Again this year we’re jointly writing a year-end column for the Chronicle’s American Horses In Sport special issue. Unlike past columns that discussed a variety of topics and trends in the hunter/jumper world, we felt strongly that the fourth annual U.S. Hunter Jumper Association Annual Meeting was such a milestone event that it deserved more of our attention.

If you weren’t in Phoenix, Ariz., for the meeting last December, you should have been. How far this young association has come in a very short time!