In my opinion, the problem with “amount of money” is when remuneration is paid for one thing, but includes riding, training, etc.
For instance, if Betty Boarder pays $1000 a month in board, to barn owner Odette, and Odette rides/trains/exercises Betty’s horse once a month (or once a week, or once a day), HOW MUCH of that $1000 should be considered income (to Odette) for riding.training exercising?
@Janet: here is what you wrote:
When I was a junior, the only people competing as Amateurs were
it was never intended for people who worked for a living.
These two statements imply that the amateurs were not intended to include people who worked for a living…If that’s not what you meant, fine, but that’s how it reads.
Back in the day, no. It was not intended to include the working class. The original Pro/Ammy split was (in hunters) to separate the trainers from competing against their adult students…“ladies who lunch.” Amateurs from very wealthy families who didn’t have a job; their activities included hacking Dobbin, planning charity activities, attending society brunch, shopping downtown, supporting the arts, etc. They sponsored riders/trainers with horses, and rode a little on the side. When they wanted to compete they wanted to win ribbons in a class of their peers, not vs the professsional trainers/riders they employed.
The days of the DuPonts are basically gone, replaced by hardworking, well-earning amateurs who scrap together money and time to afford the sport. Still, how you earn a living is not strongly correlated with your skill and experience as a rider. If I gallop racehorses for a paycheck, it has no benefit at all to my dressage skills…but the exercise rider must compete as a pro in EVERY USEF discipline, because it involves riding horses for renumeration. I very much appreciate the Horse and Rider divisions in eventing, that evens the field with respective experience instead of how you earn a living.
Yep!
And if anyone is wondering if it was “fair” because I (a “pro”) competed against non-pro’s in the 3rd level and under division… my horse wigged out 3 seconds after the initial halt, reared, dropped me like a bad habit and jumped out of the ring. :lol:
I am a threat to no amateur !
… that was a long drive home
great explanation!!
And somebody agreed with me… So I guess people are great around you, better then in the rest of the US… And its kind of sad, because you already needed to prove me that you do not break any rules… Isn’t that sad??
I said I don’t know anyone. That means, I don’t know anyone personally. I definitely don’t know everyone in my area, so it’s quite possible they exist, I just don’t know them.
No, it’s not sad. It’s annoying, sure, but such is life.
A good answer but not always THE answer for every horse. I have a VERY steady horse. I know how lucky I am. Last year we were scheduled for the first ride of the day on foggy winter Jacksonville morning. Bravo very uncharacteristicly totally rebelled - many evasions and misbehaviors in the warm up arena. I scratched and my trainer popped on and we switched riders for my second class (she rode HC) and fixed the issue.
And no it was not medical/etc. All that was addressed the next week by professionals. So no, every show - indeed every DAY - is a new day.
Bit of a tangent…
Based on the article today about the FEI’s stance on online shows, they said that FEI riders/horses can’t participate in unsanctioned events in the 6 months before an FEI competition. Does that mean a rider at the FEI level couldn’t attend a schooling show at all?
Riders who are FEI members only. So only those showing or planning to do a CDI.
I was wondering that too! If so, that seems like a really strange rule. I have done a handful of CDIs and am not sure that I didn’t do a schooling show in the 6 months before (maybe on a young horse) because that wasn’t even on my radar. (Don’t worry, I didn’t steal any ribbons because I never won anything except a couple CDI-Am classes in which I was the only rider who finished the test! :lol:) If it’s not too much of a tangent, can someone explain to me why that rule exists?
Where does the article exist? Can you link it, or at least describe what to search?
It’s a new rule as of 2020–FEI judges are also not allowed to judge schooling shows.
ETA: I can’t explain the why of the rule(s) except maybe they could argue that it keeps everyone above board? Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s ridiculous.
In some articles about the dispute between FEI and the Global Champions Tour in show jumping the argument is that unsanctioned events don’t provide the necessary horse welfare oversight and could facilitate an unfair playing field by allowing horses to be trained and compete under less stringent rules. Global Champions took the FEI to court in Europe claiming FEI was creating an monopoly. The organizations reached an agreement a few years ago.
Sounds like the rule has been around for a while?
You are correct, my bad! I even sort of remember the thing with the GCL. I think the moratorium on FEI judges judging non sanctioned shows is either new or newly enforced though? I was the secretary of a non sanctioned show last year and we had and FEI judge who agreed to come back this year, who then had to back out this winter because of this rule.
There’s been a couple mentions already, but not much attention. Eventing has a pretty good solution to this. At each level the divisions are Horse, Rider, and Open. Horse and Rider divisions are restricted to the respective member of the team not having completed more than 2 levels above where they’re entering. (It used to be more than one level above, which I think was better.)
So:
Horse division = any rider on a horse that hasn’t competed higher.
Rider division = any horse, with a rider who hasn’t competed higher.
Open = any horse and any rider.
If entries warrant, the Rider division may be further broken down as Junior and Senior by rider age.
Not uncommon for the Training Rider division to include a mix of true ammys, working students, low-level local instructors, and occasionally a professional from another sport.
It sounds like the BLM divisions were patterned along this model. Here’s hoping it catches on. It’s the closest thing to a level playing field I’ve seen.
Love this idea!
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