Chronicle article https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/horse-welfare-at-derby-finals-one-focus-of-ushja-town-hall/
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I wonder how the two soundness eliminations were handled?
As for the other rule change proposals, I think it would be wise and fair to let appropriately sized adults show ponies. Giving both young ponies and division ponies good, accurate rides to set them up for their kids can only benefit both pony and child. I always say the large ponies is as difficult as Jr hunters so why not set those ponies up for success where possible?
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I believe the horses just did not receive scores after they trotted their circles at the end of the round.
Two horses eliminated out of 85-90 starters is a pretty small percentage. It would be better if it didnāt happen at all, but any horse can sting himself or pull a shoe or what have you as they go around the ring and look questionable on the closing circle as a result.
I definitely saw a couple of horses that they called back into the ring to complete a full circle as they finished their first rounds if the riders did not originally trot long enough for the judges to get a good look.
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The one that I watched looked off behind when it came in the ring and throughout the round as well as during the trot circle. Granted, I am not great at detecting very slight lameness in horses I donāt know, while watching them online, but it was obvious enough even to me.
I believe the announcer said (quietly) āthere will be no scoreā.
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The article brought up a good point about why the jog should be done the day before. This is a perfect example.^^^^. Itās better for the horses to be weeded out before the class, not after their round.
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I donāt get the argument that the jog is too time-consuming. People are too busy horse showing toā¦ check that the horses are sound enough to horse show?
Making it a big to-do like the Rolex jog is one idea but if the main issue is that itās inconvenient, why not go in the other direction and simplify it - make it closer to an FEI trot up than a hunter division jog? Remove the requirement for show attire and let assistants/colleagues/grooms jog horses for pros with multiple entries.
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On at least one of them, the announcer asked the rider to trot a second circle, and then after the second circle, announced that there would be no score given.
Frankly, for what the horses are asked to do, Iād be ok with having a jog and the trot circle, because unfortunately we know that there are ways and means some people are willing to use to get a horse through a jog 
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I had mixed feelings, because on one hand itās easier to get a sound horse to the jog the day before the competition than it is to keep them sound through the competitionā¦ And I can see the ground jury overlooking minor issues on course because they had previously passed that horseā¦ not always, but human nature is still human nature . But I just donāt feel like the circle at the end of round 1 is the answer either.
But they could do it like FEI combined driving (and USEF, although only advanced and championship classes have the jog), which requires us to jog before competition and present for lameness in harness before each phase.
Who doesnāt appreciate the jog? We get great pics and unlike hunters, insanely fit CDE horses and ponies can be quiteā¦ entertaining in the jogā¦ 
But we also have to trot a figure 8 in harness in front of the show vet and TD before each phase. This literally takes no time. We enter our assigned warm up area, check in, do a limited amount of warm up in that area, trot over to the FEI vet when we are warmed up (like the warm up you would do before you set the first fence), trot a figure 8, get a nod (or something else god forbid, but so far Iām only familiar with the nod of acceptance) then go back to my more focused warm up routine until Iām called on deck.
I think itās the best of both worlds. USHJA letās everyone know the big derbies are serious about soundness. Everyone gets the pomp and pageantry of the jog (and pics!) and just in case we didnāt entirely trust the ground jury thereās still the vet/TD check before every phase. (Remember, itās the judges who pass horses on present and re-present, the vet isnāt called unless thereās a hold), and this really isnāt more time/inconvenience to trot a figure 8 in the warm up. The vet and TD are there and in most big derbies, itās the only class going on, but even if it isnāt, the vet had to be somewhere, so why not there?
The worst possible solution is to set up a system that allows a lame horse to compete, but thatās where we are, apparentlyā¦
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One interesting thing John French noted in an interview is that as part of this horse welfare push, competitors are only allowed to ride horses in the schooling ring under supervision. He wanted to take his horse for a nice long hack through the park to get him warmed up and was not able to do so.
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Honestly, it makes sense to me to have specific and supervised schooling rings for a class like this.
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I think the challenge is to try to run the big hunter classes under FEI conditions when itās not the same type of competition all week.
There are still other horses to show in other rings, other customers to train throughout the day, others horses that need care from the trainerās staff, etc., etc.
Plus the people with the FEI jumpers are under those more restrictive conditions all the time for those classes, so itās not a big adjustment for them.
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But as you said there are plenty of trainers who have to mix it up with FEI and non FEI clients on the jumper side so we know itās perfectly doable to extend that to one more division.
I totally get itās more inconvenient, but hey, thatās why they get paid the big bucks!
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All h/j shows with an FEI week run this exact way. Yes, one clients horse will be stabled in FEI and yes, a groom has to go take care of it separately. Itās just how it is, but tons of people manage it 
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Itās a very bad look when horse professionals complain about being āinconveniencedā by rules that are enacted to stop people from showing lame horses.
Horse shows are about horses, yes? It seems as if some people care more about what is convenient for them rather than rules that are meant to protect the horses in their charge.
If trainers lack the management skills to organize their horses and clients at a show, they need to learn how to better organize their business. The soundness of the horses in their professional care cannot and should not come as an afterthought.
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I think your comment was a general one, but to be clear I didnāt think John French was complaining about being inconvenienced by not being able to hack out in the field. It seemed to me more of a comment that for the particular horse, getting him going forward in a big field would have been his preferred way to warm up.
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Yes, my comment a general one, not aimed at John French.
In the COTH article it was mentioned that competitors felt the jog before the class was āinconvenientā. USHJA President Mary Knowlton disagreed, but as President she only votes when there is a tie, and only one member of the board voted to keep the jog before hand. So, in essence, the board voted for the āconvenienceā of the competitors.
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Nope - theyāre about money anymore. 
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All the more reason for the implementation of horse welfare rules.
Two horses out for being lame is a good start, not as good as if they werenāt allowed to jump in the first place, but itās good when people are not rewarded for competing lame horses.
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I must say that I have the utmost respect for Mary Knowlton.
It was interesting to see Annette Longeneckerās reaction in favor of the jog as well.
āIf you are giving away that much money, requiring them to jog should be mandatory,ā said Annette Longenecker, who runs Ryegate Show Services and serves as a show secretary. āExcuses of āwe are too busyā donāt seem to reflect horse welfare.ā
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Agreed. Theyāre completely fine keeping rings held up for hours for conflicts, but canāt manage to bring the horse back for a jog? I understand that having a horse have to standby for the jog isnāt ideal, but they have to come back to typically ride for ribbons anyway, so whatās the massive hold up.
The bottom line is that the politics surrounding it may just not change anything. Thereās plenty of borderline horses that slide by simply by the name of the rider, owner, trainer, or barn.
Quite frankly, let the jog be judged by a non-partial source (ie vet), not the judges that like to pin their favorites.
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