Rider's Guide to SA Show Jumping Pony Riders and Juniors U18 2026

All riders must be registered with SASJ and re-register on 1 January each year (SASJ Annexure A, 2026). By registering you agree to be bound by all SASJ rules and policies.

Your horse or pony also needs SASJ registration (R260, or free as recreational).

With a Dual Licence you may ride adult classes, but at any one event you may not also ride in other age categories; and if you ride a 1.50 m class you give up the Dual Licence and become an Adult.

South Africa follows the FEI pony height rule, adopted by the SAEF (SASJ Annexure C):

• A pony must measure no more than 1.48 m without shoes, or 1.49 m with shoes.
• Measurements are rounded: 5 mm or less rounds down, 6 mm or more rounds up (e.g. 1.485 m counts as 1.48 m; 1.486 m counts as 1.49 m).
• Until it turns 7, a pony (other than one with a life certificate issued on or before August 2012) may be required to be measured once a year. If it is still within 1.48 m unshod / 1.49 m shod at 7, measured by an accredited measuring vet at an approved station, it keeps that status until retirement.
• Older dispensations: ponies aged 7 with a vet-signed life certificate obtained on or before 1 August 2012 keep it; ponies measuring up to 1.50 m unshod / 1.51 m shod that competed as ponies before 1 January 2015 may continue (not at FEI competitions).

Registered ponies must have a valid, SASJ-approved height certificate uploaded to their profile before they can enter Pony Rider classes (Annexure A).

Under the SAEF pony-height resolution (SASJ Annexure C):

• No measuring at an event, and no competitor or other party may lodge an objection or complaint asking for a pony to be measured.
• Only the President of the Ground Jury (on their own initiative or on the advice of an official) can request a measurement, in writing to the rider and/or owner before the end of the event, copied to the SAEF Secretary General and the show-holding body.
• The measurement must happen within 14 days after the event, at an approved SAEF measuring station, by official SAEF measurers, with a calibrated stick with horizontal and vertical spirit levels, with an FEI steward present. Results go out within 3 days.
• If the pony is over height, its results at that event are void, and prizes, rosettes and prize money must be returned within 3 days. The owner or rider pays the measuring costs.
• If it is within height, the discipline association running the competition pays.

From SASJ Rule Directive 1/2026 (updating Annexures A and D):

• Official birthday: horses born in the Southern Hemisphere age on 1 August; Northern Hemisphere horses on 1 January.
• No horse may be entered in a ridden competition at an SASJ-recognised event or registered venue until it has turned four.

Specific class rules can set higher ages, for example PR Open ponies must be 5+ and Junior Open horses 6+, and FEI national and international competitions follow FEI Article 202.

Under SASJ Annexure B (2026):

• When you first register, you are graded at the lowest grade in your age group.
• A QR (qualifying round) point is earned for a clear round in the first round of an SASJ graded class (time faults mean it isn't clear in a championship or Grand Prix first round), both phases clear in a two-phase class, or full score in an 8- or 10-fence accumulator (including the joker). Six-fence accumulators and special competitions earn no QRs. SANESA riders have a dispensation under the SANESA MOU.

QRs needed to move up:

QR points carry over when you move up an age category. Pony Rider classes may not be handicapped with any other age category.

From SASJ Annexure A (2026):

Pony Rider (PR) Open (9.1):

• maximum height 1.20 m at National events, at a speed of 350 m/min;
• ponies must be 5 years or older;
• Pony Rider classes need an Under 18 or Newcomer subscription, but the free Newcomer subscription only covers riders 12 and under up to PR 1.00 m.

Junior Open (9.2):

• maximum height 1.40 m;
• horses must be 6 years or older;
• you need an Under 18 subscription.

U25 classes (9.5.1): open from the year you turn 16 to the end of the year you turn 25. From the year you turn 14 to the end of the year you turn 15, you may ride U25 classes only if the first-round fences do not exceed 1.40 m.

Specific class rules and event schedules can set further conditions.

SASJ Annexure A 10.1 (2026), which follows the FEI dress rules:

• a blue or black jacket;
• white or light fawn breeches;
• black or brown boots (other dark boots may be approved);
• a shirt with a white collar (long-sleeved shirts need white cuffs) and a white tie or choker. If no jacket is worn, the shirt must have sleeves (short or long).

Jacket colours you may not wear:

• Red jackets are only for riders who have competed at Adult Open level and qualified for Adult SA National Title classes.
• Green (Protea green) jackets are reserved for riders with SJ Protea Colours.

Protective headgear must be worn as required by the FEI Jumping Rules that SASJ events run under.

Yes, if the sponsor is registered with SASJ for the current year (sponsor registration R2 950; yards and clubs register free). Competing with an unregistered sponsor's name or logo can lead to a warning, fine or disciplinary action (SASJ Annexure A 10.6).

Maximum sponsor logo sizes in the arena and at prize-giving (10.5):

A non-sponsoring manufacturer's name or logo may appear only once per item, no bigger than 3 cm².

The South African flag may only be worn on jackets or helmets by riders with SJ Protea Colours, and RSA-flag saddlecloths only by riders in an RSA team or with SAEF permission abroad (10.8).

Under SASJ Annexure A (2026):

• Every competing horse or pony must be registered with SASJ and re-registered on 1 January each year. Registration is R260; recreational horses and ponies register free.
• Horse passports are issued and administered by the SAEF. Only the SAEF, or a registered veterinarian who endorses the change, may amend a passport entry. Legal ownership is as shown in the SAEF passport.
• To register you need: passport number; name as per passport and birth name; owner; sex; breed; country and year of birth; sire, dam and dam's sire; a copy of the passport's completed identification page; previous owner; microchip number (compulsory for all horses and ponies since 2018); and, for a pony, an SAEF-endorsed height certificate.
• The horse's first registered name stays permanently in its passport and on the SASJ database. No horse may be registered twice under different passport or microchip numbers.
• A pony may only change classification once a calendar year after registration.