They do not feel there is a need for any of the disenfranchised in their membership (other than they like to have their money); they have made this clear since at least the year 2000. That is how long some of us have been trying to get that point across to the USDF and get some changes.
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I have the same opinion and experience.
As for raising hands vs. casting stones - I have been on this board since the early start. I have participated in this ongoing lamenting game for quite some time all the while creating my own breeding program and trying to show other amateurs on a budget that āit can be doneā. During that time Iāve participated in weekly, sometime bi-weekly lessons over those years (spread across 4 main professionals on a regular consistent bases, multiple clinicians). I have coordinated, hosted and run clinics flying in well known professionals into two different regions for other amateurs and professionals to ride with and learn. In order to just get the # of rides in for several of those clinics (and to support and keep the professional interested, employed and engaged) I would pull broodmares out of the pasture to fill spots in the beginning until we had enough of a local following and had to start turning people away due to the clinics being filled. I am not a professional but I do regularly haul others to shows, clinics, hunter paces, trail rides and their horse to the vet when theyāve needed a ride. Iāve done it for free but I will admit to accepting $10 for the diesel from those whoāve offered. Iāve let others ride my horses in clinics, shows and a couple have earned their medals on āMYā horses, as ordinary of a mover as they all are. Iāve gone to look at horses with others at no charge on a āas an experienced friend/acquaintanceā understanding - Iām a breeder, have in depth knowledge of my breed and a veterinary education plus 31 years of experience. I still insist if the person goes forward that they get a full PPEā¦but the point is I love the discipline, the sport and my retired endeavor of providing amateur suitable mounts to the vertically challenged. I back/start my own horses so Iāll climb on a young one someone is looking at but wary of getting on to try it out for the first time. I have done my [albeit limited] part in trying to make it more accessible to those in my area who feel similarly disenfranchised. Iāve been tarred and feathered for doing so tooā¦I know of several other amateurs who have done their part and received similar results. Sooner or later life gets in the way and the ebb and flow and energy of the contingent participants eventually dies out. Some of us get too weary to carry on quite the way we once did. ā¦
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I am inclined to agree with you but am really curious about what other people want from the USDF. Over the last ~30 years, the USDF has: Implemented the L program to standardize judging, added the rider tests, added half points, improved the language on the tests, started letting people do freestyles as low as training level, added the medals program and other awards/certificates, added the instructor certification program, added the educational membership, etc. etc. etc. When was the jr/yr stuff started? The All-breeds program?
Point is, thereās a long list of things theyāve done that are responses to expressed desires and wishes of their membership. Some of them have not been successful, even if they are good ideas. I imagine from their perspective, they develop these things people say they want, put them out there, and then kind of throw up their hands when people donāt respond to them. I too am in the group of people who has the general impression that they are way more interested in high performance than grassroots, but Iāve also watched this cycle happen a few times and donāt really understand where the breakdown is and why some good ideas are failing. Does it all just come down to money? Do (g) you find the implementations of these programs (e.g. ICP, e-Trak) too superficial to actually provide a tangible benefit (this is not an accusation - I legitimately donāt know how other people perceive these programs)? Are they not promoting themselves adequately for people to know what these programs/benefits are and how to access them?
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Excellent question. I suspect the answer may be that to access the USDF programs, one must be a USDF member. For some the cost of that membership is apparently prohibitive. I also suspect thatās why USDF came up with other types of membership at lower costs, but that doesnāt seem to be scratching some peopleās itch either.
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Itās clear thatās how many people feel and think, however, thatās not the same as someone at USDF intentionally doing the cost benefit analysis and making an actual decision which is the point of the question I posed.
I think, I believe, I know: the standard hierarchy of certainty.
I think this would certainly be a schooling show idea, and might be easy to frame as a Division. Schooling Show offers Champion and Reserve for Performance Dressage division, horse/rider combo must enter Freestyle, Dressage Equitation, and a Prix Caprilli/trot pole class. Best average percentage wins. (Canāt remember if DressEq is percentage, but whatever.) Generally uses existing classes that other people will ride in even if theyāre not going for Performance, so not too much extra work to add in, and gives folks the fun of a freestyle, variety of jumping or poles, and puts focus on rider in equitation. Youād self-select a lot here with no need to define anything about the horse.
