NATIONAL PONY Society (NPS) Scotland Committee member, Kirsty Miller, must have been well pleased with the display boards which she had assembled to celebrate 50 years of the NPS in Scotland.

They were on view at the NPS Scotland Golden Jubilee Show held at Strathallan on June 12 and attracted much interest and favourable comment. It was a valiant effort to say the least, to bring together so much interesting archive material and present it in such an accessible way. No wonder the display’s many visitors were very interested in the information and photographs form the past which had not previously been brought together at any one time. It was not only testimony to the work of the Society but also testimony to the voluntary effort which individuals, like Kirsty, are prepared to make for others.

The NPS itself has roots tracing back to the late 19th century when a stud book for ponies was initiated by the Polo Pony Stud Book Society in 1893. As the NPS expanded over the years, areas were designated across Britain, where a local committee was formed to promote the society and its objectives and cater for the needs of members in that area. Remarkably in January, 2008, NPS America became the first international ‘chapter’ of the NPS with very similar objectives to those held by the areas in Britain.

Closer to home, a band of enthusiasts, mainly well-known native pony breeders, formed a Scottish committee in 1960, the same year that the Highland Show staged its first show at its permanent site at Ingliston. The new committee did much to encourage shows to put on classes including the Royal Highland which had no mountain and moorland classes at the inaugural Ingliston event. In addition, they held talks, stud visits and other activities as part of an overall strategy to promote the NPS north of the border. However, by November 2001, there was pressure on Scotland to form an official area which was resisted, and NPS Scotland was formed with its own membership. It was felt that by generating its own funds NPS Scotland was better placed to fund the type of activities best suited to Scotland while at the same time sharing the aims and objectives of the NPS itself. To this end, NPS Scotland runs three shows annually and a championship event held in conjunction with the Blair Horse Trials as well as a performance competition, open days and seminars during the course of a year.

As part of the half-century celebrations, the NPS Scotland Golden Jubilee Show presented commemorative rosettes to all exhibits and the committee is also planning to mark the occasion of the 50 years with a dinner in the autumn at Garvock House Hotel, the former home of the Transy Shetland Pony Stud in Dunfermline. Interestingly, Dougal Dick showed some of his Transy Shetlands at the first Royal Highland at Ingliston in 1960, however, they were in the heavy horse section as they remain today. Some things move on but others definitely don’t.

Without question the membership of NPS Scotland has a thirst for competition, shows in particular, of which the Summer Show at Strathallan is testimony with 110 classes on offer. Add to the complexity of staging this number of classes the dreaded (but financially necessary) late entries and there is a nightmare scenario for the secretary whose job it is to marry results and prize money with people and ponies. Current office bearer, Alicia Hay, carries out her difficult duties extremely well and somehow has to accommodate the very many qualifications to championship finals at the end of the season. In this year’s schedule, I managed to find 29 qualifiers alone, mainly for the NPS Summer Show at Malvern, some for the NPS Scotland finals at Blair Castle and a handful of others that qualify for shows the length and breadth of the Britain.

Qualification culture has certainly come of age in this country and everyone seems to be trying to qualify for something irrespective of the realistic chances of actually capturing the title at the end of the day. As the pop song goes, ‘Reach for the stars’ and there’s nothing wrong with that however it does present the organisers with an added layer of organisation which big shows can well do without.

And it is the biggest of the shows which has recently dropped a bomb shell over the proposed qualification status of classes at its annual show. Of course, I refer to the Horse of the Year Show, the organisers of which, Grandstand Media Ltd, have launched a proposal to change the current means of qualifying for the Birmingham event which they have opened up for discussion and comment before implementation some time in the future and certainly not this current year. At present the way to qualify for one of the classes at the show is simply to gain a single qualifying place at one of the designated shows round Britain during the course of the summer. In previous columns I have gone into the detail of this as it is not always straight forward and certainly not uniform across all sections. However suffice to say that for some lucky exhibitors it is possible to qualify at a single attempt.

The new proposal has moved away from a single show qualification to one based on results over a number of shows; the massing of qualifying points based over, as yet, an indeterminate number shows will form a sort of league table for each class.

In theory, the top ponies/horses on the compiled list will qualify for their final at the Horse of the Year Show making sure that the best and most consistent animals will compete which is not always the case. The system has been made possible through a new computer programme which has been introduced to help with the administration of the event and its processing of results both throughout the season and at the show. Not only is it envisaged that the quality and standard of the entrants at the finals will rise but so too will the competition at shows round the country whose numbers have been tailing off in some sections.

Already the guns are being trained on Grandstand Media, despite the fact that details of the proposals have not yet been unveiled. In fact, there is a forthcoming consultation exercise planned at Stoneleigh at the end of June when interested parties from the showing industry have been invited to attend. According to Grandstand Media personnel this will help them to focus on the qualification proposals which they will introduce. In a notice on the Horse of the Year Show website, the organisers make the following statement:

“You may have heard that Grandstand Media Ltd, organisers of Horse of the Year Show, would like to review the way competitors qualify for the Show. Grandstand recognises that there is a passionate interest in any potential changes that are made to the qualification process and want to ensure that the equestrian community are part of the process enabling opinions to be voiced.

The main discussion topics will surround the HOYS qualification process: suggestions will be put forward by Grandstand and participants of the focus group will be able to discuss what changes are needed and how the current qualification system can be improved.”

I can see some merit in a points system of qualification as often good consistent ponies/horses fail to qualify by just missing out on a place whereas on a lucky day a rogue animal does qualify when the opposition is less than strong. It would also help increase badly needed support for shows which are struggling in the current climate and many of which are facing administration. In some ways, it would also help the ‘small time’ exhibitor who often sees their qualification chances evaporate as the ‘big guns’ turn up on the day to claim the qualification ticket.

Consistent placings would mass points which may help their animals on their way to Birmingham. On the other hand, early qualifiers wouldn’t be moth-balled until October to save on expenses and the professionals would invariably find it more difficult not to qualify their second string animals once their first string had gained qualification.

Off the top of my head, I can identify three of the obvious downsides of such a system.

Firstly, it could favour those who live within easy reach of a large many qualifying shows; without attending to this factor, the league table could be skewed towards location which could be argued it does already.

Secondly it could favour those wealthy enough to travel to a large number of shows gathering qualification points; again it could be argued that the system already favours the rich.

Lastly, it could be argued that a second rate animal travelled to a large number of qualifiers could amass enough points to squeeze into the final; again, we know that this happens just by circumstance or chance. Such is the importance of this decision that the showing fraternity will wait with baited breath until they know the outcome of Grandstand’s deliberations. One thing for sure, there is likely to be some change; to what extent it will be acceptable to the showing community is a matter of conjecture at this point.

One exhibitor who aspires like many to qualify for the Horse of the Year Show is well-known exhibitor, Gillian Beattie from Kilwinning. As part of the energetic Aitken Family their Broomhill Farm at Fergushill has hosted many events for charities including Riding for the Disabled Association among many.

I am delighted to share with readers that Gillian has recently had a call to London where she will attend an awards ceremony at the House of Lords. However it will not be to record a victory with one of her ponies but to recognise the huge amount of money raised at Fergushill in aid of breast cancer for which she has massed more than £6000 through equestrian events. I am sure Scottish Horse readers will join with me in sending Gillian our heart-felt congratulations for such an amazing feat.