Lexington, KY – January 25, 2016 – The United States Hunter Jumper Association is pleased to announce locations and dates for the 2016 Stirrup Cup and Zone Horse of the Year Championships. Additionally, the organization has updated the specifications for the Stirrup Cup and Zone Horse of the Year programs and changed the Outreach competition year.
For consistency, the organization is aligning the competition year for Stirrup Cup and Outreach to coincide with the USEF competition year (December 1-November 30). As such, 2016 will be a “long” year, running from September 16, 2015 to November 30, 2016, and then moving to the USEF competition year beginning in 2017.
Updates to the Stirrup Cup specifications aim to add clarity by specifying that in addition to Hunter and Equitation points being calculated from Hunter Regional I and Regional II shows, Jumper points will be calculated from Jumper Level 1 and 2 shows; previously Jumper levels were not outlined. Further, year-end awards will be given to the top 6 competitors in each category, instead of the top eight as was previously required.
Zone Horse of the Year program specifications have been updated to simplify and streamline the program. First, if a zone does not create qualifying criteria for their championship, the championship will be open to all competitors who meet the minimum eligibility requirements. Beginning in 2017, championship locations will be selected for two-year terms. The new specifications reclassify “bonus points” as “Championship Points” and will be earned as outlined in the specifications. Finally, a zone HOTY championship point chart has also been added to the specifications for hunter breeding.
The 2016 Stirrup Cup and Zone Horse of the Year Championships are available on each zone’s webpage as follows:
| Zone 1 | Zone 6 |
| Zone 2 | Zone 7 |
| Zone 3 | Zone 8 |
| Zone 4 | Zone 9 |
| Zone 5 | Zone 10 |
The Stirrup Cup Awards program recognizes accomplishments of USHJA members actively competing in Regional I and Regional II rated competitions. The Zone Horse of the Year program recognizes member accomplishments at the zone level. Both the Stirrup Cup and Zone Horse of the Year awards programs are separate from the USEF Horse of the Year Program.<