Could not agree more!
I agree, and this is a really big deal. I’ve posted before about my experience with Modified - my horse and I were confidently running at Training, and like you, maybe getting a bit bored. Ran a Modified with her, and though we were clear it helped me realize that we had some things to work on before we went Prelim. Worked on those things for a winter, ran another Modified and smoked around, which told me she was ready for Prelim. Moved her up to Prelim, and she was fabulous - super confident and comfortable with the questions (which is not to say it was entirely smooth, but it was clear we were in the right division).
It’s really important to stress that the holes that showed at Modified did not show at Training. It’s also important to stress that while we weren’t punished for those holes at Modified, we absolutely would have been at Prelim. To me, that makes Modified the definition of an important experience. I firmly believe that having that level available to us not only made us better, it made us safer.
Unfortunately for organizers, many riders use it (quite rightly) as a stepping stone between the two levels, and as a result I don’t see many people staying at the level for long. In smaller areas, this can mean that perhaps the divisions are thinner, and I worry that organizers will take that to mean it’s not an important offering when in fact it’s the exact opposite - Modified is so important that when it does it’s job effectively, you don’t see riders hanging around at the level because they have moved up. I hope organizers realize what a big difference this level makes to people trying to make their way up to Prelim, especially for the first time for horse/rider. So glad to hear your divisions were full!
