Looking for help with US vs European rules for show jumping

[PePe]

Hi,
We are looking for help that would allow us to understand what the equivalents of FEI rules are in the US. In Europe all competitions are graded by height classes (LL, L, P, N, …) and FEI articles that define the specific rules of the competition (e.g. Art. 273 would indicate competition over two rounds) and sometimes a Table is added (A or C - judging rules). All designs have this information printed so this is clear what the competition is about.
What are the equivalents of these in the USA? I found USEF rules book that is quite extensive. An opinion of a practitioner would be invaluable here what to look at.
Thanks
Pawel

PS The context for the inquiry is that we have developed a course design cloud service that has been successfully growing in Europe and Asia and are looking for adopting in the US.

[Peggy]

Welcome!

Are you looking for USEF jumper tables? Those run from JP146-149 in that very large rulebook.So II.2a tied rounds for first come back for the jump off. II.2.b you do the jump off if clear after waiting for a tone. II.2c you keep going if clear and II.2d you keep going on to the jump off no matter what.

The table is usually specified on the course (may not upload as I’m in a Starbucks with not great wifi.

If you provide specifics of what European rule(s) you want a translation of I (and others) can attempt to provide equivalents.

[Janet]

If you want to see JUST the USEF Jumper rules (not the whole rulebook), this is the link.
https://www.usef.org/forms-pubs/zDZXGvqBOTk/jp-jumper-division

[PePe]

Thank you Janet and Peggy, these are great pointers, I will start digging into it.

[PePe]

Hi. I went through the USEF JP146-149 rules and I think I understand them.

What about competition classes? In Europe there are classes like LL, L, P, N, C, CC, CS and then Small/Medium/Big Tour and National Cup 1-5 star. They define not only fence heights, but also spreads, distance and other parameters.
What are the equivalents in the USA that is used doing the design? I only found a list of heights defined in JP123.
Thanks!

[MHM]

For the jumper classes at USEF shows that are not under FEI rules, the classes are divided by height, and sometimes by the category of rider or horse.

So there could be a 1.10 class with no restrictions that any horse and rider can enter. There could also be more 1.10 classes at the same show restricted by the age of the rider, and whether or not the rider is an amateur. Ditto for classes at any height.

The USEF also offers jumper classes for ponies, and classes for young horses at different heights, based on the age of the young horses.

Jumper classes in the US were also divided based on the experience of the horse at one time (preliminary/intermediate/open), but they did away with that system many years ago.

If you look at any prize list for a big horse show in the US, you’ll see many, many variations of jumper classes based on the height of the jumps and the age and category of the riders.

There are also schooling jumper classes, where everyone who completes the course without faults and under the time allowed is tied for first.

These are the jumper divisions offered at WEF with the circuit champions from last year.

2025-wef-prize-list_web_2-20-25-1.pdf

[PePe]

@MHM

re the jumper divisions offered at WEF with the circuit champions

I see, thank you very much. From the point of view of a course designer, what would be usually put on the course plan? For FEI that would be the list of classes and heights in each that the plan covers - it happens the same course is used for more than one competition in different classes.

In case of a course design software, for FEI it is possible to have a predefined list of classes that the designer can choose from. Would it be enough for USEF to let freely choose the height, as the classes seem to be plentiful and not rigidly standardised?

[MHM]

@PePe

From the point of view of a course designer, what would be usually put on the course plan? For FEI that would be the list of classes and heights in each that the plan covers - it happens the same course is used for more than one competition in different classes.

For the USEF jumper classes, they will often use the same courses throughout the day at different heights. So each course would have the class numbers and the heights listed on it.

Although some class specifications might not allow combinations, so an obstacle might change from a single jump to a combination at some point during a height change over the course of the day.

In the US, the classes will also run with what we call “open cards” a lot of the time for back to back rounds, especially at smaller shows.

So the course designer will plan it so that the jumps are set up with the timers placed to make it possible for the rider to do, say, the speed class first and then either stay in the ring or come back a couple of rounds later to do their jump off class.

That way, the horse can just warm up once and do both classes.

[Peggy]

@PePe

From the point of view of a course designer, what would be usually put on the course plan?

What I posted above is pretty typical. If more than one class uses the same course, the classes will all be listed. If the same course is used for different heights, the heights will be specified.

Looking at the following two examples, apparently not all course designers use the same software since the format is a bit different. The second course is an example the same course being used for multiple classes at different heights. Distances in combinations aren’t generally posted for jumper courses; for hunter courses at different heights they will show the distances for the various heights that use the same course.

[PePe]

What are these numbers in the circles and listed as class no: 384, 387, 402, … and on the first plan there are also #424 #429 #453 ?

[Highflyer1]

The numbers of the classes-- you would need to look at the prize list for that specific show or series to see what classes they are.

[PePe]

Are they standardised by some rules? Or custom per show? Maybe you have some example of the prize list for some show that would have classes listed?
Thanks!

[MHM]

In my earlier post, I put a link at the bottom for the WEF prize list, which is a pretty good example of how things are set up.

The class numbers are not standardized bewteeen shows, if that is your question.

A small show might only offer 100 classes, and a bigger show might offer 1500 classes or more. So each individual prize list will number the classes differently.

[Peggy]

As someone said, those are the class numbers. The first course designer provided the full names of the classes whereas the other one gave the class numbers and then a brief version of the class name. In the second instance there are more classes because the same course was used for all of the junior and amateur meter classes and 1.1-m classes. The meter classes are sometimes specified as 1.0-1.05 m but it’s easier to say meter. You can translate a bit better if you have the premium since the class numbers are likely to be different from show series to show series, but might very well be the same across an entire show series, as is the case for the courses I posted. The premium will also give you an idea of what sort of classes are offered. Here’s a link to the premium for the show series from which I posted the courses: https://deserthorsepark.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/DIHP-DC25-2-14-2025.pdf

More generally, the class names at USEF shows mostly include the height of the fences. I think that the USEF/USHJA designations start at a meter for the junior and amateur classes, so you’d have 1.0-m amateur jumpers, 1.1-m amateur jumpers, 1.2-m amateur jumpers and so on. It used to be highly confusing to anyone without the secret decoder ring bc the order in increasing height went Low Adult Amateurs, High Adult Amateurs, Low Amateurs, and High Amateurs. The class names for the open classes also include the height, so 1.3-m open or 90 cm open, except maybe for some special classes (including Young Jumpers?) where you’d have to look at the description or just know it. Likewise, classes lower than a meter now just have the height in the description, so 90-cm open and 80-cm non-pro.

If you’re curious about the difference between non-pro vs junior or amateur it has to do with classes a rider can cross-enter. For example, you can’t cross enter the meter adult jumpers with the 1.3 m adults, but there are no cross-entry restrictions for the meter (or 90 or 80 cm) non-pro classes.

I know that Europe has the letter designations for various heights in jumpers and levels in dressage but I always have to look that up.

[IPEsq]

In the US, course designing has its own license, so there isn’t a lot outside of the licensing clinics that instruct on how to design the courses. That also means your user population is going to be fairly small, but they are going to know how they should design a course for a given level.

This is a presentation from a clinic that might be helpful:

2016-usef-jumper-cd-online.pdf

You can see there are some suggestions for young horses or to discourage out of control riding that you might see at lower heights.

Aside from that, you may need to check the USEF or Zone rule books to see if any specific division or class level has any course requirements, for levels that would be local, national or regional level classes.