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Dear BSPS, Olympia and Mountain & Moorland Competitors,
On behalf of the British Show Ponies Society, I am writing to thank all those competitors who competed in Olympia qualifying classes, The Heritage Championship Show and the Olympia final in 2011.
Change is always challenging, particularly when it has to be carried out very quickly due to the speed in which the contract was awarded. I would personally like to thank everybody who has fed in their ideas and thoughts on the competition and can assure you everything is taken into account. The objective was to maintain the essence of the competition and the magic of the final whilst modernising the competition by ensuring that it was more open and transparent and that there were a number of different routes to qualification to enable a fairer and more equitable opportunity for different breeds to qualify.
This competition has created a great deal of interest and a wide range of views on how it should be run, not everybody will be happy, but overall the comments that have been received have been generally very favourable with particular praise for The Heritage Championship Show and the final itself.
Competitors were delighted with the rugs that every finalist received and the excellent prize money on offer at the final along with sashes and prize money for the best of breeds. We are delighted to advise you that these will continue in 2012. This could not happen without our generous sponsors, particularly in these difficult economic times and particular thanks goes to our ring sponsors at The Heritage Championship Show – Alpha Contracts Ltd for the rugs and The Hawkins Family and TASS Ltd for their generous and fantastic sponsorship at the final.
The BSPS would also like to thank all our judges and officials for all their hard work and were delighted to welcome a significant number of NPS judges onto the BSPS Heritage Mountain & Moorland Panel and thank them for their contribution in 2011.
We would also like to thank competitors for the spirit and atmosphere at the final and for taking the trouble to give comments on to how the competition can be improved. Having listened to competitors, whilst the competition will remain fundamentally unaltered in 2012 there are some minor changes which I’m sure will be welcomed.
In direct qualifiers, ponies that win a direct qualifying class will now also qualify for the semi-final, and in semi-final qualifying classes competitors can also qualify for the BSPS Summer Heritage and Premier League classes held at The BSPS Summer Championship Show.
Please also remember that your BSPS membership entitles you to compete at The BSPS Winter and Summer Championship Shows and to qualify for The BSPS Heritage Mountain & Moorland Classes at The Royal International Horse Show. Please note that this year there are now 5 classes, divided as follows, Welsh A and B, Welsh C and D, New Forest and Connemara, Large Breeds (Fells, Highlands and Dales) and Small Breeds (Shetlands, Dartmoor’s and Exmoor’s). The BSPS is very grateful that the RIHS has enabled an additional class to be fitted into the timetable. BSPS membership also entitles you to compete in The Horse of the Year Show qualifying classes.
The judges for The BSPS Heritage Championship Show to be held at Arena UK on Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th October 2012 will be published shortly. This show will again offer free entry in the semi-final qualifying classes which will be held on the Saturday. The 12 breed classes will be held on the Sunday.
The final held at Olympia, due to how Christmas falls this year and will provisionally take place on Thursday 20th December 2012.
The judges for the final in 2012 are:
Performance/Ride – Claire Dew and Paul Cook
Conformation and breed type – Jillian Grummitt and Amanda Nichol
On behalf of the BSPS, I would like to wish everybody a successful 2012 and look forward to seeing many of you at the final.
Paul Cook
BSPS Member of Council
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