Showing in the US?

[thereadinghorse]

Hey,

I’m new to COTH and new to the US horse world at all. I came here due to an influencer horse that was sold from Germany to the US to become a h/j. Never saw this page before and started reading right away. Whilst doing this some questions came up about riding and showing in the US in general. So here I am, torturing you with all these questions Please excuse any spelling/grammar or other mistakes. I’m german, so my english might be bad

First thing that I came across is how showing seems to be very expensive? It this only true for H/J or does this apply to dressage/sj/eventing, too?

Second question would be: How many clubs/associations/organizations are there for horse shows? Germany has only one association for dressage/sj/eventing (FN) and two (EWU and DQHA) for western riding. In addition we have some small clubs for special riding disciplines like Working Equitation or Icelandics but in general, if you compete in the standard disciplines like dressage etc. it’s only the FN and nothing else.

Next thing I came across is those “full board” barns. Is it really that common to have a barn where EVERYTHING is cared for and looked after by staff? Like you book a trainer from that barn which gives you lessons, rides your horse, a groom, that brushes your horse, cleans your tack? Or is this again only something done in the H/J world? This concept is so rare in Germany, actually I don’t even know, if it really exists. Might be, some really rich kids have such things, but it’s not common to have such barns around here.

And the last thing, which I found strange was the concept of leasing horses. We do have such arrangements, where people who can’t afford to buy a horse, lease one. But this is very, very rare and most times this wouldn’t include riding shows with the horse or just leasing it for shows.

I’m really curious to get to know more about riding and horses in the US. Thanks to everyone, who reads and answers this. Your input is much appreciated

[Janet]

USEF is the “National Federation”, and covers all the FEI sports, as well and many breeds, and Show Hunters. There are subsidiary, but national, organizations for specific disciplines (USDF for Dressage, USEA for Eventing, USHJA for Hunters and Jumpers, etc.), as well as national breed specific organizations. There are also lots of local organizations that may or may not be discipline specific.

If you are, for instance, competing in “recognized” dressage shows, you must be a member of, and the horse must be registered with, BOTH USDF and USEF. (For hunters, it would be both USEF and USHJA.)

There are plenty of “full service” barns, but also plenty that are just boarding barns. The full service barns are more common in Hunters and Jumpers, but they also exist in Dressage and Eventing.

Leasing runs the full gamut from a “care lease”, where you take over all the expenses and responsibilities, but pay no lease fees (these often allow you to compete), to leasing, for an enormous price, an experienced show horse for one show.

There are also “in barn” leases, where you pay a fixed monthly fee which allows you to ride that horse a specific number of days per week, in addition to taking lessons.

And there are paid leases in which you pay an annual lease fee (typically 1/3 the value of the horse), AND pay all the expenses. This is usually specifically for the purpose of competing.

ETA to fix typical lease fee.
ETA again to say that, while there is a “Western” discipline under USEF, most Western competitions are under other organizations, especially reining, cutting, and barrel racing.

[NoSuchPerson]

The US is a big country and there is a tremendous amount of variation among the different parts of the country and different disciplines. Showing can be expensive at the top levels in any of the disciplines (H/J, dressage, reining, saddleseat…). But, it can also be pretty inexpensive at the local levels.

For example, I have a friend whose kids belong to a local youth rodeo club. They compete in barrel racing, pole bending, and maybe (goat roping?). The parents do all the work of putting on the 1-day competitions and solicit sponsors for the ribbons and trophies. No fancy clothes necessary, entry fees are cheap, and everyone has a great time.

There are plenty of these kinds of shows in all disciplines, typically put on by local clubs or lesson barns or county horsemen’s associations. Very affordable.

As far as “full board” goes, in the vast majority of places, full board simply means that the barn supplies hay and feed and barn staff feed & water your horse, turn it out/bring it in, and clean your horse’s stall. My horse is at a place like this. If I come out to ride, I catch my horse, groom him, tack him up, ride him, untack him, hose him off if needed, and take care of my own tack and assorted stuff. I’m responsible for getting my horse ready to go to shows and for keeping track of all my own stuff. Lessons and training rides are available upon request for an additional fee. If anyone asked the BO to have someone groom and tack up their horse for them so they could ride, she would say, “Are you OK? Did you fall off and hit your head?”

The kind of places you’re talking about, where staff does everything are quite rare and mostly found only in places where the really, really rich folk ride. They exist in all disciplines, not just H/J.

Please be very cautious about forming opinions about the US horse world based on what you read in the COTH or in on the COTH Forum. The people who post here represent only a tiny, tiny fraction of US horse people involved in only a tiny, tiny fraction of the horse activities that take place in the US.

[thereadinghorse]

Thanks for your answers! Loved to read them.

Next question that came up is, how are classes devided in USEF/USDF etc. ? So at which level do you start, what do you need to have or do, do be eligible to start and what are the requirements in the classes. What does a basic/ low-level dressage test look like? Same question for showjumping? Height, number of fences? Is this something I’m able to look up somewhere or should I just ask these questions in the dressage/sj categories?

[trakehners]

Any of the national federations/associations are under USEF, so a recognized USEA or USDF competition is also a USEF-recognized competition. You can find all the USEF general and discipline-specific rules here: https://www.usef.org/compete/resources-forms/rules-regulations/rulebook

Individual disciplines may have additional rules that you can find if you search “USEA rule book” or “USDF rule book” etc.

