BD Regionals qualification at prelim.. rant!

ihatework said:
And breathe ...

To be in with a chance of of qualifying for the Prelim regionals the following must apply
a) the rider must be group 8 or 7 - this means the rider cannot have obtained more than 14 points at elementary on ANY horse, let alone the prelim horse they are competing
b) the horse must still be within prelim points (from memory about 50) - depending on how frequently you compete it is pretty easy to rack up points quickly at novice level

By the very nature of competing under a national governing body at a championship level, this should only be available to the top % of competitors at that level .. if you wish to get there then you will need to accept that you should up your game.

There are plenty of oppertunities for 'average' horses ... the BD petplans are designed for just that.

When you are out BD'ing it can be very difficult sometimes to look at things objectively. There is a lot of money in the sport and as such some very flashy horses out there. However flashy horses still need to learn and still need ring exposure, and if that is at prelim level with an eligible rider I do not see the harm.
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Totally agree - I am planning on affiliating my boy because it's even worse at unaffiliated at least there is some level of control at affiliated
 
Having read this thread I find myself agreeing with both sides of the argument - however on a funnier aside - my daughter worked really hard with our old pony and eventually started winning at dressage competitions - then sadly the pony was out of work for a season with severe laminitis - the next year she competed again - at one competition a 'yummy mummy' went and complained to the organiser that my daughter was 'pot hunting' and it wasn't fair!! When she had finished ranting at the organiser she asked if my daughter would be disqualified as she was obviously too good. The organiser calmly took her to the timing sheets and pointed out that for every class my daughter had HC next to her name. It took about three attempts for the organiser to get her to understand that, whilst she was taking part she wasn't in it for the win - just to bring our pony back into work - exit one very red faced 'yummy mummy'. :-) ;-)
 
Bizarrely having started this thread I too agree with both sides, but yet again found a similarly frustrating scenario yesterday where there was a prelim qualifier ... same people as last time I went, and the same woman won both classes who had won both last week, so she has already qualified and yet she has prevented other people from qualifying!?

I actually didn't ride in the end due to circumstances out of my control. No plans to give up, and agree that you just have to keep going and petplan etc is a good alternative. I guess the reason I started this thread was IF I personally had already qualified I wouldn't be riding in another qualifier to give other people the chance, and IF I was competing at novice or elementary (which I hope to one day) I wouldn't be competing in Prelim because I would remember what it was like (ie now!) when I was competing at prelim and I wouldnt want to stop other people having a great experience of qualifying etc... I would feel a bit mean doing it.. except of course the scenario where you have had problems/lameness etc which has hindered your progress that is completely different.

Maybe I am just too nice haha! :)
 
Yes i can understand this. I have a friend who competes affliated prelim and novice. She wins pretty much every show she attends, but is careful not to go above her points by not attending too many shows.

But unaffliated she does a range of prelim,novice and elementary. She normally wins these too with flying colours. Slightly annoying for those of us that are distinctly average prelim riders who are no where near going up the next level.

But in fairness to her, she work vvvv hard. Had her horse from a 3yr old and done all the training herself. So i can see both sides to the arguement..... altho it does annoy me a tad lol :rolleyes:
 
If they arnt over qualified then I dont see the problem, you affiliate knowing that the standard will be higher so you need to up your game. They probably feel the same about the elementry regional qualifications so they do the ones they stand the most chance in which might just happen to be prellim.

Frustrating it might be but you either need to up your game, take your own achievments and ignore the rest of the competition or compete in something like trailblazers if you want to win.
 
I think part of the problem is that the world and his wife want to qualify at prelim, and a lot of people get a bit stuck. Why not start practising some Novice tests, they are not that much harder than Prelim but the classes tend to be smaller, and some horses concentrate better as there is more to do. There is no shame in getting cricket scores the first few times, if overall your riding and training is improving.

Also may be worth trying a couple of lessons with a good BD judge/trainer, your instructor has obviously helped you but sometimes a fresh pair of eyes can help.

Bear in mind that placings depend entirely on who turns up on the day,
your score depends a *bit* on who the judge is (eg do they mark down BTV or not)
the most important measure of your day is how you feel your horse performed.

If you get good training and work hard you will get to Regionals eventually, and up the grades - Judy Harvey has said that the majority of sound ordinary horses can get to Adv Med with good regular training.

It is easy to judge other people in the warmup, and some of them will be unpleasant/pothunters but as pointed out above you can't really know without the backstory.
 
showing is the same. ive lost count of the number of 'novice' horses ive seen numerous times that have been competing in and placed in open classes but turn up in novice classes the next week! not really giving the proper novice horses a fair chance and tbh it would put me off going!
 
I've not competed affiliated for almost 8 years but I don't think the abundance of pot hunting is likely to have increased that much since then. In all honesty I don't think there is a massive problem with it. There's always going to be one or two but its not a huge problem. I used to regularly do unaffil hc & there was one girl who I knew should also go in hc & didn't so it was easy enough to put in a complaint with the organisers. However I have heard many false complaints of pot hunters too. A friends 11yr old spent a season doing stuff with my 14.2 after losing her confidence. She won 15h & under & open wh at a local show & a few adults she beat complained she was pot hunting! Even though pony has never done much showing & certainly not affiliated showing. Like wise in lr equitation at a local fun show I heard a parent complain that my daughter & the other 3 placed competitors shouldn't have been in the class. Bearing in mind its such a small show the next class is midi equitation for 14 & unders it was based on sheer spite that a bunch of 6 & 7 yr olds had beaten her very novice 9 yr old.
So whilst I agree some people do pot hunt, I really don't think its a huge issue.
 
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