By HALEY LOFLIN
In a highly anticipated session at the USHJA Annual Meeting, USEF CEO Bill Moroney presented the results of a 5-month-long data analysis project on how often horses are showing to refute the “keyboard warriors,” who Moroney noted are the basis for “a lot of assumptions that get made out there that become urban legends and actually are chipping away at our ability to enjoy equestrian sport”. He also admitted he does not “do” social media. While not explicitly stated, the underlying theme of the session was that horses are not, in fact, being overused.
Overuse of horses and how often they should be showing has been a hot topic with discussions exploring how many shows, classes, and days per week is too much, and whether jump height should be a factor in the maximum number of jumping rounds permitted.
Per USEF data, the average hunter competes:
- in classes 3′ and below, at an average of 39 classes per year at 5 competitions, doing an average of 8 classes per competition at a rate of 2 classes per day.
- in classes above 3′, at an average of 70 classes per year at 10 competitions, doing an average of 7 classes per competition at a rate of 2 classes per day.
The average jumper:
- in 1.10 m and below classes, competes in an average of 27 classes per year at 6 competitions, doing an average of 5 classes per competition at a rate of 1 class per day.
- in 1.15 m to 1.35 m classes, competes in an average of 25 classes per year at 9 competitions, doing an average of 3 classes per competition at a rate of 1 class per day.
- in 1.40 m and above classes competes in an average of 16 classes per year at 11 competitions, doing an average of 2 classes per competition at a rate of 1 class per day.
Moroney spent a great deal of time discussing outliers, giving three examples:
- Outlier Horse 1 is a 14-year-old warmblood that was shown in 348 classes at 19 competitions in 2024. This horse averaged 18 classes per competition at a rate of 4 classes per show day. This horse was primarily shown in Zone 5 in between December and July, averaging about 2 shows per month.
- Outlier Horse 2 is a 9-year-old warmblood that was shown in 179 classes at 33 competitions in 2024.This horse averaged 5 classes per competition at a rate of 1 class per comp day. This horse was shown primarily in Trimester 1 in Florida; however, it was shown an average of twice per month for the entire competition year.
- Outlier Pony 3 is a 12-year-old pony that was shown in 110 classes at 8 competitions in 2024. This pony was shown in an average of 13 classes at an average of 9 classes per competition day.
Additionally, he presented graphs showing the number of competitions per year for both hunter and jumpers, with the majority of both showing less than 5 times per year. However, 585 jumpers and 460 hunters are showing more than 21 times per year, about 40% of the year. In the context of tracking 50,000 horses, 1,045 horses showed 21+ weeks per year, when 54% of the horses measured showed 5 times per year or less.
Moroney emphasized the need to reference the green/yellow/red welfare guidelines published earlier this year, as well as the statement of overuse published by USEF in June, when reporting overuse while showing to a steward or official, not the need to limit a specific number of classes.
The next morning, the USHJA board disapproved GR839.4 Tracking #027-25 and HJ125.7 Tracking #015-25, which would have limited the number of over-fences classes a horse is allowed to compete in per day. Those rules were proposed by Nina Thornton, a professional with Sorella Farm in Los Angeles, after seeing a horse compete in 21 classes in 5 days, then 17 classes at the next show.
