Let me start off this post by saying that my intention in writing this is not to annoy anyone, but rather to share a hot topic and give my view on it. I am not looking to persuade people, I just want to explain my point of view. I hope that no one is offended by this, I do not want to upset anyone. This is just a blog after all.
So this morning I was looking through my latest USDF Connections magazine and I saw a blurb on something I have been hearing about for years. It is looking like standards will be put in place for the 2009 show season requiring riders to qualify to ride at 3rd level or higher. I, and this is only my opinion, think that this is a good thing. For anyone who has already shown above 3rd level recognized it looks as though you will be grandfathered in.
The standards, at least as far as I can tell, are scores from previous shows at the lower levels. The main argument against these stands is that people who do not have very fancy and expensive horses will not be able to achieve these scores. I know plenty of horses that go correctly and are nice, but they are not flashy and will always score lower then a beautiful mover. It would break my heart if those people were not allowed to go through the levels. That being said they still score fairly well so I think that as long as the score requirements are fair there will be no problems with this. If the required lower scores are at or above a 60% you can bet that I will be in the lines of protest. I have a feeling that they will end up being much more realistic. Time will tell.
These requirements apply to the rider only mind you. If a person wants to take a green horse out at PSG they can feel free to do so. One of the reasons that I think having some requirement before showing 3rd comes from my own personal experience. Dressage is a money sport. As much as I wish it were not. Many times a very wealthy person will just decide that they want to show dressage. They have tons of resources and so they can go out and train with a Grand Prix trainer and buy a Grand Prix school master. They assume that since the horse is at such a high level they too are at a high level. Their trainers do not want to bite the hand that feeds them (in a manner of speaking) so they allow these people who have been riding dressage for a short amount of time to enter at 3rd level. They have no business riding at 3rd and will get poor scores. People at the lower levels will watch them ride, think that is what 3rd level is supposed to look like, and never check to see the poor score. It is bad for dressage and must be terribly frustrating to watch as a judge.
My next issue comes with the fact that at 3rd level a person is allowed to start riding in a double bridle. Some rider, who switch from other disciplines, feel that the double bridle is a mark of prestige (which it is) so they start at 3rd. They ride around on the curb forcing their horse to curl their head. It is so bad that in some cases I would consider it abuse. A double bridle is a privilege, not a right.
Now I am sure you are all saying to yourselves, “that is the judges job to score accordingly”. Which it is. But I am sad to say that many people have no issue going around with a medium score in the 40s or low 50s. They don’t care because they are still placing because there is so little competition (at the average show) at the upper levels they are almost always placing.
My final point is one that, I think anyway, is a very strong one. Let me tell you a quick story. Last year, a rider who will remain nameless decided that they wanted to switch over to dressage from another area. They went out and bought a Grand Prix horse. One that is as close to a push button horse as you can get. We are talking the kind of horse that you mearly need to move your hips and they will start doing half-steps. This rider went out and started showing at Grand Prix right away. They started off doing incredibly well. They even qualified for a very big deal show. Their scores were in the 60s. As time went on though this rider’s lack of dressage experience started to catch up with them and by the end of the year they were not doing well at all. Something like this, were a horse literally just carrys a rider to victory, should not be allowed to happen.
Feel free to disagree with me. That is what a comment is made for! But I stand by my thought because of all that I have seen and experienced in my time with dressage,
I read this yesterday and I was VERY excited to hear about this. I think it is a great rule. I think the reason for this rule is to protect horses from inexperienced riders as well. I have seen many upper level tests where the rider has a terrible seat. And I also agree that it is inhumane to the horse to allow a rider to ride in a double bridle that shouldn’t be. It is very discouraging for riders like myself to see someone who just started riding to go out and compete at the FEI tests. I really hope this rule goes into effect.
While I’m not a dressage rider (although an admirer) this seems even to me to be a sensible rule, one that will benefit both horse and rider in the long run. I think your analysis was well-thought-out and made a lot of sense.
[...] A Horse and a Half – 3rd Level Controversy [...]
It will be interesting to see how it all comes out in the end. I can see there are lots of things to consider.
While standards are being proposed and invented dressage scoring is changing. The new rule that weights the rider’s collective mark will affect the ability of people on a non-warmblood horse with gaits of 6 or “just” 7’s to meet the standards. How is that? Some judges already do rate the rider on what the rider produces. This is also being taught in the L judges program. Rider’s who produce gaits of 7 or 8 can and are being marked higher than riders who produce gaits of 6. Never mind that the horse may have had gaits of 9 or of 5.5 before the rider got involved with him. Also judges are already scoring riders lower in the collective marks because the rider did not score high enough “for that level”. If you take a blank score sheet and put scores on it reflecting horses with gaits of 6 compared to gaits of 8 and then follow the fashion of rating the rider according to what he can produce you will see that rider’s of the not so fancy horse may be eliminated from USDF competiton above 2nd level. It’s the math of gaits, not my personal opinion at all. Quite a few USDF officials already feel and state out loud that dressage is for all horses but USDF competition is not. The rider’s collective mark is more influential and less objectively technical than ever before.
