered with British Showjumping, ridden by members whose category of membership allows it, unless they enter on a Ticket to Ride. Junior members ride ponies in junior classes. Club and Just For Schools shows are affiliated but also open to non-members.

Day Tickets (Ticket to Ride)

• A Day Ticket costs £5, bought through Members Online.
• It lets that horse or pony and rider compete in British Showjumping affiliated classes for one day. Class entry fees are still payable.
• You can't win prize money, qualifications or placings on a day ticket.
• The usual principles still apply: a ticket doesn't let a junior ride in adult competitions, or an adult in junior ones.
• Suspended horses, ponies or riders, and stallions, can't compete on a ticket. Tickets can't be used in second rounds, regional or semi-finals, or direct qualifiers for the major championships.

Ponies are measured under British Showjumping's measuring rules, in metric.

The 148cm limits match the FEI's. An animal over 148.9cm unshod or 149.9cm shod can't be registered as a pony.

• Certificates: a pony that measures in at 8 years or older gets a Lifetime certificate. A younger pony gets an Interim certificate valid for 15 months.
• FEI certificates are accepted for 148cm ponies. 128cm and 138cm ponies with an FEI certificate needed a British Showjumping height certificate by 31 May 2026 (free of charge).
• When a pony's points first go over 300, the owner is given 12 months to get a valid measurement.
• Ponies at the major championships must hold a valid height certificate before entering.
• British Showjumping can carry out random measuring at junior shows. A pony that measures out can't compete again until it has a valid certificate.

Every registered pony is graded by its total points (winnings). Classes can be limited to certain grades, so a pony's grade decides which classes it can enter.

• Eligibility depends on the pony's grade or winnings at the time of starting, unless the schedule says otherwise.
• Once a pony wins enough to move up a grade, it can't jump in classes it's no longer eligible for, even if it's already entered for later that day.

Separately, members who are placed or jump double clears at British Showjumping shows earn league points. The national leagues run from 1 April to 30 September and 1 October to 31 March. The league tables decide which horse and rider combinations are invited to league semi-finals and championship shows.

Anyone mounted at a British Showjumping competition or activity, whether competing or not, must wear protective headgear at all times, with the harness properly adjusted and fastened. It must meet one of these standards:

British Showjumping strongly recommends checking your hat regularly and replacing it if it's damaged or after a fall.

All junior competitions must finish by:

• 11pm on Friday and Saturday nights, and on Sunday nights before a Bank Holiday
• 10pm on weekdays and normal Sunday nights

No junior show should start before 8am unless the CEO or National Director of Sport agrees.