Curious. I hear this term bandied about…
“they are doing the FEI stuff”
frequently.
What does that mean to you?
ETA: For the phrase “doing FEI” to have any validity to me personally I would expect they are training/competing at the FEI level. However, I kinda doubt that everyone that throws the term around is ACTUALLY competing at that level, so I take it with a grain of salt when someone says they ride at the FEI level.
Hence why I think your question is valid and I’m curious to see some responses. I think alot of riders say they are training at the FEI level just because they have done some of the upper level movements.
Kind of like if someone says to me they are “doing level 6 jumpers” I tend to assume that they are indeed training/competing at that level (or beyond) regularly not just jumping that height on occasion in lessons/schooling. Or at the very least preparing for competition at that level.
i don’t think ‘doing the fei stuff’ implies showing. it usually means the person has started schooling psg, if they’ve been doing all the fei levels they usually refer to it as ‘doing stuff’ or ‘riding’, lol. people usually say ‘showing fei’ if they’re showing any fei levels and want to be sure people know, unless they’ve been doing it a long time, then they say they’re ‘showing’, lol.
[QUOTE=EqTrainer;3087552]
Curious. I hear this term bandied about…
“they are doing the FEI stuff”
frequently.
What does that mean to you?[/QUOTE]
The phrase I hear most thrown around is “My horse is going to do FEI!” which is probably just as accurate as they’re “doing the FEI stuff.” :lol:
To me, it would imply that they’re either showing 4th but schooling PSG, or they’re actually showing PSG or above. Also, I would not assume that they’re doing either one with regularity, nor would I assume that they themselves have been trained properly to do it. It is very possible that they’ve just been blessed with really good horses to help get them there.
Wow…I’ve really gotten more cynical as I get older… :eek:
yes but if a person claims to have an FEI horse, that implies that the horse is confirmed and shown FEI.
For example, an aged retired horse who has never ever shown FEI and will never be shown FEI is not correctly described as an FEI horse. Right,slc?
sounds about right to me !
And are we talking about horses or riders??? To me it doesnt’ matter if one owns an FEI horse unless the rider themselves has ridden and competed at that level. Tooling around with passage on your GP schoolmaster does not make one an FEI rider in my mind:lol:
"doing FEI’ sounds ridiculous to me.
It’s either ‘training’ or ‘showing’ FEI unless you want to say a horse has FEI potential in which case you use the ‘potential’ word.
I have ridden a horse that was piaffing (yes real piaffe developed from the ground by the GP owner/trainer- not fake ‘prancing!’ LOL before slc jumps in with that ) but I would not say I was ‘doing grand prix’.
“Doing FEI” would imply, to me, that the person is sleeping with someone on the board of FEI.
“FEI rider” would mean someone who is training and competing, to me.
“FEI horse” and “potential FEI horse” are two different things, as in “confirmed PSG” vs. “has all 4 legs and a head, and we want extra money for him.” Some day my horse will do FEI, though. I’m sure of it (hush, Fancy, no comments from the peanut gallery. Allow me my fantasies :winkgrin:).
“Doing FEI” means they are showing FEI. “Schooling FEI” means just that. They are learning/practicing FEI movements at home but not showing yet. “FEI horse” means a horse that has shown FEI, but it doesn’t necessarily mean the horse is currently showing FEI. However, if the horse and rider are only doing first level, I would say “Ex-FEI horse.”
:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:
“FEI horse” means a horse that has shown FEI
yes, well, I think most people will agree with you . Perhaps slc will chip in with her different viewpoint on this. She refers to her retired horse as an FEI horse although she admits he has never ever been shown FEI and presumably, if retired, is not a potential FEI horse.
this sort of question is often translated to ‘who the hell does sally down the road think she is, she’s no better than me and thee’ and things can go ESPECIALLY sour if sally buys a nice trained horse, even more so if she excitedly goes around talking about how fun it is ;), while everyone else is fuming and glaring and thinking about how long it took them to just move up a level or two.
