Same here, I don’t read magazines online. I still had a year of DT left on my subscription, and have had the DTOnline video subscription forever (but never watched the videos), so after hearing of the drop to 4x a year, I went ahead and cancelled them both. Now I can spend the money on something else!
I don’t think anyone said she was [on the committee]. I believe her name was mentioned either because she had COMMENTED on the idea of qualifying scores, or because of the “chasing cattle” comment - which several of us have verified her as having said.
Now, that “chasing cattle” comment may have been something of a Freudian slip. If “in real life” she’s been willing to work with so-called off breeds, that’s great. Had she said, instead of “should be out chasing cattle,” that she didn’t like seeing horses dumped on the forehand - which is presumably what she MEANT, that’s what she should have said. But she didn’t. Why she phrased it that way, who knows? Or perhaps she made that comment far enough back prior to her interactions with you that she’s changed her mind and now is willing to put her efforts toward helping anyone/any breed of horse interested in improving their dressage.
More helpful comments are those like I received in a clinic with Lilo Fore where she said about my (then) TBX Appaloosa that “he (cannot) compete with the warmbloods in terms of movement, but if you are accurate in your riding in your training you can maximize your scores and still do well,” or “When I ask my WB for ‘more’ they come up and reach and give more suspension. Your racebred horses want to go faster. You must guard against this and if you do, you will be able to get ‘more’ without rushing.” (She also said, and you must imagine this with her accent, “Zis is not my type of horse, but if I DID have an Appaloooza, I vould vant one like zis!” )
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No, they didn’t learn to ride better. They left the sandbox.
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Quite correct. As a percentage of the population USDF membership has declined significantly over the past two+ decades. It’s cool how thick headed and single minded they are.
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In regard to the DT online content, I’ve actually found it really invaluable in terms of evaluating trainers I might want to ride with to see what they’re all about. Being able to watch Kasey Perry teach someone on a 5yo ottb is very useful to me versus hearing running commentary from a symposium with only professional riders.
Cynthia Collins headed a campaign on her FB page to get the rule rescinded, and it passed by a 70% vote! Many of us contacted our delegates and asked them to do so, Good job.
The rule is still in place. It could take place within a few months. The USDF Executive Board will request that USEF rescind this rule. It is now up to USEF. You must contact USEF. The USDF cannot make the change, it is up to USEF. USEF is going to make the final decision based on the recommendation coming from USDF.
I will add information on who to contact to get this to tale place. I think it really helped to give personal stories as to why this is a bad idea.
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Please let us know who to write. I have also asked Cynthia to write a group letter to USEF. Thank you to everyone for working on this.
She did. As well, many of us personally contacted our delegates.
You can also join Cyhthia’s Facebook group Musical Freestyle Riders. Dolly Hannon just chimed in:
“Dolly Hannon Please use the facts when posting .
The rule change proposal was submitted by the freestyle committee because it pertained to freestyles .
It was voted on and approved by the judges committee.
It was voted on and approved by the USEF dressage committee , voted on by the USDF board and the USEF board .
The members have spoken and we will see what the outcome is .”
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Regardless of how it happened, at least the poor judges were saved from being subjected to as many mediocre lower level freestyles.
Think of the children!!!
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Serious question - why shouldn’t anyone who wants to ride a freestyle be able to? Why is it a privilege which must be earned instead of a more fun and less intimidating option to get people interested in stepping into the ring?
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Freestyles are more difficult than regular tests, otherwise there would not be a degree of difficulty co-efficient
It is very hard to ride TO the music exactly each time in the same way. This takes a lot of skill and control. If it is
a hot day your horse might want to be behind the music. If it is cold your horse may be speedy and too much in front
of the music.
Remember in the Olympics only the top 18 get to showcase their talent in the freestyle.
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No, freestyles are not more difficult than a regular test. They can be, or they can be easier. The coefficient allows rewarding more difficulty.
The GP test requires 15 one tempis. You only need to do 9 in the freestyle. The freestyle allows you to place movements when and where they best suit your horse to maximize what they do well and minimize what they do not. I distinctly remember Isabel Werth winning a World Cup in Vegas and never did more than 9 one tempis in a straight line.