Grey
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From my POV, the USDF has focused way too much on competition and abdicated in its mission for education.
Even when USDF offers educational events, the criteria to participate is established that one must have shown to āXā level,etc. The FEI Trainerās Forum being a prime example, where even to audit, you have to have ācredentialsā.
This showsā¦againā¦the focus on upper levels. Why not open the audience in order to educate up-and-coming riders on what are the expectations of riders at higher levels.
It would be the analog of how the SRS uses their schoolmasters to educate their up and coming riders.
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Copying in @x-halt-salute since this applies to those comments as well (thanks for chiming in!!).
I guess I would recommend something a little different than bloodlines or pediree and true purpose bred. I would have people submit performance record for any sport other than dressage to show that the horse is versatile. So, if you have an APHA horse with a western pleasure or hunter under saddle performance record, then submitting that record proves the horse has a successful function out of dressage. Same for hunters - we strive for flat kneed movement. If we are showing and actively competing in events outside of dressage, and the horse is actively used and campaigned beyond dressage, then it would qualify for this different section. That way, a horse that is bred for dressage and competes only in dressage keeps on the trajectory itās on, and the rest of us who are trying to have a more versatile experience can carry on with our hunters, reiners, mountain archery, etcā¦ and the judge will know that this horse splits its time between different disciplines and is not a full time dressage horse.
Something like that. Iām sure there are some holes here, but throwing it out there. You could submit your performance record to prove you are actively competing. Letās face it, a horse in full time dressage training has an advantage over my hunter that only gets dedicated dressage training 2x a week. He was purchases to be a hunter. He canāt do eventing - heās too slow. And I donāt want to do eventing. I want to do dressage. I will, regardless of whether a special division is created, because I am super intrigued by dressage. But if we want to encourage more participation, this might be one way to do it.
BTW, I love the scheduled ride times. How cool is that??
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I have found the dressage people to be so incredibly kind. Maybe itās a Georgia/Atlanta thing? They have invited me to their clinics to watch (with no charge), have laid out massive tables of wonderful food, and have explained things to me so I can understand what is going on. I get invited to their shows. They celebrate great show days with champagne and a toast to the horse. The dressage folks donāt rely so heavily on trainers as the hunter people do. They trailer their own horses, they tack them up, and care for them after the ride. The trainers are really incredible. Iāve never had a person act snobby toward me at all. If anything, I feel more like they are my peer group and truly care for their horsesā welfare. Hunter people in my area show up, get on, ride, and hand off the horse to the groom. What I have found is that some of the dressage riders are more introverted. They keep more to themselves. They are more introspective. Some might consider that type of behavior snobby?
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ā¦wtf is āthe AA Pro divisionā?
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Actually, she was the only person of all the dressage people Iāve met that acted like that. I would have understood if she had been shy. Naw, she looked me in the eye. She was just being rude.
Her husband is a much kinder person. I met him a few times and one day i was riding in the arena where he was teaching one of his students.
He gave me some free advice and admired my horse. Now he could have been trying to just flatter me so I would take lessons but I dont think so.
He is just a kind person who wanted to help and genuinely liked my horse.
I found most of the women i boarded with who competed at dressage were kind , treated everybody pleasantly and were very helpful to me.
One woman rode my horse in a clinic when I was out of town. Paid all the expenses and videoed it for me so I could watch it laterā¦ I offered to pay for it, and she wouldnt take any money. Not a dime.
Not a diva at all .
I did sort of repay her.
I saved her cell phone. She was riding in the dressage arena and it had the footing made of pulverized tires. Her phone case was black rubber and looked like ā¦ tires.
Her phone came out of her pocket and fell on the ground and she couldnt see it.
She didnt dare walk the horse out in case he stepped on it and she didnt have another phone to make it ring.
So I kept dialing her number and listening for the ring and I was able to track it down for her.
It certainly wasnāt a one-off in terms of money but I was grateful to be able to help her in return for her kindness to me.
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Oh you donāt know that in Shows you can enter AA or Open??? Sometimes there are also Juniorsā¦
I agree with this; especially when the vast majority of educational events are east of the Mississippi.
