IHSA riding levels

[Wonders12]

[QUOTE=mandarin3;6548592]
One more question about IHSA rider levels. Is the placement dependent solely on rated show performance? Our area does not have equitation on the flat at rated shows, so my D only has 1 blue ribbon on the flat (out of 2 classes). She will be placed in either open or intermediate for fences. She has quite a bit of 3’6" + experience but not a ton of blue ribbons (good placings but not a lot of wins). If they count her blues in children’s jumpers at 3’5" (but fences usually just set at 3’6"), then she would have to do open. But with her lack of blue’s on the flat, does that mean she can do novice flat? Just wouldn’t seem right, as she has qualified for IEA nationals in open flat twice, and placed at nationals once. The coach indicated all riders would be placed at the lowest level they qualify for.[/QUOTE]

Hj answered this, but if her fences placement is higher than her flat, she can move down one division to flat. If her flat is higher than her fences placement, she can ride one or two fences levels below her flat.

Yes, IHSA only categorizes by recognized competitions (at the higher levels). An open rider is “Open riders over fences are those who have won more than six classes in any over fences class three feet, six inches (3’6”) or higher in recognized competitions." So jumpers classes do work, but if they’re only rated to 3’5", that is not 3’6".

However, as an IHSA captain for many years, please trust the coach’s placement and be happy and supportive of your daughter regardless of which level she is in. I’m always shocked at how many riders and parents want to be placed higher. Why? It’s going to be more competitive, you’re going to lose more, and you’re more likely to get a horse you can’t handle! If your daughter really is that good, then put her intermediate, let her win for a year or two before she moves up, then she’ll be prepared and confident going into open.

Around here, putting a brand new freshmen into open is a little like throwing them to the wolves anyways. The girls are nice, but it is a VERY competive class on some challenging horses. Many of these riders are in their 4th year with IHSA and there is zero room for error. It’s just a very unforgiving place for a freshman who may or may not sneak into the level.

And finally, in my experience, IEA open just plain does not compare to IHSA open. It just doesn’t.

Feel free to post any more questions, but trust your daughter’s program. They’ve been doing this a lot longer than you have, and they really want what’s best for your daughter and the team.

[To_the_MAX]

There could be a lot of reasons why a rider would be perfectly OK in intermediate and not in open. Mainly, in my region, the open horses were usually quite a bit more difficult than the intermediate/novice horses. If you place into open but have only ridden one horse, or if you took a lengthy break from riding for whatever reason, it may not be the greatest idea to show in open.

I remember at one of my region’s shows there was a girl in an open flat class who, when asked to drop stirrups, was SO bouncy and unbalanced that she actually agitated the horse so much that it took off. Then she couldn’t get it under control and catapulted off the thing into the wall.

[To_the_MAX]

There could be a lot of reasons why a rider would be perfectly OK in intermediate and not in open. Mainly, in my region, the open horses were usually quite a bit more difficult than the intermediate/novice horses. If you place into open but have only ridden one horse, or if you took a lengthy break from riding for whatever reason, it may not be the greatest idea to show in open.

I remember at one of my region’s shows there was a girl in an open flat class who, when asked to drop stirrups, was SO bouncy and unbalanced that she actually agitated the horse so much that it took off. Then she couldn’t get it under control and catapulted off the thing into the wall. No matter HOW she got there, she should NOT have been riding at that level.

[mandarin3]

I wasn’t questioning having my daughter placed in intermediate–she would actually prefer that. I was questioning placing her in novice flat because of her lack of blue ribbons on the flat (due to not showing equitation flat at rateds). I understand things are different for IHSA, but she would never qualify for a novice class at a rated show. She is certainly capable of riding without stirrups, including jumping a course, and she is familiar with riding unknown horses through IEA. I am sure she will be happy wherever the coach places her (assuming she even decides to ride on the team–not sure about that yet d/t wanting to experience and try new things in college.) She has not yet met the coach, she has only talked to some people that are on the team and they told her the coach’s policy is to place a rider as low as he/she can qualify for. I looked up the rules and saw that technically she could ride novice flat, but she is not a novice rider. So I was wondering if anything else was considered in the placings, not just rated show results. The team is rather small and relatively new, and last year they didn’t even fill all the levels, so my guess is they will place her at whatever level they need to fill.

