Dressage - Tell me everything you know!!

chickeninabun

chickeninabun

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Location
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I'm, possibly, going to be taking over the dressage competition organisation at my local riding club. GREAT! But I know n-o-t-h-i-n-g about dressage
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!!! I'm willing to learn and am going to shadow the current person who runs it, but if you guys could tell me everything you know, or know of any website that do Dressage for Dummies!
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So far I can know:
* They do comptitions once a month, there is a points league which I think I can understand (so many points for turning up and so many for each percentage score range).
* They hire an indoor arena, but must check if get charged for set-up/lighting etc.
* Presume they already have contacts of some judges.
* They tend to run tests that might help people doing an area competition, i.e. to practice the test before a big comp.
* Tests are run approx 8 mins apart.

What I need to know:
- Dress codes for rider
- Tack rules for horses
- Prelim, novice, etc, etc tests. Which is what? Which easiest, etc.
- Do BD tests change each year, for example is Prelim 4 2008 same as Prelim 4 2009??
- Anything else!!!
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Warm chocolate brownies for any helpers!
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I haven't a clue about dressage either but as I read you whole thread.....Please can I have some Warm Chocolate Brownies
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Whew - a lot to take on.

i like organising dressage, much nicer than showjumping which can turn into a bit of a bunfight.

Look at previous schedules for timing, rules, dress code for your events - previous organisers may have them in Word for you to view. Once you have your list of tame judges it would be nice to liaise with them as to proposed scale of tests for the season, and you can guage their availability at the same time. they may also be judging area comps so can give you a steer as to where to aim.

test do change, but after a recent change the older tests are sometimes used. Your judges will need marking sheets as well as the members being able to access test details.

Good luck!
 
Points for turning up??!! Even i could manage that one!

Do they run the comps along British Dressage lines? So for example, riders must wear gloves, and are permitted to carry a whip, while horses must have a dressage-legal bit (no pelhams or 3-ring gags, for example) and cannot wear boots or a martingale. Your RC might run under different rules though, so best check with the current organiser. Some places allow people doing the W&T tests (intro or Pony Club tests) to conpete in their "normal" tack, but they must have conventional BD tack for the other classes.

Intro is "easiest" as they are walk and trot tests, no canter. They are good for encouraging people to come and have a go if you have a lot of people who've never ridden dressage tests before, or who might be a bit nervous.

Then, in order of difficulty, it goes Prelim, Novice, Elementary, Medium, Advanced Medium, Advanced...but TBH, I've never seen a normal RC comp offer classes for anything higher than Medium. Sometimes our local venue offers a "Pick Your Own Test" class for the higher levels, allowing ridersto choose either an Elementary or Medium test. This works if there aren't enough entries to run a proper class at either level.

BD tests don't all change each year, but some of them will be slightly different. You can check which tests are current on the BD site, where you can also buy in the marking sheets for the judge & writer.
 
Generally the lower the number of the test at any level the easier it is. As well as good judges you will need stewards to get people into the arena on time and of course experienced people to write for the judges. People need to have a set day such as the Thursday before the competition and time eg between 7pm and 9 to ring to find out their competion times. Equip yourself with a Riding Club dressage rule book and a British Dressage one.
 
We split all our prelim classes into "grassroots" and open sections. To enter grassroots you must not have been placed 1st-3rd in a dressage competition other than one other grassroots. If you're doing the grassroots you can do it in any tack, if you're doing the open you have to abide by BD tack rules. We introduced the "one other grassroots" rule as some people were getting placed in their first comps but in tack that wasn't dressage legal and the jump to the open class in normal tack would have been too much. Although it's not in the rules we encourage anybody who's done that to try in normal dressage tack the next time, to ease the transition to the open section (or to stop them having to do open before they're ready!)

This means anybody can do fairly simple tests but the real first timers are in a category of their own so not competing against more experienced people/horses. This is mainly as we don't have many very serious dressage riders so normally offer two prelims and one novice at our competitions.

I've probably made that sound a lot more complicated than it is!

ETA - one judge, one test just put into two different piles for working out places.
 
Well done to you for taking it on! If people were not willing to do all the hard work organising the comps no one would get to enjoy a great day out.

Some things to think about:

- do you want to set a 'close of entries' date? This would make your life easier and the judges would find it easier to plan their day.
- how will competitors get access to their times? Usually people call up on a set date/time, some organisers use the internet or send e-mail/texts which can be really helpful.
- talk to judges about their requirements re food, drinks, breaks, etc. A happy judge is likely to return for another comp! You might want to think of some way to thank judges, e.g. a bunch of flowers.
- you will need some volunteers for the day. You need a writer, a steward (who could deal with both parking and calling competitors) and someone to add up scores. You might want to think of a good way to thank volunteers, e.g. free entry into the next show.
- organise some way of getting sheets back to competitors if they have left the show. BD suggests competitors leave a stamped/addressed envelope on the day, but you can also ask for a small amount of money to cover your costs (otherwise you could be spending a fortune on stamps and stationary).
- do you arrange food/drinks?
- don't forget the rosettes!

On the day you might want to think about:
- parking
- how will people get to the warm up and the arena safely, e.g. separate vehicle, horse and pedestrian accesses.
- clearly labelled secretary's tent for results, questions, etc.
- warm up area
- first aider

Good luck!
 
P.S. forgot to say, you can buy test sheets from BD for the judges to write their comments on. At the top it will also tell you how long the test is (they vary from 4 to 8 minutes) which will help you arrange times (add a minute or two in between tests depending on how long it takes competitors to get to the arena, etc).
 
One tip I learnt the hard way - double-check the arena letters are in the correct positions before the start of the competition if they are the type that are not fixed in place!
 
Thanks everyone. This is great. Will take note of all comments and get myself some rule books!
Be prepared for hundreds more dressage related questions to come in the following months!!
 
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