Affiliated Vs Unaffiliated Dressage judging

Troggy

Troggy

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Hello!

Don't think I have posted in here before!

How does affiliated dressage judging differ from unaffiliated? I assume it's generally "tougher" if that makes sense? More attention to detail? Or should it be fairly similar?

Toffee has never been brilliant at dressage however we have been gradually improving and usually score between 56-62% at unaffiliated prelim level (last Sunday we managed 64.5%, however think that may be more down to a very generous judge as all scores seemed higher!) The main venue I go to is running a BD ticket Affiliated competition in March which I was tempted to have a go at to see what my score would be, but I don't want to look stupid! I don't think I would ever affiliate her but would it be worth it just to see how we would do? Or no point?

How do the tickets work? It will give the judge a laugh if nothing else!
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For starters for affiliated prelim you do not require a ticket, you only need from Novice upwards and you can use them at any BD event, you purchase them in advance from BD and you are allowed a max of 6 a year per horse I think. But you can eneter as many affil prelims as you want without buying tickets or becoming a member you just can't gain qualifications, except I think for Area festivals but you need to join before entering the area festival.

Scores will vary widely at unaffiliated and it very much depends on the judge and venue and the overall standard of competition. I know of some unaffiliated venues where marking is the same as you would expect affiliated and I know others where the judges will regulary award an extra 10% above unaffiliated level.

I would say you should expect if you do take part for your score to drop by about 5% to what you would normally expect. This is only a benchmark though and so very hard to tell as afterall dressage judging is completely subjective.

As for whether you should do it I'm not sure I can answer that, if you don't mind getting a lower mark and just want to see how you would fare I would say go for it.
 
Oh yes, sorry I mis-read the schedule!
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It's their last competition that's listed for a while so might as well give it a go, thanks for the info. I don't mind about the score, more interested in the comments, to compare really.
 
Really depends on venue - I compete unaff at a super venue which uses listed judges and runs tests unaff up to adv medium. My scores and those of friends who do both are broadly similar (obv depending on how the horses go) whether they compete aff or unaff. So if your venue is using the same judges for aff as for unaff you may not get any difference really at all.

Go for it - you have nothing to lose.
 
Go for it, I did my first affil last weekend, Kizzy decided she had never seen a dressage arena before, proceeded to nap, rear & shy, OMG!!! how embarassing, in the novice we managed the impressive score of 48%!!! I COULD HAVE DIED. However, I found the atmosphere much more supportive & professional that at unafil, no bitching, just sympathy & encouragement for next time, if I have managed to crawl out from under the stone I hid under!! This is the pony who was achieving 70%+ at unafil, hence the decision to spend shed loads of money joining & registering, don't you just love them??!!
 
We did an affilliated prelim a few months ago because it was just down the road. Very well run and none of the "odd" ones you sometimes get at unaff- "please don't trot past my horse", "he doesn't canter" etc. I really enjoyed it and so did my old girlie (21). we got 59% too so I was pleased. Go for it! <font color="purple"> </font>
 
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