At what point do you move up a level?

JulesRules

JulesRules

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So Rory and I have been doing Quest at Intro this season and plan to continue at Quest at the same level, but between now and the start of the new season on December 1st seems a good opportunity to try some Prelim.

His canter isn't really ready, but I'm not aiming to win anything just to progress.

At what point do other people move up a level? Do you wait until you are competitive or just go for it as soon as you can get away with it?
 
With dressage I think it depends on what you want to achieve. For me, I enjoy moving up the levels when we are doing what I consider to be a decent job ;) and have achieved what I want in terms of qualification for championships.

With my current competition horse a decent job is defined (by me and trainer) as a mid to high 60s score, and when I feel like I have time to ride every movement of the test well, with good preparation and a high quality of work.

If I feel like time speeds up in the test and it's a bit of a blur, then it's too soon to move up regardless of what score we get.

Feeling like a test/level has become easy is usually a signal to me that we are ready to move up. I try to have my horses training elements of a level or two higher at home so they are fairly established by the time we do move up.
 
Interestingly, this is something I am pondering at the moment. Millie is competing at prelim and achieving anything from 66-72%. Shes fairly consistent so it is quite an amusing difference in scores from week to week, which does seem to suggest she’s rather a marmite type horse from a judging point of view.

At home she works between novice and elementary and if she would go as well at a competition as she does at home, I would have absolutely no problems sticking her in Novice, but tension tends to get the better of her when she is out.
I do think I’m just going to chuck her in a Novice soon though and see what happens. We can always step back down again if it all goes to pot!
 
Well we have been scoring around 63% consistently with a 66.73% our highest, but Rory is another one who doesn't show out what he can do at home, although we are definitely getting better on that front.

I'm only thinking about doing Prelim at unaffiliated for now for experience. I'm not sure Intro is "easy" yet, but we can do pretty much all the movements well enough to get 7s but just not consistently all on the same day😂. I guess it's just starting to feel a little boring doing Intro A and B all the time (Not many venues seem to run C very often).

I've also spotted that Prelim 13 is on at my local venue the weekend after next which I like as it's a nice flowing test. The only parts that are different to intro are the canter ( the same on each rein - start a 20m circle in working trot at A, canter before X, go large, 20m circle at C in working canter trotting before X) and also the final halt is a halt from working trot (intro is normally from medium walk).

What's the worst that can happen? (Don't answer that!)
 
I move up when I get bored at a level and we can do the moves (mostly) for the next :rolleyes::p. We have been fairly consistently in the 60's regardless of level to be honest lol.

When I say do the moves, it did take us to Advanced before we could really do a medium trot... Hackney/ Friesians are not made extending easily!

For us the worst that could happen was a poop score, which didn't really bother me too much, I know how bad we are already ;). If you think getting harsher critic might knock your confidence, wait until you are nailing the moves or are schooling a couple of levels above at home as this really does make the tests much easier!
 
Been contemplating this myself in terms of jump height. Finally got to the point where I'm not scared witless by the height, can sleep the night before and eat breakfast without it tasting like ashes in my mouth. Ins wants me to move up over the winter - but I quite like the feeling of not being terrified.

For dressage, I moved up from Intro fairly quickly as canter is his better pace and walk his weakest, so it made sense. I also agree that you do get a bit more variety in what Prelim tests are being run as the limited Intro ones do get a bit 'yawn'. If you're in the 60's and want to have a crack at canter and some more variety, I'd go for it. As above, what's the worst that can happen ;-)
 
If you place cosnistantly in the top 3 then it is time to move up. Otherwise where is the challenge. It is also a bit disheartening for those trying hard to improve and move on to be constantly beaten by those that wont even try to move on, so their horse does the intro on robot mode scoring highmarks as it knows the test inside out and back to front. Ok if you are eligible you have that right but seems a bit lacking in motivation and self respect to me
 
windand rain said:
If you place cosnistantly in the top 3 then it is time to move up. Otherwise where is the challenge. It is also a bit disheartening for those trying hard to improve and move on to be constantly beaten by those that wont even try to move on, so their horse does the intro on robot mode scoring highmarks as it knows the test inside out and back to front. Ok if you are eligible you have that right but seems a bit lacking in motivation and self respect to me
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this rather depends on the class sizes!
 