That said, IME, the majority of entries at any competition is in the lower levels. Well, except for PSG which for some reason always seems to have entries in the double digits around here.
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Then, the concept of competing against your previous scores and comments - rather than the $1 ribbon color - is just the ticket. IMO, as it should beā¦
After all, the ādressage showā is just a collection of individual tests, measuring our individual work against a standard.
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all you need to be is a GMO member - and now MOST educational stuff is availble to Education members.
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Very similar to the Versatilty division STRIDE offers. For the classes that are not % based, we assigne percents to the placings.
Proud to say I developed this idea about 7-8 years ago here in Ocala. Itās very popular because all our members can compete - traditional, western, gaited, and the drivers have their own versatility classes as well.
You can look at our Omnibus to see some details see pgs 6-7. SOrry I dont remember the % given to each ribbon, and everyone below 6th also gets a percent because after all they did do the class. Only eliminations or withdrawals get no score. https://stride.clubexpress.com/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=288332&module_id=383430
There is NO SUCH THING as AA Pro. ANYONE can enter the Open classes. If you are an AA, you can enter the (limited) AA class, which may or may not be combined with JR or YR entries (often pinned separately).
There are times a show manager will run ONE class with mixed Open and AA.JR/YR entries; if entries warrant it is pinned separately. HOWEVER that does not mean the AAs are somehow āprosā. It;s just ease of scheduling.
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With the exception of the FEI Trainerās Clinic (which also annoys me, but at least the videos are availble now), I have not seen ārequirementsā for ANY USDF educational event. And donāt claim the L program - you only need to have those scores if youwant to be enrolled as a potential judge. There are NO requirements for auditors.
If there are qualifications, thatās on the GMO sponsoring the eventā¦
Please let me know if I am wrong.
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Yes, I figured you were just saying āthis is how it isā. But - we keep hearing from USDF and the GMOs that they are financially struggling, that membership has dropped off, participation has dropped off, why oh why? And what can we do to change that? My own dressage chapter hasnāt really dropped off (it has actually grown), but our overall GMO is hurting, and that is a symptom of the membership loss of both USEF and USDFā¦
And of course, I donāt know the answer, but I highly suspect that the loss of membership is due to the change in the āinclusivityā of dressage (is that even a word?).
And I suspect that WD is filling that gap that traditional dressage has left wide open with their shift in priorities in how competition is judged. And Iād also agree that it isnāt even USDF/USEF that has made that shift - the shift comes from the FEI (which is dominated by European forces - who have some self-interest in improving the Warmblood market). I donāt believe it is a huge conspiracy, but I do think there is some genuine marketing interest involved.
So, if USDF is genuinely interested in growing membership (they are worried about it), they really need to look at why they LOST membershipā¦
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I dunno. Having helped run a few schooling shows in my day I think anything that generates more record-keeping or eligibility checking is going to be a hard sell on the administrative side and a source of quibbles on the participant side.
What counts as actively competing outside of dressage? Does it have to be USEF or do other things (breed shows not under that umbrella, schooling shows, 4H, pony club, etc.) count? How recent does show record in another discipline have to be? Does it count if the horse has a show record in other disciplines under a different rider? Iām sure there are even more details that would have to be ironed out and meticulously checked.
In addition, there are a ton of folks who do other things with non-dressage-bred horses but canāt afford or donāt care to compete across several disciplines, too ā¦ is there a good reason to exclude the person who bought a reiner, fell in love with dressage, and no longer competes in reining, or the person whose hunter cannot jump due to injury and who has therefore decided to focus entirely on dressage? Not to mention all the folks who really never intended to compete in other disciplines but are nevertheless not on dressage-bred horses or even necessarily āfull-timeā dressage horses?
This is why I think giving people a small set of options that donāt add a ton of overhead, and letting people self-select based on what fits their interests best (as many other breeds and disciplines seem to do) makes more sense than developing whole new showing formats (e.g. the unpopular rider tests) or new categories involving more paperwork and record-keeping (e.g. a versatility division). But this is all a thought experiment anyway! I think itās once bitten, twice shy after the given that have been offered in the name of inclusion have not been very successful at meeting needs.