[silver_charm]

I think your problem is thinking about the class name literally? Novice flat in no way means novice rider. I rode in Advanced W/T/C - and I had been riding my entire life, could clock around 2’6" fine on any given lesson horse, and was the one stuck on the greenies/problem horses. But I had never shown, so I wasn’t even a ‘novice’.

Trust me, there will be riders with way more experience than her in the novice classes. It’s all part of the game.

[mandarin3]

Ok–that makes sense. Thanks.

[bear_necessities]

[QUOTE=mandarin3;6551402]
I wasn’t questioning having my daughter placed in intermediate–she would actually prefer that. I was questioning placing her in novice flat because of her lack of blue ribbons on the flat (due to not showing equitation flat at rateds). I understand things are different for IHSA, but she would never qualify for a novice class at a rated show. She is certainly capable of riding without stirrups, including jumping a course, and she is familiar with riding unknown horses through IEA. I am sure she will be happy wherever the coach places her (assuming she even decides to ride on the team–not sure about that yet d/t wanting to experience and try new things in college.) She has not yet met the coach, she has only talked to some people that are on the team and they told her the coach’s policy is to place a rider as low as he/she can qualify for. I looked up the rules and saw that technically she could ride novice flat, but she is not a novice rider. So I was wondering if anything else was considered in the placings, not just rated show results. The team is rather small and relatively new, and last year they didn’t even fill all the levels, so my guess is they will place her at whatever level they need to fill.[/QUOTE]

I rode in IHSA shows from 07-09, yes- you fill out the questionaire but your coach is ultimately the one that decides what “level” you will show at. Any major dispute between the paperwork and coach’s decision will be looked at by the head of your region. It’s really not that big of a deal, if she is placed below her capabilities, she will point up in no time to the next level.

There seems to be some confusion. At least when I was riding IHSA, you could NOT jump levels right off the bat, for example your coach could not place you in novice (3) for the flat but then open (8) over fences. You are either placed in 1, 2A, 2B, 3/4, 5/6 or 7/8. The only hodgepodge I saw was a rider being in 4/5 or 6/7 because they had pointed up.

[Renn_aissance]

[QUOTE=mandarin3;6551402]
I wasn’t questioning having my daughter placed in intermediate–she would actually prefer that. I was questioning placing her in novice flat because of her lack of blue ribbons on the flat (due to not showing equitation flat at rateds). I understand things are different for IHSA, but she would never qualify for a novice class at a rated show. She is certainly capable of riding without stirrups, including jumping a course, and she is familiar with riding unknown horses through IEA. I am sure she will be happy wherever the coach places her (assuming she even decides to ride on the team–not sure about that yet d/t wanting to experience and try new things in college.) She has not yet met the coach, she has only talked to some people that are on the team and they told her the coach’s policy is to place a rider as low as he/she can qualify for. I looked up the rules and saw that technically she could ride novice flat, but she is not a novice rider. So I was wondering if anything else was considered in the placings, not just rated show results. The team is rather small and relatively new, and last year they didn’t even fill all the levels, so my guess is they will place her at whatever level they need to fill.[/QUOTE]

My sister is in a similar position to your daughter; she is not what you’d call a “novice” rider, she’s competent at 3’ and competed successfully in the open division in IEA. She also was placed novice because her show results dictate that. She’s the queen of the red ribbon! I was team captain for my college’s team and want to echo what another poster said- “novice” doesn’t mean “novice rider,” it’s just a name for “doesn’t have to ride against the open classes for awhile.” Best of luck to her!

[mandarin3]

Thanks for everyone’s help. If she chooses to ride in college (I hope she does, we sold her horse and I hope she continues to ride), then she will ride wherever they place her. I was getting hung up on the word novice–my daughter has shown successfully in the jr and a/o jumpers at 4’3", and I was having trouble wrapping my brain around her being a “novice” rider. It is making more sense now.

[erniewalker]

In my experience, our coach was extremely dilligent about checking actual mounted skill level.

I had shown exactly twice before college, and had a handful of ribbons from a barely-recognised local show series. Doesn’t look great on paper. But then we had a riding eval, and for those who were interested, a jumping eval. I somehow magically got placed in Novice flat and Novice fences, even though technically, I could have been WTC with my complete lack of a show record. Apparently, though, piloting a nutcase horse over a course accurately while he’s bolting and blowing was enough of a confidence vote that I could handle jumping 2’3" fences on a strange horse.