‘doing fei’ and i think doing the flying changes at third are really emotionally charged barriers and so spark a lot of very emotional posts on the bb’s.
if a rider has trained a horse to do some fei movements, that usually indicates more experience teaching horses to do those movements than one who buys a schoolmaster, but the schoolmaster may be a LOT harder to ride. it’s not like it’s easy to maintain a schoolmaster’s training either - sometimes that’s much harder than training your own! a horse one trains oneself, one trains to tolerate one’s mistakes, too…often even without realizing it.
the bottom line is that some people just get really jealous and unhappy if they see someone working at a level higher than them. they’ll pick on someone who works with their own horse, who buys a trained horse…no matter what, they’ll find a reason why what that person does is without value. it’s dumb, really, no matter what level a person is at there is always someone better and always someone worse.
i feel like developing as a dressage rider means a person does a lot of different things - lessons, leases, ride well trained horses, train their own, show, work with a really good trainer, practice the fei work, show it, go from the ‘housewife horse’ (which could be a GP ‘housewife horse’) to a more talented horse…learn to deal with different issues in different types of horses, all those things are just a part of the deal.
and no, i don’t think it’s necessary that every horse he puts a leg over, he has to show or it counts for nothing, that’s silly, any time riding and working on different things is good. if the rider has someone good helping him out he’s going to benefit from the experience.
[QUOTE=Ambrey;3087767]
“Doing FEI” would imply, to me, that the person is sleeping with someone on the board of FEI.
“FEI rider” would mean someone who is training and competing, to me.
“FEI horse” and “potential FEI horse” are two different things, as in “confirmed PSG” vs. “has all 4 legs and a head, and we want extra money for him.” Some day my horse will do FEI, though. I’m sure of it (hush, Fancy, no comments from the peanut gallery. Allow me my fantasies :winkgrin:).[/QUOTE]
:lol::lol::lol: This is awesome…
“Doing the FEI stuff” to me means that the horse got antsy on the trail once and did something that mildly resembled a piaffe 
Or, as they spooked and ran away, there was something that could, if you tilted your head just the right way, have been a canter pirhouette.
In seriousness, it would mean to me that they are doing at least one FEI level movement.
FEI sanctioned tests range from junior or pony prelim, young horse tests to PSG and GP. You can show PSG & GP at the national level. FEI ‘stuff’ would say to me CDI
I feel a need to explain that to me, my handle ‘feisomeday’ mean that I personally hope to be able to do a solid, correct psg (and up) test or all confirmed movements in FEI level tests, whether in a clinic, at a show in front of a judge, or at home. I’d like to train my horses up the scale to the upper levels. And, when I first joined the COTH board, I had the money and the health to try for my USDF medals.
things have changed and it looks as if there is no shadbelly in my future.
Not for not having the horse capable of getting there though. Maybe I should change my name? It’s stupid and no longer applies.
[QUOTE=Ambrey;3087767]
“Doing FEI” would imply, to me, that the person is sleeping with someone on the board of FEI.
“FEI rider” would mean someone who is training and competing, to me.
“FEI horse” and “potential FEI horse” are two different things, as in “confirmed PSG” vs. “has all 4 legs and a head, and we want extra money for him.” Some day my horse will do FEI, though. I’m sure of it (hush, Fancy, no comments from the peanut gallery. Allow me my fantasies :winkgrin:).[/QUOTE]
I wasn’t singling you out Ambrey. I’ve heard this many a time, from various people.
I had a wonderful trainer who used to tell all her students, including myself, “You could go to the 'Lympics!” It was sweet and she was obviously trying to be encouraging but come on! Most of us didn’t, and still don’t, have a snowball’s chance to reach that level, but some took it to heart. I have a nice horse. If she gets to First Level solidly, I will be more than happy. I try to be realistic. Sometimes the clueless look so foolish when they go around dropping the FEI comment. It’s just obnoxious in my book It’s insulting to people who work very hard for years to actually get to that level. Like it sooooo easy.
“Doing FEI” - for me that would be schooling some of the movements that are only done at PSG and above tests. Such as full pirouettes, flying changes every 3rd stride and so on.
I went to the FEI Trainers conference and the criteria was that riders who are schooling FEI can attend: there was some riders who never rode above 2nd level, but claimed that b/c they are riding shoulder-in thus they are schooling FEI. That doesn’t work for me.
I went to the FEI Trainers conference and the criteria was that riders who are schooling FEI can attend: there was some riders who never rode above 2nd level, but claimed that b/c they are riding shoulder-in thus they are schooling FEI. That doesn’t work for me.
Oh my gosh. I can do a shoulder in. Am I an FEI rider now? How exciting! Thanks Dressage Art! I’ve been underestimating my skills all this time. LOL.