Yes but consistantly winning/placing means rather more than one class of 1 horse dressage round here is well supported and usually has more than 10 per class. Jumping even more so the 60cm class maybe has 30 entries the 70cm a few less but get to 90cm and you are back to single figures
 
Often when you move up your scores do not dip as much as you feel they might, there will only be 4 marks allocated to the canter and even if that is not as well established as it could be just doing it can improve the following trot work to gain a few marks in the next few movements which balances things out, as long as the rider is confident cantering generally I see no reason to not get on to prelims and aim to get the trot as good as possible in order to enhance the overall scores, you may be pleasantly surprised.
 
When you are talking about the difference between intro and prelim then ASAP. It is easy to get stuck at a level and prelim is actually easier than intro if you can canter a 20m circle without disaster.

What's the worst that can happen? You trot the canter work or strike off on the wrong lead and get a few 2s.

With the final halt at prelim your transition can be progressive so don't worry if you get a few strides of walk before your halt.

Just get on and give it a go. You will probably surprise yourself!
 
I agree with most of the comments above. I think if you are comfortably schooling the required movements at home, it's worth a go.

For me, making the move from Prelim to Novice was a bit nail biting. I was regularly scoring between 66-69% prelim, but I wanted to be competitive when making the move to Novice. I've been lucky in that the Novice tests I've done so far, I have been competitive, albeit with lower scores than I expected, however all of the tests I have done so far have been in low scoring classes (best of a bad bunch maybe?!)

My plan for winter is to carry on out at Novice and hopefully increase our percentages, while carrying on working on the Elementary movements and dipping our toe into the Medium work, so continuing to train at home at a higher level. It always goes to pot at a competition!

What I would say though is don't get too focused on the things you can't do brilliantly, but concentrate on what you do well. I think if you always wait to be perfect before moving up a level, you'll never make that move.
 
For jumping, I like to be really comfortable with the height and jumping consistent double clears before moving up. No point scaring yourself by moving up if you’re not ready.

For dressage, we tend to move up when we are consistently getting 67/68% and feel confident schooling at the next level at home. I’ve tentatively pencilled in our AM debut for the end of October but I’m not sure we’ll be ready as our changes can still be a little hit and miss at home and he’s a spooky sod at competitions 🤷‍♀️

If it goes wrong then oh well... we just go home and keep practicing
 
There didn’t used to be an Intro level - you went straight in at Prelim. My youngster did his first test last weekend and went straight in at Prelim. It was fine. You will be fine too - and you won’t have wobbly circles cos the dressage boards are scary!!!
 
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Agree with milliepops.
For me, I love the challenge of moving up the levels and want to push myself to see just how far we go.
As soon as I think we have mastered enough of the moves at home to not disgrace ourselves and to be capable of scoring in the 60s (obviously baring anything going completely wrong) I will have a go. So far this has always been the case. I am lucky that I have found a great instructor and both me and horse like to use our brains.
I only did 1 intro as we could canter, just wanted to take out the stress of it at the first outing as didn't know what he would be like. And have kept moving. Was about to enter our first medium despite having only tried the walk piris once as felt everything else was secure enough.
If I waited around until we consistently scored high 60s or into the 70s, or to be winning, I would probably still be in prelim! It's all about personal goals for me.
 
Im also debating this with the horse i've got on loan. He's really consistent at walk trot going large and on big shapes, e.g. circles and serpentines, but still struggles with balance during 2 10m circles across the arena at intro. His canter isn't perfect but he can do a circle and a long side relatively well.
 
sgcgrif3 said:
Im also debating this with the horse i've got on loan. He's really consistent at walk trot going large and on big shapes, e.g. circles and serpentines, but still struggles with balance during 2 10m circles across the arena at intro. His canter isn't perfect but he can do a circle and a long side relatively well.
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If it's only the half 10m circles, then definitely move on to prelim. They are hard to do and aren't in the lower prelims.
Prelim is quite often easier then intro. Go for it!
 
If there's a venue near you which you think has been a bit lenient with the marks at Intro I'd try to go there for your first Prelim. It will give you a boost of confidence to get a reasonable mark in the higher test. There are places I compete at where I get 65% and I know if I'd done the same test at another venue we go to I'd have got very low 60s, sometimes even high 50s. If I'd got 58 for my first Novice I'd probably have dropped back down to Prelim for a long time! We've had that sort of low score since, but it doesn't seem to matter so much once you're established at the new level. Good luck!
 
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