I want to hear what folks feel.
A lot of money spent and a passport to keep track of 
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An empty pocket. I know you know, but for the youngsters: way back when, 3-days (as in with steeplechase) were the goal of pretty much all eventers. In the 90’s? 3-days came under the aegis of the FEI. So anyone who wanted to compete had to jump through their hoops. The FEI then spent the next couple decades pushing amateurs out of the upper levels. Among other sins.
If I became suddenly young again and was lucky to have a seriously talented horse, I would play the FEI game to have the opportunity to compete in the marquee events. I don’t see any benefit in a * or ** as an end in itself. But of course I never thought I’d see BN horses wearing tack worth more than my car, so what do I know?
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Status? Clout?
Unless you’ve got a personal goal to achieve or want to make a name for yourself as a trainer, I think the biggest thing it will give you is a lighter wallet. But that’s true of horses in general. 
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Bragging rights?
A deeper understanding of fitness and aftercare possibly, in particular if you’re running the longs or one of the educational three days and haven’t done such things before.
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Street Cred.
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The knowledge that the fees you pay have lined the pockets of a corrupt organization.
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So far I’m seeing a similar theme of that there is no point, unless you are gunning for a team?
I am being serious here. I would love to hear why somebody would want to compete 2/3* even with no desire to move up.
There is no trap or trick. Everybody has their opinions.
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It’s a goal like any other. Most people like to have goals, but most people are also not realistically trying to go to the Olympics (and most of them know that), so you’ve got to pick something else. Early FEIs are accessible enough that they are attainable without a six figure horse, but difficult enough that they require you to have a certain amount of knowledge of fitness and conditioning, veterinary protocols, and ground management, as well as the more obvious components of training for each phase. They also tend to be hosted by higher end venues who pay for good course design and often have nicer facilities for humans and horses, and draw more competitors if you are interested in a deeper field or competing against more professionals.
They are more expensive, of course, but there is an experience component to them that is different from a national level horse trials. I am at a stage of my life where I like to experience different things. Different standards, different environments, different rules. Not because they are better or worse, but because I like challenging myself to adapt to them and understand them. FEI is one option to do that.
It’s also something that’s more easily understood across disciplines. If you are talking to a dressage rider or a show jumper, they probably don’t know what a Prelim entails, but they might have a cursory understanding of FEI and the 1-5* system is more easily translatable.
My personal preference are the true long format events, but that’s not everyone’s preference and I understand that.
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that’s the million dollar question…as I am attempting to get qualified for a CCI2* L…
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You make some good points.
The reason I ask this question is so many asked when I was going to do FEI again. In my opinion, there is nothing that it gives me in terms of horsemanship, training, street cred ;-), or whatever that pushes my capabilities.
Hence, again, my asking the general populace. I want to understand more.
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The FEI definitely has it’s problems, but it does do research and set standards in welfare and safety, it does open up sport to a wider participation across nations, it offers a level playing field because it does handle issues such as doping that some national bodies habitually dodge (USEF). In American Eventing, amateur riders are probably never going to be as involved as the professional riders - who need to run in FEI Events to gain places on the national teams and to gain the supporters to buy them horses. However, the FEI does set baselines and provides some depth to benefit even amateur riders. The FEI 1* & 2* are really not terribly significant, being basically the low foothills, but then 5* are the Himalayas and not many are good enough to climb so high. In Europe, international competition makes far more sense because there are many nations within easy travel.
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I snorted at such a facetious response and then had a oh…hold on moment.
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Fair. But does my competing FEI really return anything to me, is the question. Would you compete FEI or National and why?
Fair enough but does it follow that you regret the FEI you have done in the past? If you had it to do all over again would you skip them?
lol I see you are being tempted! Hell hath frozen
over.
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The long format was an entirely different test of horse and rider. There was a complete ocean of difference between FEI and National levels.
To me, there is such little difference between FEI and National that I see no benefit unless I was going for a team, as has been stated up thread.
This is not meant to be a dig at FEI but a genuine open question to those who feel they want to run FEI.
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No. This is coming from several 4* riders and officials asking when I will go FEI.
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I’ve been wondering that myself about you!
I want to do FEI to test myself as a rider. I think it’s an awesome gauge of where you are at, if you don’t have team goals.
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