Lexington, KY - The Florida Classic horse show in Wellington will host a qualifier for the 2006 FEI Children’s International Jumping Final this Saturday and Sunday, February 18 and 19.

Please note that, unlike the past two years, the 2006 Children’s Final will NOT be held in the U.S. What this means is that U.S. riders are considered “foreign” and will be invited according to the FEI Children’s International Jumping Competition rules using the worldwide standings listed on the FEI’s web site at www.horsesport.org.

These worldwide standings are calculated by the final score (total penalties and time) for each competitor from an official qualifying competition which consists of four rounds. The 16 foreign riders selected to participate in the Final are the best ten riders on the worldwide standings plus the best rider from the remaining FEI Groups (USA is in FEI Group IV) not already included in the best ten. No foreign country will be represented by more than two riders and depending on the results may not be represented at the Final.

A rider may compete in one qualifier at home and one in a foreign country and have the scores of both competitions count.

Competitors may ride two or more horses in the qualifier but the score of only one horse may count for points. This horse must be declared before the first competition begins and must be ridden as first horse in each first round. The results obtained with the second horse will not count towards the worldwide standings.

Additional U.S. qualifier/s will be announced shortly. For more information please visit our web site at www.usef.org or contact Jennifer Haydon, Director of Show Jumping for National Programs, at (859) 225-6911 or via email at [email protected].
~~~For more information, please contact Maria Partlow, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications, at (859) 225-6941, or via e-mail at [email protected].