Guidelines for OEH
Requirements
- Age: Horses must be 4 years of age or older.
- Membership: USEA membership is not required for either the horse or rider to compete in OEH classes, similar to the regulations currently in place for the Starter division.
- Judge Requirements: A YEH Judge must officiate the Jumping phase. An additional judge may be used for the dressage phase. The additional judge must be either a USEF Dressage Judge, USEF Eventing Judge, and/or a YEH Judge. The list of YEH Judges can be found here.
- Organizer: The organizer may compete horses at their own competition, so long as they have appointed an assistant organizer to stand in to take responsibility of the OEH competition while the organizer is competing.
- Schedule: In all cases, Dressage will be run first followed by the Jumping & Galloping phase. Allow approximately 8 minutes for each test. If one judge is used for the OEH classes, the Jumping test will follow at the completion of the Dressage test. However, it is more likely that two judges will be used (one of which will be a YEH Judge), with one judging dressage and one judging the Jumping test. In this case, organizers should allow a minimum of 45 minutes between Dressage and Jumping tests for each horse. The overall schedule must allow time for the judge to evaluate and approve the jump course before the competition begins.
- Scoresheets: Individual OEH scoresheets will be provided to competitors after the competition, and a comparative scoresheet showing scores for all the horses in the competition will be posted on the scoreboard. In the case of a tie, the horse with the higher overall jumping score will receive the higher placing. If a tie still exists, the tie will not be broken, and the horses will remain tied.
Competition Structure
Exercising & Warmup:
- Dressage - The organizer may permit schooling at specified time(s), including in and around the dressage arena before their designated time.
- Jumping - Prior to the start of their round, riders may show their horses the fences, including walking or trotting through the water complex. Competitors jumping any fences on the competition course before their allotted ride time will be eliminated.
Dress:
- Dressage - Collared shirt with sleeves, breeches, boots and ASTM/SEI approved helmet. Spurs and whips are permitted as per dressage phase of USEF Eventing Rules.
- Jumping - Cross-country attire with safety vest and ASTM/SEI approved helmet. Spurs & whip are permitted as per cross-country phase of USEF Eventing Rules.
Saddlery:
- Dressage - Only snaffle bridles per dressage phase in USEF Eventing Rules may be used. No boots or bandages are to be worn in dressage. Horses entering the space around the arena or the arena itself will be asked to have their boots or bandages removed. Use of jumping saddles is allowed and encouraged, as it may help a young horse's way of going and/or ease the change of tack required for the subsequent jumping phase.
- Jumping - Boots and running martingales are optional for jumping. Equipment per cross-country phase in USEF Eventing Rules may be used, but the judge may penalize the need for overly severe equipment in the horse’s overall impression and/or rideability score, at their discretion.
Other Guidelines:
- All horses participating must be issued a competition number, which must be worn at all times when exercising or competing.
- Any unruly horse which endangers its rider/handler, other horses, their rider/handlers, the judges, and/or the event staff may be dismissed by the judge.
Format: Horses will complete two sections:
- Dressage, worth 30% of the total final score
- Jumping Test/Gallop/General Impression, worth 70% of the total final score
Dressage: Horses will perform a dressage test specifically written for the YEH Program. It will be judged on overall collective impressions, not by each individual movement. The horse will be scored on the walk, trot, and canter, as well as rideability.
A large (20 X 60 meters) dressage arena is preferable for OEH classes because the additional space allows a clearer demonstration of the quality of the horses’ gaits. However, a small arena (20 X 40 meters) is permitted.
Horses leaving the arena during the dressage test will not be eliminated and are encouraged to continue but will receive a reduced score for rideability.
Jumping (including Standards and Course Design Guidelines): The judge must be able to see all 15 jumps (five show jumps and 10 cross-country fences) from one vantage point. Horses will be evaluated in the following areas:
- Jumping technique and scope;
- Rideability, i.e. confidence, response to the aids, attitude and learning ability;
- Between fences, i.e. maintaining a rhythm, appropriate pace, desire to go forward, ability to adjust balance before the fence, and jumping out of stride;
- Open Gallop, i.e. desire to go forward, ground cover, balance, ease and efficiency of the gallop; and
- Potential as an event horse, with the emphasis on rideability.
