The number of international events has increased spectacular over the past 10 years! There has been a 73 % increase in the number of jumping events, which included a growth of 105 % for the five-star events. FEI statistics show that while ten years ago there were 947 jumping events, the number increased to 1634 in 2018.

Photo – © ph.Stefano Grasso/LGCT

That also means that more riders than ever get the chance to prove themselves at five-star level. They get a shot at big prize money and a lot of world ranking points. While chasing the tail of the world’s best or attempting to earn as much money as they can to cover up for costs, horse management can for some riders become a challenge.

That is also why the FEI Jumping Consultation Round Table discussed earlier this year whether or not there should be concern in regard to the number of times that horses compete yearly. We’ve decided to take a look at the Hippomundo Rankings, sorted by points to take a look at the differences.

If we look at the first 15 horses, so the 15 horses with most point, than we can see that Dicas, ridden by Margie Goldstein-Engle did the most competition, with no less than 63 starts this year. Together they accumulated 1.115 point, which is exactly the same amount as Daniel Deusser and Scuderia 1918 Tobago Z jumped together in only 39 starts.

If we take a look at Explosion W and Darry Lou, number 1 and 2 on the Hippomundo Ranking based on prizemoney, we can see that both horses almost earned 1 million euros prize money but there is a huge difference in how both horses obtained that result! While Maher and Explosion W jumped together 2,100 points in 46 starts, Madden and Darry Lou jumped together ‘only’ 1,045 point in 24 classes!

Out of the top 100 horses based on ranking points, only 3 horses competed in 60 starts or more… These are Dicas, as mentioned before, Cheston de la Pomme d’Or Z (by Chippendale) and Dublin V (by SIEC Vigaro). Cheston de la Pomme d’Or Z and Omer Karaevli competed the most with no less than 70 starts. Dublin V and Laura Renwick on the other hand, participated in 60 starts.

Only 1 horse in the top 100 noted less than 20 starts this year. This honor is for Chaplin , who stands on a 60th place with 720 points. Together with Martin Fuchs this stallion jumped 19 rounds this year (including 2 national classes), being placed 52.6% and even winning 1 class out of 3! What a master of efficiency….