I find it a lot easier to ride to music, and I think the horses do, too.
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We’re not talking about Olympic competition…or even CDI’s run under FEI rules…we’re discussing competing at the US NATIONAL level…a long way from FEI.
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At the freestyle seminar I went to, the judges told everyone that if the difficulty is the same as the regular highest test (IE: 15 one tempi in GP and 3 passage-piaffe-passage transitions) that you would only get a 6.5.
15 one tempi on a curved line, double pirouettes and more than 3 passage/piaffe/passage transitions increase that score.
What many people overlook is that the degree of difficulty coefficient is the LOWEST coefficient on the freestyle tests… it is a coefficient of 2. Harmony, music, and interpretation are each coeff 3, choreography is coeff 4.
You can get a far higher score – and show the harmony the judges claim they are looking for – by emphasizing the other coeffs and disregarding degree of difficulty in your design. Difficulty is the icing on the cake and can be addressed by tweaking choreography as horse and rider develop.
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Fine. Whatever.
If the judges see shty riding…then they should give appropriately shty scores. No need for a qualifying score. The riders will get the message. It is embarrassing and no one wants to consistently get a 40% in their dressage tests.
The point is that the USDF is a member supported organization. Yet this rule was passed via a mechanism that not just bypassed all input from people that make up the bulk of the membership…but actually used a level of deceptiveness to keep info about this rule change from the membership.
The USDF will reap the seeds of what they have sown. USDF will eventually have to face up to the consequences of their actions. I forecast reduced number of volunteers and a slowly decaying member base.
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The forum was clear that National Freestyle artistic score
follows the same principles as the FEI principles.
Sigh…the USDF is NOT the FEI…they just wannabe.
The USDF is a member supported organization…they should listen to their members.
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I think it’s neat how they are making two arguments, maybe three, that all seem to contradict or be outright lies or completely unquantifiable because outright lies haha
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we need to raise the scores because people are so good that there are too many freestyles
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raising the scores in the past made people better, so we are really doing this to help people be good, instead of embarrassing themselves and boring judges.
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raising the scores made everyone worse because score inflation, so now a 60% rider is insufficient and abusive, so we need to exclude riders rather than “improving” judging.
Seriously the leadership has lost it, I have zero interest in giving the organization a dollar given their present antipathy towards membership and honestly the sport.
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In my experience, riding a freestyle WELL is indeed more difficult than riding a regular test Well.
Perhaps that is what halfpass meant. I agree with Gram V that they do not necessarily HAVE to be more difficult than the highest regular test of the level, in terms of the pattern and the movements.
In my opinion a Freestyle ought to be choreographed deliberately to be (or at least, appear to be) more difficult-- and definitely to be more interesting, than the highest test of the level.
But I realize that is just my opinion. I have a theater background and I approach the task with a sense of showmanship. I want to convey something entertaining. That’s part of what drew me to the discipline. To me riding in the arena with my show clothes on is akin to a stage appearance, and even more so in my Freestyles. If someone else wants to make theirs “easier” because that’s how they need to ride it in order to get through it, then it’s their business. Although, I suppose that approach is partly what this new rule attempted to address.
I noted back on page one, I think, that in the shows I attend in Arizona (Region 5) and California (Region 7) there are just not that many Freestyles. I have ridden them at both First Level and Third in both regions. There have been times at rated shows when mine was the only Freestyle shown that day. ONE rider.
Subsequent data I’ve seen related to the rule change indicate that both regions where I compete represent the fewest number of Freestyles ridden throughout the USEF. My home region, 5, has the very lowest number of all. So from my perspective it’s just so weird to accept that judges, in general, are seeing too much of a bad thing, in general.
If I were showing or even spectating in New York or Florida or Seattle, then my perspective might be more like those who pushed for this change. Even if there are many bad ones being judged somewhere else, it hardly seems so drastic a problem as to have pushed the rule through as extraordinary.
I do feel riders should be compelled to demonstrate some skill at the level and to plan something that is a step above the highest test of the level. I personally feel a Freestyle should be treated like the fourth test of the level. I don’t think rushing stricter requirements through is the most diplomatic way to compel people to raise the bar. I don’t know what is.
