Coming over from The Netherlands

[havanta]

Not so sure if I place this in the right category, I'm not a new rider, but for Great Britain, I am. At the summer of 2015, I'll hopefully graduate at this school. I'll be 18 by then, and I'm slowly planning something to do between this school and the next one. I'm thinking about a year in Great Britain, a year of working and riding. I'm particularly a dressage rider, so I started reading the British Dressage website. But there's such a lot of information, I just don't know where to start. I tried to read the rules, but that's 210 pages with words and grammar which is very hard for me to understand. What I'm asking you for, is to help me to find the best region, so I can start searching for more specific information. I want to see some culture, and of course I would love the region with the best competitions and activities. If you have got any websites with summarized information, these would also really help me. And a more specific question: what about the levels at BD? How does the point system work, and at which level could I start? By now, I'm competing at international dressage competitions with my pony, and competing with my new horse at the Z2 level (comparable to a Junior Riders test), and there's a 2years old jumping stallion waiting for me. By then, I think I'll just be starting at the Young Riders and Prix St. George level, if everything works out like I suppose it will. Besides of this horse, I think I'll have a nice 5 or 6 years old Dressage horse. I might still have the little stallion, but for now, I'm not thinking about Showjumping, to understand BD is hard enough! Please help me to make my little British dream come true, and if you see any grammatical mistakes (which are obviously there), don't be afraid to tell me! Dutch regards

 

[be positive]

Try posting this in the competition and training forum there will be more people there to offer advice specific to your requirements.
The Gloucestershire area is very strong for dressage as are the counties in the south east of England, Surrey, Sussex, Berkshire all have plenty of trainers and competition venues.
You will probably benefit from being based with a good trainer who can take you through all the intricate details of BD, the rule book is hard enough to understand when English is your first language so I understand why it is beyond you.

Good luck with your venture and hope you will keep posting.

 

[havanta]

Try posting this in the competition and training forum there will be more people there to offer advice specific to your requirements.
The Gloucestershire area is very strong for dressage as are the counties in the south east of England, Surrey, Sussex, Berkshire all have plenty of trainers and competition venues.
You will probably benefit from being based with a good trainer who can take you through all the intricate details of BD, the rule book is hard enough to understand when English is your first language so I understand why it is beyond you.

Good luck with your venture and hope you will keep posting.

Thank you! Tomorrow I'll post it there. I'm also going to google the places you told me. I'm already looking around for a nice trainer, as you say, but I would like if I could also work there. I understand working with horses isn't all about riding and cuddling horses, but at home, I can also work at the stables. So I'm hoping to find someone who offers me a combination of it, some hard work and some training with nice horses I'll try to keep posting, when I've got a little time, thank you

 

[Herts05]

If you go onto the British Dressage website and scroll down to Forums you can register as an Associate member (at no cost) and put your initial post up there. I am sure you will get some helpful replies which should help you with your situation
Good Luck

 

[dianchi]

You will need to get proof from the Dutch dressage association of your comp record so that BD can correctly grade you, but yes does sound like medium is your starting point. If you speak to your federation they will be able to advise you.

Would strongly recommend that you base yourself with an established dressage yard/trainer. Maybe look at http://talland.net/h/Home or http://www.oldencraig.com/

With regards to your stallion, for stallions to showjump here they have to be graded- something to keep in mind if you do want to jump him.

Good luck!