Is anyone experienced with the USET and want to give a run down🤣? How do the phases work? I saw a post saying jumping the water vs. option (what is the option)? It’s very different from regular medals etc. but I can’t find a lot on it.
The Talent Search classes are judged on equitation over a jumper style course, whereas the Medal and Maclay are over more hunter style courses. TS classes are also run over bigger tracks than your average equitation class (3’7-3’9” vs. the standard 3’6”).
The USET finals consist of 3 phases - a gymnastics phase, the flat phase, and a jumper phase. The judging isn’t necessarily different between phases so much as the type of questions asked of horse and rider. It’s not at all unusual to see bounces, trot poles, etc. in the gymnastics phase. It’s also the only Big Eq final (to the best of my knowledge) where you can count on seeing the open water.
I may be wrong, but my understanding is that the option fence allows for a rail to be placed over the open water jump. We saw it in last year’s East Final. A foot in the water is not considered a jumping fault as long as the rail stays up.
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The talent search class has a point system to get qualified that varies upon the level of difficulty. It starts with a one star where they must have a Liverpool, two star where they must have an open water or an option. The option you are asking about would be a different jump set next to the open water that a rider could choose to jump instead of the water. In a three star, the open water is mandatory. It’s up to the course designer and judge if the open water is scored with a rail over it (you would only have jumping fault if you have the rail down) or no rail and you must get across the tape at the back of the water.
If I’m thinking of the right poster, MST should have a pretty good handle on the specs for the USET. Lol.
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