Scone Palace International Horse Trials will be the Championship Venue for the BHS Scotland Competition Series in 2026 - the Championship is scheduled to take place on Thursday 27 August 2026.

THIS SIGN UP IS NOT FOR INDIVIDUALS RIDERS BUT RIDING CLUBS WHO WANT TO HOLD A QUALIFIER

* Please note that schedules are not checked by BHS Scotland for this competition series. All schedule wording is available within the relevant online booking page of the qualifiers. *

Mare or gelding, four years old and upwards, 14.2hh and over.  

Riders eighteen years or over.

The qualified riders MUST be a member of an affiliated British Riding Club by the time of the final.

THE COURSE

1. At least 8 and not more than 12 fences, with changes of direction, must be set in a ring large enough to permit jumping fluently at a fair hunting pace.

2. Fences should be rustic or as natural as possible, not easily dislodged, of solid appearance and well filled and dressed, for example with shrubs as wings.

3. The course must be available for inspection by the judge well in advance of the time set for the class. Competitors must not be allowed to walk the course until the judge has given permission.

4. Maximum height 3ft 3ins (1.00m), maximum spread 3ft 6ins (1.05m), except open ditch and water. As this is a qualifier for a national final, the course should be set at, or near, maximum unless the judge considers that the ground makes this unsafe. Normally at least one upright and one spread must be at maximum.  If there is a class prior to this class at your show, there should be a change in track made.

5. A combination should normally be included, either as a straight double or as a related distance or offset double. Straight double distances, measured from the last element of the first fence to the first element of the second, should be 25ft (7.60m) or 35ft (10.60m) for uprights, slightly less for spreads.

6. There should be suitable variation in the fences, for example by including a selection of the following:

JUDGING AND MARKING

Where possible judges should be drawn from the Sports Horse Society of Great Britain judges list. If you are having difficulty you can use a respected, time-served judge from BRC, BHS or PC, but this must be cleared by BHS Scotland (jac.campbell@bhs.org.uk).  A recognised working hunter judge is normally advised.

7. The jumping phase should be judged first, followed by ride and conformation. Where two judges are officiating, and the jumping and ride are to be judged simultaneously, then the two phases must take place in separate rings.

8. An efficient marking steward must be appointed, and the judge must use the scorecard overleaf, marking as follows.

9. Faults for jumping are awarded as follows:

10. Total jumping faults are deducted from 40 to give total jumping points (this may be a minus score).

11. Points for style and presence whilst jumping are awarded from 0 to 20. A fluent smooth round at a fair pace earns high points; poor jumping style, propping into fences, lack of control, etc, should receive low points.

12. 40 points are awarded for ride and conformation. If there are two judges, judge A awards 20 for ride; judge B awards 20 for conformation.

13. It is the responsibility of the judge to ensure that the score card is correctly totalled, and in cases of doubt, to interpret these rules in the spirit of the competition.

14. All horses with clear rounds and any other horses the judges may require, should go forward to the ride and conformation judging (strip tack and ride each horse). Horses with minus scores will not be required for this phase of the class.

15. Where two judges are officiating, one judge marks the riding and the other the conformation. It should be possible for the marker to mark for both judges.

QUALIFIERS

16. The first THREE qualify for the final, even if they did not jump clear. If one of the first three has already qualified the qualification can be passed down to fourth place provided they have jumped clear.

The qualified riders MUST be a member of a British Riding Club by the time of the final.

This competition series is run under Sport Horse Breeding of Great Britain (SHB GB), the governing body of all hunter and sports horses classes.  It is the responsibility of organisers and competitors to be familiar with these rules; they can be found at http://www.sporthorsegb.co.uk.

Please be aware of rules :

5 i - All ridden hunters in classes where the Judge rides, the exhibits must be shod all round. No pads or surgical shoes are allowed.

5 k - No hind boots or bandages of any description are allowed in the collecting ring, warm up or in the actual class in Working Hunter and Ridden Sport Horse classes.

5 l - The Society discourages the showing of over fat horses and Judges will take this into consideration when making their awards.

Please remember that it must be the same horse/rider combination that completes the full competition. If a rider has multiple horses and goes clear on them all, they must pick one horse to take into the showing section. A change of rider is not allowed.

All Championship entries are checked to ensure the same horse/rider combination.

Sponsor

Our sponsor for 2026 is D&H.

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