Communication was received today from National Showjumping Chair, Vicki Roycroft, asking that we clarify a section of the new ruling regarding imported horses and their grading.

As we stated in our article, we believe this new ruling is excellent and will certainly raise the bar in Australian showjumping - it does this by ensuring that horses, of a young age, are jumping the heights required of them in the northern hemisphere.

For those unaware of these heights, and they vary slightly from country to country, the 4 year olds jump 1.10m, the 5 year olds jump 1.20m, the 6 year olds jump 1.30m and the 7 & 8 year olds are jumping 1.40m in age classes. They are obviously not restricted in normal height classes where they can jump higher or lower as their riders/owners see fit.

Mrs Roycroft asked that we correct the "error" in our piece to point out that we neglected to include the part which says "Grading of Imported Horses Foreign horses imported into Australia will be graded according to their age (see table below) unless the owner can produce documentation to prove that the horse should be graded differently.

5-year-olds 6-year-olds 7-year-olds 8-year-olds
D-Grade ....C-Grade ....B-Grade ....A-Grade"

In her email to our office Vicki says "This puts a whole different reflection on the rule, and makes it a bit more sympathetic, but puts the onus on owners to prove that maybe the 7 year old and above can be graded less than B. For instance if one has been a broodmare, or one that hasn't done a great deal due to injury. As you are probably aware, they are often the ones that we can afford!! "

I apologise for any embarrassment our piece caused to anyone and for any misunderstanding it might have created.