The jumping test will include a short show jumping section consisting of five efforts, giving the horses the opportunity to show their carefulness and scope. This test will be directly followed by a cross-country section, which will consist of 10 efforts that should include water, a ditch, changing terrain (up/down bank and/or "jump on a mound"), and/or a related combination. Combinations in each phase will count as separate jumps. Horses should show a difference in pace between the show jumping and cross-country tests, as well as a more efficient style.
The horse should be given the opportunity to show its athletic ability and gallop, as well as skills in assessing and negotiating the course as a whole. It is the responsibility of the designer of these courses to provide adequate questions for the horses to demonstrate their ability, as well as ensure no horse will be disillusioned to the sport after participating.
Starter OEH classes should reflect the greenness of horse and rider and use questions that would be similar to those seen at the USEA Recognized Starter level. OEH classes at the Beginner Novice and Novice levels can use the courses that are already in place for YEH qualifying events, but heights should be reflective of the greenness of horse and rider and should remain at the lower end of the range for the entire year.
Jumps that allow the horse to display its boldness are encouraged. Accuracy questions such as corners, chevrons, and skinnies with jumpable faces of less than 8’ must not be used. The course should always have a flow that allows for smooth riding. All cross-country fences should be inviting and ascending, and should in no way trick the horse, but give them confidence.
On both show jumping and cross-country fences, there should be fillers and ground lines. The final fence of the show jumping and cross-country sections should be a jump of ascending design which allows the riders to jump this fence out of stride. All jumps used in the jumping test should meet the same safety standards as any USEF Recognized Event. The gallop strip at the end of the jumping course should be approximately 100m long, preferably flat or with an uphill grade.
It is the responsibility of the organizer to ensure the course meets all requirements, including those for safety. The YEH Judge must give final approval of the course and will submit a post competition report to USEA.
Horses are permitted to enter more than one opportunity class and may also participate in the YEH Qualifier offered that day in their respective age divisions. They must do their YEH test first, so as not to allow an unfair advantage to school the course. If so, they must meet all the requirements, such as membership for horse and rider that exist for the YEH qualifying competitions.
Scoring - Classes will be scored using the USEA Opportunity Event Horse scoresheets.
Classes
- Opportunity Starter - 2’3 max height, YEH 4-year-old dressage test
- Opportunity Beginner Novice - 2’7 max height, YEH 4-year-old dressage test
- Opportunity Novice - 2’11 maximum height, YEH 4-year-old dressage test
Guidelines for Jumping:
- Every fence is numbered separately, including water and each individual fence of a combination.
- There must be five (5) show jumps (#1-5) and ten (10) cross-country fences (#6-15), i.e. 15 total jumps.
- All combinations, including in show jumping, must be a minimum of two (2) strides. Opportunity Starter classes are encouraged to have no combinations.
Each fence must be scored on style and scope. Horses will be scored 0.0-5.0 with 0.5 decimal points allowed. Each individual fence will receive a score with the following system:
- 0 - Refusal
- 1 - Very Bad
- 2 - Bad
- 3 - Satisfactory
- 4 - Good
- 5 - Excellent
- Rail down - no higher score than 2
Eliminations: The following circumstances will result in Elimination:
- Three refusals at one fence or four refusals total on the entire jumping course (show jumping and cross-country).
- The elimination remains, but judges may permit the competitor to continue for education.
- All jumps must be jumped in the correct order.
- A technical elimination will be incurred if a jump is missed.
- Exception - Provided the judge has no safety concerns about the horse and/or rider, they may blow the whistle if a rider misses a jump and allow them to correct their mistake and continue with no penalty.
- Jumping any fence on the OEH course before their allotted ride time
- Fall of horse or rider on course
- Improper saddlery
Helpful Links
Contact
If you are interested in hosting a USEA Opportunity Event Horse competition or have questions about the OEH Program, please contact Kate Lokey, (703) 779-9897.
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