Since the math on the score sheets often leaves people confused I would like to state my case a different way. Which rider should be allowed to ride in the next level? The one who rides a horse born with gaits of 5 or 6 to gaits of 7? Or the one who rides a horse born with gaits of 8 or 9 to gaits of 7? “The best kept secrets are between horse and rider,” not between horses and judges.
Linda- I agree with you that people get unfairly penalized by not having 9 movers. I wrote about that in the post. I, myself, am leasing a horse that is NEVER going to get a 7 on movements. I am not sure he can even get a 6. I still think that the level restriction is a good idea as long as the scores to qaulify for third level are reasonable. When I competed Gennyral we went agaisnt very nice horses that trainers would warm up for the rider. I was on my free horse that was almost sent to the meat packers (literally) 3 seperate times. I agree with everything you say but still stand by the fact that requirments are needed at the upper levels. My whole life goal is to simply get my USDF Bronze, as task that will be no easy feat since I will never be able to afford a fancy horse unless it is still a baby, and I have zero desire to train a horse. I hope that they only require a few scores at about a 50%. at second in order to qualify for third. You will here me change my tune if they decide to do any thing higher than that.
I am so glad to hear that people care about dressage. I was beginning to worry.
It sure feels good to hear from people who love riding so much that they will go through all the daily practice, studying, lessons, not so perfect horses all just to learn and have the partnership. We will never win money in dressage!
I doubt USDF is proposing any requirements below 60%. Janet Foy(Brown) has proposed average score requirements from 70% to 65% in the USDF On the Levels video , in Dressage Today and in The Chronicle of the Horse mag. Jane Savoie said something like “it should not take more than 10 shows” at one level to achieve the scores.
I am all for judges and TD’s defining abusive situations and then actually applying the standards. I am concerned about horses’ suffering and scores don’t necessarlly reflect a horse’s discomfort.. Sometimes I’ve recievd a low score because I didn’t push a young horse in the show ring for the first time. I let him be lazy and comfortable. Abuse is abuse, scores are scores and I don’t want the two mixed up.
I think there are things to learn and things to show on every horse. I think that if you want to take your 5/6 horse in front of a judge and get some technical evaluation you should be allowed. I don’t understand the point of limiting the riders. If there was abuse then the judge and the TD should have called it. Spur marks, wringing tail, unreasonable sweating, head tossing, sores in the mouth, inverting the neck, lugging on the bit, lolling tongues, etc. all can be called at any time no matter the scores.
The new score requirments are an attempt to raise the quality of dressage shows, according to Janet Foy. She brought up concerns about upper level horses being ridden badly and called that cruelty. But the reason for the requirments is to keep dressage shows prettier .
Linda- I love dressage. I think that there is something so beautful about the harmony that comes from it. I have lots of friends who just take dressage lessons to help with other disciplines like endurance riding and show jumping. I am not very good at it since it requires focus and precision (neither of which is my strong suit) but I do enjoy a challenge. My whole life’s goal (in dressage anyway) is just to get my USDF bronze medal.
I nearly fell off my chair reading that they want over a 65% at 2nd level. My trainer, who has a fancy horse that is correctly trained, only broke 65% about half of the time out at 2nd level. That leaves me no hope. I know who Janet Foy is and am not surprised by her comments. I just hope that someone calls people to common sense. I am a bit behind on my dressage today’s (just finished Jan 07) but I will have to skip ahead to see what possible rational people are giving for such a high score requirement.
In the shows where I have seen the abuse (and there have been multiple) I have seen judges complain about it after the test and yet still give the rider a score (albiet a low one) and not mention it to the TD.
Now that you have made me aware of what the standards are I am totally against them! I will write a whole post about it at somepoint when I am more caught up on the issue. I remeber years ago when a 55% was a good score. Now it seems that people will not even go out unless they are sure to get above a 60%. This rule is going to negativly impact dressage. I already knew it was a money sport, but this is just crazy.
I am in the midst of a great debate between myself and my trainer on wether or not to take X (my half lease) out to recognized shows. I know that he can never win (he is a 19 year old former hunter who is coming back from a broken hip) so I am not sure if I want to spend the money to come in dead last and get a bad score. I know at schooling shows I might not win, but if I ride correctly I can at least be competative to place. This gives me a lot to think about because if there is no hope (at least not in the near future) for me to get my USDF Bronze I don’t need to collect any USDF scores. Thank you for being so informative and correcting my naive notion that the USDF was actully trying to be helpful.
As for never winngin money in dressage…haha…my horses very first show was a dressage sweepstakes so I did win money at dressage! A whopping $44! That almost covers the cost of the entry
[...] in a level before moving on. In case you missed my previous post on this topic you can find it here. It is a hot button issue in dressage today because it brings so many issues that are occurring in [...]
I think that poor riders will still buy the fancy horses and still get the good scores. It has become all about the horses gaits, not the training. I have done lots and lots of showing. I have seen bad riding get scores in the 70’s numerous times. I don’t think this will change anything except to hold back good riders who can’t afford to buy good gaits.