The Ontario Hunter Jumper Association sent its members the following letter on May 25th:
This pandemic has been challenging for so many, in so many different ways. Like many nonprofits, the OHJA is faced with a shortage of funds as we work to protect the programs that our members know and love.
As a nonprofit volunteer-driven group dedicated the growth of our sport, the OHJA operates solely on two sources of income. These are the OHJA membership fee and the JC Levy, which is collected through the Jumping Committee of Equestrian Canada.
Forty percent of JC Levy funds collected at Ontario Gold Horse Shows have traditionally gone to the OHJA. For the last thirty years, we’ve leveraged this money and our membership fees against hundreds of volunteer hours to run meaningful horse show programs that are dedicated to the growth and preservation of our sport.
In 2020, the Jumping Committee made the decision to disperse all collected levy funded to support horse show organizers who were faced with additional challenges and costs because of the pandemic. Unfortunately, we were informed just last week that Equestrian Canada will not be awarding levy funds to the OHJA in 2021 either.
Without the Jumping Committee funding for two consecutive years, the OHJA has made the decision to add a small OHJA Levy for the 2021 show season.
Having only received this notification from Equestrian Canada last week, the OHJA Board had to act quickly to protect its horse show programs and points tabulation.
For 2021, a small fee of $4 will be charged on each entry at Gold Show venues. One hundred percent of this levy will be invested directly into our sport, through the operations of OHJA programs. These programs include the hunter stake classes and classics, the Junior/ Amateur Derbies, the Pony Power series, the Super Jumper Weekends, Young Hunter Development Series, Stake Classes for the .90m and 1m jumpers, and the OHJA Medal and OHJA CET Medal.
Through these unprecedented times, the OHJA Board is committed to protecting these programs for our members and their equine partners. Over the long term, the Board will stay focused on maintaining our ability to continue to offer our horse show programming by exploring other funding options and eliminating this new $4 levy. We will work hard to make this sure this small fee is only a temporary measure.
There’s a light at the end of this long COVID-19 tunnel, and we know what that means (among other things!): getting to celebrate our shared love of horses and this sport at horse shows soon.
Please visit OHJA.ca/levy for more information. If you have questions about the Jump Canada levy, please reach out to Equestrian Canada.
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