Australian showjumping has been in the doldrums for some years but with the proliferation of quality imports coming into the country in recent years the standard has changed but change always brings teething problems.

With Australia being one of the few countries to steadfastly cling to a grading system in the sport of showjumping it puts the country out of step with the rest of the world making it difficult to accurately and fairly grade a horse coming to Australia from other countries.

In the majority of the world of showjumping height classes are held and there is a great deal of flexibility within the various systems.

The Irish system, for example, allows for a horse to move "one above and one below" within the system so at the beginning of a season if a horse jumps a 1.20m class then it can jump 1.10m or 1.30m - however if the horse jumps 1.30m then it can only jump 1.20m and 1.40m and so on.

This system works well if for example a 1.40m horse is purchased by a less experienced rider, they can move through the heights beginning at 1.10m. till they are comfortable jumping the bigger classes.

Australians have for many years, since the first imports arrived on the antipodean shores, been arguing abut what grade imported horses should be set to on their arrival. The arguments have been largely ignored to date but the time has come for a set of rules to be put in place to cope with the large numbers of horses arriving.

Chairman of the National Showjumping Council, Vicki Roycroft, said that they have been "wrestling for a while to come up with a fair system" but that they definitely "do not want to discourage people from importing horses".

The system which has now been agreed upon states that 5 year old horses will be automatically graded at D, 6 year olds will be Grade C, 7 year olds will be Grade B and 8 years and over will be Grade A.

Presumably, although not mentioned, the 4 year old import will also be graded at Grade D.

Mrs Roycroft said that "this seemed to be the best way to address it, as on research it is pretty simple to find out performance records of nearly any horse world wide nowadays, thanks to the internet and record keeping."

The system brought in for Australia is well thought out and in keeping with the heights that the age group classes run under in the northern hemisphere and hopefully this will finally put an end to arguments at Riders Meetings regarding imported horses winning major Futurity classes.

Interestingly enough the majority of top class imports in 2006 seem to have been brought in for Junior and Young Riders, which can only be a good sign for the future of the sport in Australia. The Young Riders are seen in the warm up rings throughout Australia with top coaches (most of whom have been top level competitors themselves, in another era) and they are serious about their sport and most we have spoken to have high goals for their futures.

The other change which has been made (effective 1st July, 2007) sees the minimum height set to rule for Young Rider classes is now 1.20m with no maximum height listed.

According to Vicki Roycroft, this was done "principally to reflect the increase in standard across the country for this group now" and these classes still do not attract grading points and there is no restriction on the jumping grade of the horse.

Again this is a very positive move meaning that the Young Riders with imported horses can test themselves out in the Young Rider classes before perhaps having to jump their horses in bigger classes than the riders might yet be ready for.

Both of these changes reflect a positive and forward thinking National Showjumping committee who are obviously looking carefully at the system as it stands and are working towards improving it for the betterment of the sport.

Pictured right - South Australian, Amy Graham (just turned 21 years of age), with her imported gelding, TransAtlantic. This combination caused some grief amongst those aggrieved with imported horses when they won and placed in every Futurity they entered.

This combination are on the National Senior Development Squad and are definitely a combination for the future.

It is interesting when you do the sums on the two National Squads (Elite and Development) to discover that there are very few of the many imports in the country listed.

The Elite Squad sees three Australian bred stallions (Wirragulla NIklaus, Warlord III and KC Alimo), four Australian bred geldings (Ashleigh Drossel Dan, NV Capone, Stylish King and Sharpe Seal), two Australian bred mares (KS Genoa and NP Blatini, who has had a recent change of rider so one would assume this horse will be under revue) with the one imported gelding Infatuation.

And of course the Elite Squad sees Edwina Alexander and her 4th placed WEG horse Pialotta and also Socrates, both of which are based with their rider in Holland.

The Development Squad sees 4 of the 11 horses listed being imports.