USDF tests can be found here: https://www.usdf.org/downloads/forms/index.asp?TypePass=Tests

Eventing dressage tests are here: https://useventing.com/events-competitions/resources/dressage-tests

All the division specs will be in one of the rule books depending on which discipline you’re looking at, so I’d check the individual rule books for specifics.

[Janet]

@trakehners

Any of the national federations/associations are under USEF, so a recognized USEA or USDF competition is also a USEF-recognized competition.

That isn’t quite true.
USEA recognized competitions at Training (3’3", 1m) and below are USEF “endorsed” rather than USEF “recognized”. They follow all the rules in the Eventing chapter of the USEF rule book, but the rider doesn’t need to be a USEF member, and the horse doesn’t have to be registered with USEF. (In general, the rider DOES have to be a USEA member, and the horse needs to be registered with USEA. But at the brand new Starter Level (2’3" , 0.7 m) neither the horse nor the rider needs to be registered with USEA, if they don’t want to accumulate points, or qualify for championships.)

[Janet]

@thereadinghorse

So at which level do you start, what do you need to have or do, do be eligible to start and what are the requirements in the classes.

Both Eventing and Dressage have requirements for moving up the levels. You can find them in the USEF rules for that discipline (link to USEF rules already posted). I don’t think Hunters and Jumpers have similar “move up” rules.

What does a basic/ low-level dressage test look like? Same question for showjumping? Height, number of fences?

The simplest dressage tests (Intro A and B - they are on the USDF web site, not the USEF site) are just walk- trot with 20 m circles. Unrecognized hunter, jumper and eventing competitions start as low a 18". Hunter courses typically have 8 fences. Eventing cross country courses have 14 to 40 efforts, depending on the level. Eventing show jumping courses have 9-15 efforts depending on the level . (That, and the heights at each level, are all in the Eventing section of the rule book.) I’ll let someone else answer about the number of efforts in straight show jumping, but I think it is usually at least 10.

[trakehners]

Fair point - I tend to lump them together in my brain since I so rarely see competitions locally that only have the “endorsed” levels (and don’t bill themselves as wholly unrecognized). OP, Janet is right on this one!

[thereadinghorse]

Thanks again for your answers. I dove into the dressage tests and it’s very intresting how the somehow are similar to ours but somehow different at the same time I have a big issue with sitting trot with my mare, so I avoid doing it and this is why I don’t ride any dressage tests at all. They all require sitting trot, no matter what level. So I kinda like your tests, where I can’t find requirements for sitting trot at least from Intro through to First Level. This may only be a problem I experience, but for me the dressage world was always a stay away, cause I can’t sit my mare for the life of me

[thereadinghorse]

Thought, I might supply you with a little info about our dressage tests in exchange. We do have WBO and LPO, which are different “rule books” both made by the FN (equivalent to USEF).
WBO is more of a fun kind of thing, you don’t need to pay much money for expensive show license there. But competitions are only small and ribbons don’t count as official “scores”, so if you really want to show you need to pay for the rider and the horse to be LPO accepted. You need to do at least 2 riding badges to be able to get a riders license and your horse needs to be officially registered as show horse, has the required vaccines and of course you have to pay for all of it. The badges, the anual rider license, the horses registration and the annual horse license.

LPO has 5 levels. E, A, L, M and S. Some of them are subdevided. Each level contains around 5 to 10 different tests. So a lot of tests

A typical Level E (5) test is ridden in a small arena (20x40) and looks like this:
A -X: Enter in medium walk
X: Salute
X - C: Working trot, rising
C: Turn right
K-X-M: Change rein (and post!)
C: Sitting trot, Circle 20m
X: Change rein
X-A-X: half circle in sitting trot
X-A-X-A: Working canter (so 1.5 circles)
A: working trot, sitting (proceed to C)
C: Medium walk
M-X-K: Change rein
K: Develop working trot before K, sitting
A-X: half circle (20m)
X: Working Canter
X-A: Half circle (20m)
A: proceed to C
C: working trot, sitting
E: turn left
B: turn right
A: down the centerline
X: Salute
Leave arena in free walk.

So this is one of the most basic tests we have. So kinda similar to yours, apart from all the sitting trot

[red_mares]

@NoSuchPerson

The kind of places you’re talking about, where staff does everything are quite rare and mostly found only in places where the really, really rich folk ride. They exist in all disciplines, not just H/J.

That’s not really true. My trainer does everything mentioned in the OP. I groom if I feel like it. Training/board is VERY reasonable and I am far from being “really, really rich folk.” It might be rare in the sport horse world, but I’ve found it to be common in the Saddlebred/saddleseat world.

The trade off is the barn is in the middle of no where.

[NoSuchPerson]

@red_mares

That’s not really true.

Yes, really, it is true.

But, that doesn’t mean what you said is wrong. Yes, that kind of full service boarding may indeed be common in the saddle seat world and may indeed be reasonably priced. I’m not in that world and will take your word for it. But, today, saddle seat riders represent only a tiny fraction of all riders.

Even if all of you only ever showed up, collected your fully prepped horse from a groom, rode, got off, handed your horse back to the groom, and walked away, it’s not enough to shift the needle away from saying that among all US riders, that kind of arrangement is rare and mostly found only in places where the wealthy ride.

[MsM]

@Janet

Both Eventing and Dressage have requirements for moving up the levels.

I am not aware of any requirements for moving up in Dressage except for freestyles.