[Lucy17]

[QUOTE=mandarin3;6551611]
Thanks for everyone’s help. If she chooses to ride in college (I hope she does, we sold her horse and I hope she continues to ride), then she will ride wherever they place her. I was getting hung up on the word novice–my daughter has shown successfully in the jr and a/o jumpers at 4’3", and I was having trouble wrapping my brain around her being a “novice” rider. It is making more sense now.[/QUOTE]

And if she chooses to ride for her school, don’t get hung up on ANYTHING you witness IHSA. Seriously. Total waste of energy.

I could write a book on the crap (I really, really want to use some choice words here) I witnessed over my 4 years and it got to the point where my best friend and I were asking ourselves why we were doing it. The good thing for me outside of the ring was that I’d moved up the ranks with the student gov’t body that over saw club sports at my very large university, so that was post-college resume material.

Representing your school is awesome - but you’ve got to take IHSA antics with a grain of salt.

[hj0519]

[QUOTE=Lucy17;6551738]
And if she chooses to ride for her school, don’t get hung up on ANYTHING you witness IHSA. Seriously. Total waste of energy.

I could write a book on the crap (I really, really want to use some choice words here) I witnessed over my 4 years and it got to the point where my best friend and I were asking ourselves why we were doing it. The good thing for me outside of the ring was that I’d moved up the ranks with the student gov’t body that over saw club sports at my very large university, so that was post-college resume material.

Representing your school is awesome - but you’ve got to take IHSA antics with a grain of salt.[/QUOTE]

I completely agree with this. Between the politics of IHSA and the politics of the team itself, there were many, many times where I asked myself why I was doing it.

I guess I thought it was worth it in the end because I stuck it out for four years, but there was a lot of not-so-good experiences mixed in with the good.

[Renn_aissance]

And I had great experiences, so your mileage may vary.

[supershorty628]

[QUOTE=Renn/aissance;6552809]
And I had great experiences, so your mileage may vary. :)[/QUOTE]

Agreed! I loved IHSA. I haven’t done it since my freshman year for varying reasons (was not in school for a semester, then was out for half the season with shoulder surgery, now busy applying to vet school and playing with my mare who came out to school with me), but I’m really hoping to show in alum after I graduate.

[To_the_MAX]

@Renn/aissance;6552809

And I had great experiences, so your mileage may vary.

Seconded! (Thirded? LOL)

[comingback]

[QUOTE=Renn/aissance;6552809]
And I had great experiences, so your mileage may vary. :)[/QUOTE]

IHSA is what it is. Teams will differ as will experiences. I personally had a blast and met some life long friends.

PS…thanks for defining YMMV. I always wondered what that meant:)

[Rel6]

[QUOTE=Renn/aissance;6552809]
And I had great experiences, so your mileage may vary. :)[/QUOTE]

This. It all depends on the school. My school IHSA team is AMAZING and has taught me so much and given me so many opportunities. Its really thanks to my school’s IHSA team that I now own my own horse for the first time in my life.

[Rel6]

[QUOTE=bear necessities;6551452]

There seems to be some confusion. At least when I was riding IHSA, you could NOT jump levels right off the bat, for example your coach could not place you in novice (3) for the flat but then open (8) over fences. You are either placed in 1, 2A, 2B, 3/4, 5/6 or 7/8. The only hodgepodge I saw was a rider being in 4/5 or 6/7 because they had pointed up.[/QUOTE]

I’ve seen riders who join the team as novice over fences and open flat. It definitely is allowed (if that is where your qualifications place you, its not coach’s discretion.) It says so in the rulebook, you just can’t be below novice on the flat if you qualify for novice/int/open over fences.

[hj0519]

[QUOTE=comingback;6553131]
IHSA is what it is. Teams will differ as will experiences. I personally had a blast and met some life long friends.

PS…thanks for defining YMMV. I always wondered what that meant:)[/QUOTE]

I had a blast and met lifelong friends, too. I loved it enough to ride on my team for four years, but it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. I had my issues with some of the stuff that happened, though.

Your daughter’s experience in the IHSA will dependent a lot on the team she’s riding on and the region she’s in.

[To_the_MAX]

[QUOTE=hj0519;6553882]
Your daughter’s experience in the IHSA will dependent a lot on the team she’s riding on and the region she’s in.[/QUOTE]

As with anything, it is what you make it.