If you’ve ever been at a horse show and recognized a horse in the ring as a frequent flyer in class after class, show after show, you may have wondered about whether that horse is OK. Are they competing too often, placing their physical or mental well-being at risk? For some time now, US Equestrian has heard concerns from members about whether horses and ponies are competing too frequently, particularly from hunter and jumper members.
Although licensed officials are given a generalized description of what overuse may look like across individual animals (available here) and horse welfare guidelines that help them identify a horse who is mentally or physically stressed (available here), members have pressed for more specific limits or rules that can protect horses from overuse. The Federation has heard those concerns and has embarked on a long-term project to define and address this challenge.
First Goal: Define the Problem
"We hear from people who are very concerned about overuse and worry about how common it may be,” said US Equestrian CEO Bill Moroney. “We wanted to define the problem: see what the averages and outliers were for the number of competitions, classes, and competition days for horses and ponies in hunter, jumper, equitation, pony hunter, and hunter breeding divisions.”
The Federation’s in-house IT team worked to analyze the competition data for the 2025 season. A brief overview of their findings is below.
Important context notes for this data: “Total Classes” refers to the total number of classes the horse competed in for the year – inclusive of all fence heights, as well as under saddle, classes at shows outside of licensed hunter or licensed jumper competitions. This would not capture horses who went to unlicensed competitions or those who competed at breed shows or other disciplines in addition to hunter/jumper, like eventing or dressage competitions. Likewise, “Total Competitions” is all types of competitions, including those outside hunter or jumper disciplines.
Classes per Competition Day is an average calculated by the length of the competition and the number of classes in which the horse competed. USEF’s database does not include the date each class was held.
The vast majority of each division population – hunter, jumper, equitation, pony hunter, and hunter breeding – went to 20 or fewer competitions each year.
Hunters
For hunters, 97.8% of horses did 20 or fewer shows per year, and the largest portion (57.4%) did one to five shows in 2025. The average hunter jumping 3’0 and under did 39 classes per year at five competitions, while the average hunter competing at fence heights over 3’0 averaged 71 classes at 11 competitions.
Average Hunter, 3'0 and Under
Average Hunter, Above 3'0
(Bear in mind, not all of those classes were jumping classes. That figure includes flat and other types of non-jumping classes.)
Pony Hunters
We also took a look at pony hunters. These figures include pony hunters who competed in at least one Pony Hunter or Green Pony Hunter class during 2025. It is not representative of all equines standing at 14.2 hands or under who competed in other divisions, like Children's Hunter or Miscellaneous Hunter. Pony hunters competed more, with 93.5% doing 20 or fewer shows, and the greatest portion of ponies (34.6%) going to six to 11 shows per year. The average pony did 73 classes per year at 10 competitions.
Jumpers
Jumpers also had the majority of the population going to 20 or fewer shows each year (97.5%). The average jumper participating in 1.10 meters and below went to 27 classes per year at six competitions. The average jumper in 1.15 to 1.35 meter classes went to an average of 25 classes at nine competitions, and the average jumper going 1.40 meters and above went to an average of 27 classes per year at 11 competitions.
Equitation
Among equitation horses, 97% did 20 or fewer shows per year, with a majority of 50.9% doing one to five. The average equitation horse at classes 3’0 and below did 50 classes per year in six competitions. The average equitation horse in classes over 3’0 did 63 classes per year at 11 competitions.
Hunter Breeding
The outliers – horses or ponies who went significantly over the rest of the population in number of shows, classes, or competition days – were rare but concerning. Interestingly, USEF’s IT team found that horses who were outliers according to one metric tended not to be an outlier in another.
One example was a horse who competed in 388 classes at 10 competitions in 2025, averaging 9.7 classes per competition day – but was also shown throughout the year, averaging less than one competition per month. Another competed in 57 classes during the year across 53 competitions, with most of those clustered into one very busy trimester in which the horse went to 41 competitions in four months.
“Numbers like the outliers in these examples are clearly not acceptable,” said Moroney. “Fortunately, they give the community and USHJA a starting point to have data informed discussions and put changes in place to disincentivize those outliers. When we don’t have those outlier situations, we can take a step back and assess whether the average number of competitions and classes a year is appropriate, and if it’s not, how we effectively change that.”
Next Step: Work with USHJA and Members to Find Possible Solutions
The data presented here is a basic overview. The USHJA has been provided with a complete overuse data report from 2025, which they will review and discuss with members. USHJA will gather feedback and suggestions on the best way to address the questions raised by the data. If those solutions involve rule changes, those will go through the typical process allowing member and committee comment before coming before the USEF board to be voted on in June.
“They’re the experts in the space, so we’re here to assist in working toward a solution, but we rely upon them to lead the way to determine what’s the best fit for the horses and the sport,” said Moroney.
Possible solutions could include required vet checks after a certain number of competitions, or a limit to the number of competitions that can count toward year-end awards.
There had already been a rule change in the 2026 cycle limiting hunter breeding points so that only a horse’s first 12 shows in a competition year plus the Devon Horse Show and the Sallie B. Wheeler Hunter Breeding Championship would count towards year-end awards. That was passed by the USEF board in June with support from USHJA.
Moroney cautioned that the same approach may not work for other groups, however; many hunter breeding shows are already stacked toward the latter part of the season because they involve young horses. Applying the same limit to class types that are offered year-round could produce unintended seasonal consequences for competitors and horse shows if people hit their limit early or can only compete during certain parts of the year in their geographic region.
The goal is to protect horses from overuse, and fortunately, we can see from the data that most competitors seem to be responsibly managing the safety and well-being of horses,” said Moroney. “It’s necessary to take the time to examine all of the factors and various models on our road to finding the right and sustainable path forward.”
Gather more information for a complete picture
There are limitations to the data, most of which stem from the fact USEF’s database is focused on licensed competition results but doesn’t include competition outside a licensed environment. Results data also cannot capture the complete picture of a horse's physical and mental load going into a show.
In some situations, a horse who enters three classes a day but also lunges for an hour or more in the morning and spends a long time in warm-up, jumping much higher than their competition level, may be tipping closer to the line of overuse than one who just enters three classes a day with a brief trip around the warm-up ring at the division height. A horse who attends many consecutive weeks of shows, but who does one division on one day at each competition and goes home in between for some turnout and rest could experience a different stress load than one who is stabled at the show grounds, competing for many weeks at a time.
For this reason, USEF members will soon see a survey in their inboxes that attempts to capture the range of normal practices in warm-up, equipment use, general management at shows, as well as member perceptions of overuse. Although the data reviewed here focuses on the hunter/jumper discipline, USEF plans to do a similar analysis across other breeds and disciplines, taking into account the various differences between them. In anticipation of this, the survey will be inclusive of all breeds and disciplines. Its goal will be to get a snapshot of what’s typical in each breed and discipline’s environment. That information can be used to help build educational resources and inform other changes going forward.