WCHR Qualification Guidelines for 2020 Capital Challenge Horse Show Announced

Upper Marlboro, MD – The Capital Challenge Horse Show will welcome the country’s top hunter horses and riders for the year-end finale of the World Championship Hunter Rider (WCHR) Program, to be held on September 28 – October 4, 2020, at the Prince George’s Equestrian Center in Upper Marlboro, MD. 

Due to the ongoing impact of the coronavirus pandemic, adjustments have been made to the WCHR Program’s qualification requirements at Capital Challenge Horse Show and regional and national standings protocols for 2020 only. 

Taylor Ashe Cawley and By4 Now, winners of the 2019 $2,500 WCHR Pony Challenge at Capital Challenge.

Photo by Jump Media

As in the past, WCHR members – including Professionals, Developing Professionals, Amateur Owners, Adult Amateurs, Juniors, Children’s, and Pony riders – will continue to qualify for national and regional awards by earning points at member events held throughout the country. The top nationally and regionally ranked riders in each category will qualify and come together to compete in year-end challenge classes, which are held annually at Capital Challenge. ​

The changes made to these standings and qualification protocols for 2020 are as follows: 

🔹 A WCHR member’s top two member events will count toward their regional and national standings. (Previously, a rider’s top four member events were counted toward these standings.)

🔹 A WCHR member may request one region change prior to August 31. Regional points are not retroactive, and no region change requests will be accepted once the final member event has begun in the member’s originally declared region.

🔹 The top 10 nationally ranked riders in each category, as well as the top 10 regionally ranked riders from each region and in each category, will be invited to compete in their respective WCHR challenge class at the 2020 Capital Challenge Horse Show. (In prior years, only the top six regionally ranked riders in each category qualified to compete at Capital Challenge.)

🔹 The top four to six riders competing in the Professional, Developing Professional, Amateur Owner, Adult Amateur, Junior, Children’s, and Pony divisions at the Capital Challenge Horse Show that are not already pre-qualified will additionally be accepted into their respective challenge classes.

​🔹 Points earned at all WCHR member events are based on the WCHR increment chart and count toward the national and regional standings. This year, points earned in the WCHR challenge classes at Capital Challenge will be doubled. 

The WCHR Program was founded in 1992 as a component of the United States Hunter Jumper Association (USHJA), recognizing and celebrating the hunter rider. Full details, specifications, and standings can be found online here or by visiting www.USHJA.org.