Following the inaugural ASG Software Solutions/USHJA International Hunter Derby Finals on Aug. 21-22 (Sept. 4, p. 8), the U.S. Hunter Jumper Association High Performance Hunter Committee stuck around in Lexington, Ky., to take stock of the future of the new derby series.

While a few ideas and changes came out of the retreat—including a decision to accept additional applications for 2010 derby dates (see p. 65)—the biggest discussion centered around improving the scoring system for the series. Many people expressed concern that the scoring should accurately reflect the series’ mandate that “the courses [should] be built to encourage and reward brilliance and daring from the rider and true athletic ability from the horses.”

“One of the questions we’ve faced is whether competitors were getting credit for taking higher options,” explained committee member Geoff Teall. “We were seeing that occasionally the first riders to go would do the higher options and then later riders would take lower options and end up winning classes.”

To address this concern the committee decided to institute another set of scores to reward competitors for electing to jump the higher option fences in the classic and handy rounds, effective immediately.

These “degree of difficulty” points will be separate from the raw scores and the bonus points previously awarded in each round. Riders will accrue one degree of difficulty point for each higher option they jump.

“In diving and skating they use degree of difficulty points to reward athletes in addition to their other scores,” said USHJA High Performance Committee Chairman Ron Danta. “This is the same idea. While their score reflects how they jumped each jump, the degree of difficulty points reflect what they selected to jump.”

The new scoring system debuted at the Chicago derby, and Teall pointed out that while the format worked well, everyone has to expect derby scores to look different from traditional hunter scores.

“Jersey Boy scored a 100 in his first round, which was a very nice trip, but he had a little rub, and it wasn’t quite perfect,” said Teall, who judged in Chicago. “It’s important to understand that the scores will be higher than we’re used to seeing.”

With two teams of judges doling out three sets of scores per round, the numbers can appear overwhelming to even those familiar with the format, but the committee members believe that ultimately the change will prove a boon to the sport. They’ve developed a new judge’s card for the occasion and are eager to get the word out about the latest change.

“This is the first time in hunter judging that there’s been a definitive answer, and that’s really exciting for the sport,” said committee member and Chicago judge Louise Serio.

And Teall pointed out that the while the new degree of difficulty points will take some adjustment, they worked just the way they were intended to in Chicago.

“There was one rider toward the end of the class who had a nice trip, and who I was surprised to see didn’t make it back to the second round,” he recalled. “But I looked at my card and there were five option jumps, and the rider didn’t jump any. So that made a difference, and it should. One of the original intentions of the class is to challenge people to be bolder and jump bigger jumps.”