I am curious as to why some people sign up for the test of choice class, instead of just the actual class. I know the one time I did it, was so that I could ride the same test twice in one day. Are there other benefits though besides that?
That’s why I do, or we have a summer show series in which days are split Friday night/Saturday morning as day 1 and Saturday night/Sunday morning as day 2. Sometimes ToC is the only way to get the class you want when you want it.
There are absolutely going to be people who do it to avoid riding in the same test as someone else at times, too.
If you are planning to ride twice in one day, sometimes it can provide an opportunity to ride in front of a different judge in a different arena on the same day. This can be an efficient way to get qualifying scores, exposure to different arena monsters, etc.
The above replies make sense. I have a green to showing horse, and just want to ride the same test twice each day. I hate to memorize another test this late in the season, especially since tests will be changing soon. Readers don’t work well with the horse either, she tends to break gait at certain spoken words. Silly mare! Thank you!
Another reason to select TOC is that it gives the competitor some options to change tests within a level, as the show date gets closer, without completely messing up the schedule for show management.
I do it sometimes because my trainer is showing another client horse at same level. Gets us a time gap so he can still work with me.
We have TOC classes for FEI level and PARAs at many shows. Because we just don’t have a lot of either at some shows. They’re also offered at Championships for reasons mentioned above --the chance to ride a certain test multiple times.
1 Like
I asked this question of one of my trainers and got the same answer as Silverbridge, but frankly all these reasons are good ones!
Also to ride a test that is not otherwise offered.
1 Like
Also to ride the same test twice in one day!
ETA: oops, Absolut beat me to this up above!
Sometimes management can use that class number to add a late entry if they can’t fit competitor in the desired class and no one is already entered in TOC
Agree with Silverbridge, and those who say you can ride the same test twice in a day, OR if you are riding multiple horses in the same class (aka you have 2 First level horses), it can help spread out the rides. And if you really like a certain test, you can ride that test twice and not bother memorizing other tests.
What is TOC classes?
Test Of Choice.
