British Show Jumping Association
affiliated events at Lough Farm

Lough Farm runs BSJA affiliated events throughout the year.  If you want to be kept informed of other Affiliated Events fill out the on-line Registration Form.  Please click here to find details of the next Affiliated Event to be held at Lough Farm

A short history of the BSJA.

In the early 1900's an Italian horse mounted officer, Federico Caprilli, changed forever the approach to competitive horse jumping, by altering the riding sitting posture.  His way of 'sitting forward' in order to maintain balance when on horse back, was quickly adopted by those riders who enjoyed horse jumping and support for jumping as a new competitive sport grew quickly.

As a result in 1907 at Olympia the first international horse show was held, which had a horse jumping class.

As the popularity of the sport continued to increase, anomalies started to creep into the decision making process of deciding the winners of the competitions.  For example there was no standard for jumping faults, as the individual judges looked at the severity of the jump and decided accordingly what penalties to apply, or not as the case may be.  Apparently there was no penalty for a refusal in those early days.

Gradually it became clear, as more and more competitions took place, that there needed to be a 'governing body' which would lay down guidelines applicable to these events.

In 1923 the British Show Jumping Association was formed, its aim was to provide a consistent fair base for judging show jumping events run under its' association, together with, of course, consideration of the welfare of the horses who competed.  Nowadays, at each affiliated event, there will be a minimum of 2 judges and the event courses are built and designed by BSJA recognised course builders.

In 2002 at the Royal International Horse Show a 'Sporting Equals Racial Equality Charter' which had been previously prepared and drawn up, was officially signed. 

Horses and Ponies must be registered in accordance with rankings as outlined by the BSJA.  All the information can be obtained from the BSJA website, link given below.  There are also non-riding memberships.

Competing successfully under BSJA registration can lead to qualifying for some of the UK's most prestigious show jumping events, such as The Festival of Show Jumping, The Royal International Horse Show, or the Horse of the Year show.