OK WA… don’t hit me, but a LOT of ADS judges and TDs were dropped from USEF cards as they hadn’t been hired to judge at USEF shows for 2 years. Boom… you need to apply all over again. Most said - not worth it and walked away.
Its also a problem for CDEs offering FEI level - First they need FEI judges, which are mostly European (so judges with ADS and USEF cards at advanced level aren’t working (2 yrs and you are out) Also makes it hard for US judges to become FEI judges because they lack experience. Its an unfortunate Catch 22
I know one solution proposed was to encourage some events to run non FEI allowing US judges to gain experience and hopefully go on to an FEI card.
It would probably be helpful if USEF would allow shows offering one class in a discipline to run under some sort of exemption so the show didn’t have to pay for a guest card and another judge salary for a small division.
I know USEF fees used to kill our Junior to Drive Class and Ladies/Gentlemen to drive class at a show I used to work with. The folks entering were often only interested in that on class and all the fees put the price way out of reach