My perspective has always been that dressage is viewed as boring vs the jumping disciplines. Combined with an overall smaller demographic (at least in my geographical area) so there are just less dressage lessons/ trainers/ shows and it always seemed to me those were the reasons why the dressage riders in my area are mostly older, experienced pros and mostly older and established ammys (not so many under the age of ~40).
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No. Jumping is fun. Blingy western outfits are fun. Putting on makeup for a saddle seat class is fun. Barrel racing is fun. Dressage, especially in the beginning, is not fun. Kids want to have fun.
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Thus my personal fret sessions because eventing is becoming so constrained because of access to courses and open space. IMO eventing is the gateway drug to dressage.
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I guess the good news is that kids eventually grow up into boring adults, some of whom enjoy dressage! 
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Sure you can’t prevent every child predator, but completely ignoring and giving a place for predators. It would cost next to nothing to cross reference competition list to the banned individuals listed on safesport.
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Dressage seat equitation, group rail classes, and rider tests were all moves in the direction of offering show opportunities to developing riders. DSE is very much still around, but I don’t think it’s bringing new riders into dressage. None has really caught on to serve that purpose.
Many kiddos enjoy communicating and learning how to influence horses. They only need guidance by good horse people to show them the way. Maybe you weren’t one of them, or don’t know any of them, but they are (and were) there.
I had GREAT guidance as a kid, in both jumping and dressage. My friends and I had a lot more fun jumping, and preferred it to low level dressage.We were kids. We wanted to have fun. You can “show the way” to 20m circle after 20m circle, but most kids are going to be bored. Hell, most adults are bored by lower level dressage.
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Many good trainers that teach young kids to ride can make it very fun and interesting.
Some of us were lucky to have them. I can understand how , without a good kiddo trainer and variety, you could become bored with learning the minutia of the aids as a kid, if being drilled in dressage was your experience.
I started in dressage at 16. I would have started earlier but it took that long to convince the parents to pay for lessons (hooray divorce guilt!). Anyway, my first lesson on a horse….was a lead line lesson. A whole hour of being marched around the arena at a walk. Instructor was German trained……
For a few months after that I was confined to a round pen……
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Oh dear. I was never trained by a hard core dressage rider/trainer. That must have been tough for a kiddo.
If you can’t navigate a simple dressage test without your coach warming up your horse, you shouldn’t show….
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Between the representative’s responses to people’s questions here, their refusals to answer any questions about Safesport or drugging, their responses on the other thread, and their insulting videos, I am completely turned off.
Frankly, I am against side reins for showing (despite being to many a pony club filled show and having to run for my life a few times!) but I think it’s just the responses here that turn me off.
It’s a shame, we really do need something else.
For the record, I don’t expect schooling shows to keep an eye on Safesport or drug test horses, but being around so many pony clubbers where Safesport is integral it just rubs me the wrong way how several permanently banned trainers have migrated to UDJC. UDJC to me seems to be marketing itself as a replacement for USEF showing, which would put it above schooling show level.
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That is fine, in my corner of the world, it is not the case. That is not to say that every horse in the class has this additional tack, still far less than the hunter rated show classes over fences, but they are there. They are there because where I am sometimes the lesson horse is all you can afford and it goes in that tack or is a little cheeky at shows. There are also pelhams with bit converters and other items not generally allowed in rated shows but not in an abusive way but because the local shows want to be open to these individuals.
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What about that little girl I talked about - little 9 year old on the older, drafty school horse. She could navigate the dressage test just fine at home but got to the show and the horse was not interested in doing the test when his friends were hanging out nearby. Should she not show? Should she not learn how to work through this issue and learn it is OK if she isn’t the best or perfect all the time?
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No. Jumping out of a dressage arena 10 times in one test is a HUGE safety risk especially with chains which are no longer used due to the safety issues. Jumping out once and then the judge lets them come back in and finish is a simple error and happens often. I have NEVER seen a judge let a kid come back in 10 different times and let other riders form a horse fence around the arena.
If this show is in a trainer’s private property and is a little backyard show and there are a few people there, maybe it’s ok. But the shows I’m at have a lot of kids and 20 people all in the warm up all going in different directions and a child with that much lack of control is a serious danger. They either need a different horse or a trainer needs to ride the horse at a few shows. Don’t get me wrong, I have shown around a lot of kids and am on high alert to avoid them, but the lack of control you are talking about is a safety issue that can’t be fixed by slapping on side reins.
It has nothing to do with teaching a kid she’s not the best or perfect. It’s not about a kid being perfect or being on the perfect horse. There is a point to where there is so little control or the horse is so rank or the rider is so unready that it’s a safety issue for themselves and everyone else.
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I would personally love for there to be an “alternative” dressage show association where there is less emphasis on fancy gaits, where the atmosphere is fun and inviting for all levels of riders, and where horses at all levels are rewarded more for softness, harmony, and correctness than extravagance and leg movement. There could be silly costume classes and stuff for kids. No side reins, draw reins, or martingales allowed … if you want to ride bitless, go ahead, but the horse is still expected to accept contact and no mechanical hackamores or leverage type bitless bridles, only sidepull/direct pressure style bridles allowed. Double bridles allowed but optional at upper levels, with no effect on score either way.
But possibly the most prohibitive aspect of this would be finding people to judge these shows … you would have to start from scratch and develop some sort of training program for judges to demonstrate what the expectations are and how they differ from USDF tests. And you would either have to settle for the majority of your judges being random lower level amateurs, or it would get expensive real quick.
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I would love to hear how you think USDF should go about getting more kids into dressage shows? I ask that in all sincerity. You say “do it” but I ask “how?”. USDF has tried many things but fact of the matter is that US kids go to hunters because jumping looks fun and the hunters do not require them to have a dressage education first. That would be counter productive to the hunters as they will not make $$. The faster the hunters can get a kid jumping, the faster they make $$. How do we undo the mentality of the Hunter/Jumpers?
Horse shows need to make a bit of a profit or they won’t last. Gone are the days that secretaries and officials volunteered their time to the shows. The reality is that if classes don’t fill, then pretty soon it becomes apparent that it is not economically feasible to offer those classes. Fun classes don’t fill like they use to. I’m not saying, don’t try. I am just saying they don’t fill. Throwing prize money at them also doesn’t work. However, USDF does have DSE classes that are actually becoming more and more popular - and the AAs are doing it, too.
I wish you good luck in your endeavors. I truly do. You will find that eventually your organization will need rules. Rules generally happen because people do: unsafe things, stupid things or unfair things. Let me give you an example: A very experienced owner of a young horse that placed at a national championship decided that she would take her 4 year old horse in hand into the Prize Giving as the experienced rider was going to ride another horse which had placed higher. This owner decided to run said young horse - in hand - in the Victory Gallop with all the other mounted horses around the arena. We watched in horror as she nearly got various parts of her body kicked in from all the young horses zooming past as she tried to control the young horse she was running in hand that was going in circles around her. (I hope you are also imagining the potential lawsuits unfolding) Her response when we told her how dangerous it was and how terrified we all were watching her life flash before our eyes? “It’s not in the rules”… Well, guess what? Now it is.
Best of luck!
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I asked about the judges and judge training way up thread but it wasn’t replied to. I’m very curious about how that is being handled.
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The FB page mentions that they are bringing in people from Europe to be judging. They’ve done an intro post for them before each show.
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