Dressage career help!!

peanutpussycat

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Hi, have new young horse that moves stunning (if I may say). However, having been out of the dressage scene for quite a few years. Wondered if anyone had advice on what and when I start doing qualifiers. Whats an acheivable level in my first year. My horse is six and will be ready to go out in mid January (I hope). When and how do you qualify for the classes. Thanks
 

fjudge

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Well im not really into dressage myself, but why not start with some of the Trailblazers dressage (and Chiltern&Thames if you in the right sort of area) just to get going. The judging is good enough and it will be a little more low-key than BD. Then go for the Novices and afiliate.
 

lizzie_liz

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I suggest same as fjudge, start with prelim unaffliated dressage and see how it goes.
Trailblazers is a brilliant unaffliated competition, culminating in finals the first week of august at Stoneleigh. First rounds are being run all over teh country at the moment. if you achieve a score of over 58% you qualify for the 2nd rounds which start in March and go until May. You can attend as many 2nd rounds as you like until you are qualified for the finals. If you come 1st -4th maybe 5th for dressage then you qualify for the finals.
The finals are really good fun, they dress all the arenas and you ride 2 tests one on each day.
Trailblazers runs from prelim to elementary.
 

not_with_it

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Why not get a ticket from BD and try a few comps out? When you feel comfortable with that then you can affiliate and try to qualify. Start off at prelim and novice and see how he goes.
 

Iestyn

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Where do you find infor for venues and dates for Trailblazers? We affiliated to BD, but my horse (even though he moves nicely, is obedient and does a dnice test) will never compete with the bigger moving WB's - aiming for Petplan festivals next year and wouldn't mind trying this Trailblazers thing!
 

peanutpussycat

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This sounds quite big headed (i'm sorry), but he is already working at elementary at home. I want to go straight into affiliated and have done it in the past. I have already affiliated him and me.
 

Sparklet

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Then you need to take him to some BD comps and try to get him qualified for the summer regionals. Personally I would start at prelim and move up to novice only when he is qualified at prelim (if you are going to try and do it all in the same year).

You dont really say if he has been out and about yet but you may find his performance drops when he is exposed to the activity at a competition - unless he has experienced it before that is!
 

Patchwork

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Aim to qualify for summer regionals then - my instructor qualified her last horse for the Open Novice nationals as a 5 year old in his first year of competition.

smile.gif
 

ihatework

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Firstly I'd go to a dressage trainer who competes regularly at BD or even better is a listed judge. See what level they think you should go in at, as there is 'working at elementary' and 'working correctly at elementary'.
I would aim to compete your horse in a class where he is established in all movements and is going to be shown to the best of his ability - this does not necessarily mean starting at prelim, for instance I had a horse to compete this summer that was eligible for all classes however he always performed better in novices than he did in prelims.
Check out the BD rulebook for all the qualifying criteria, you will need to work out what grade of rider you are and this will depend on your past competition results.
But in short for aff prelims you need to win or come 2nd in 2 qualifier classes with a score of 65% or over.
For novice restricted you need 2 wins 65% or over with at least one of these as a qualifier, and for novice open 2 wins at 66%
This will qualify you for a regional final, from the regionals you can qualify for the nationals.
 
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