I am showing Intro level at a recognized dressage show. For this, I should not need a USDF or USEF membership, correct? Do I have to pay a non-member USEF fee? I didn’t think I had to have any memberships until Training Level and needed USEF ONLY if I wanted to compete for awards. Am I misremembering? The USEF website is useless.
Contact the show secretary. They will be able to accurately answer your questions. USEF and USDF also have phon numbers you can call, and a real person will answer (!).
Sadly, not on a saturday afternoon and my entry is being held.
Oh jeez!
You cannot contact anyone who is running the show? Who is holding your entry?
The show is holding it, but I am trying to verify that I need the USEF membership. I am pretty sure I have shown without it in the past. Just trying not to spend money I don’t need to spend.
If you show in the opportunity classes, you do not need memberships and the nonmember fee is waived. If you choose to show without obtaining memberships, you will pay a nonmember fee for USEF and USDF (something like 35-45 each) for the show. The rider and owner need USDF and USEF memberships to avoid paying the nonmember fee. The horse just needs a USDF HID, unless you are going for regional qualifications or year end awards. Then you need a USDF lifetime horse card and an annual USEF horse recording. Good luck!
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If you show only in opportunity classes, you don’t need the memberships, and the non-member fees are waived.
Here’s where one has to be careful: If the show allows cross‐entry into non-opportunity classes (not all do) and a horse or rider enters other (non‐opportunity) classes in which membership by participants is required, all USEF & USDF membership requirements apply for horse, rider, owner, trainer, etc.
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SillyHorse. I assume Intro and Opportunity are the same and nothing is required, however the show insisted that I had to have USEF and Safesport training, so pretty sure I just spent $55 I didn’t have to spend.
Intro and Opportunity are not the same - Intro is a level, and Opportunity is a class designation for multiple levels (usually training and first, e.g., you can ride a first level test in an Opportunity class). So if you are riding Intro, and the show secretary said you needed the USEF membership (and therefore Safesport training), they are likely correct (unless you wanted to ride Intro in an Opportunity class).
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Feathered_Feet is correct, Intro is a level and Opportunity is a class designation.
The silver lining us that as a USEF member, there are some benefits you might be able to take advantage of. Good luck at the show, and have fun.
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