Ettiquette of riding unaff once you've gone aff?

Tr0uble

Tr0uble

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Catchy title, huh?!

Ok, so currently I'm riding and doing well at unaff Prelim with my, not quite, 5 year old....and we did our first unaff Novices at the weekend (2nd in one and retired due to the judge in the other!)

On Sunday I'm going to Fenning Farm to ride affiliated for the first time, but I'm doing the open section without having affiliated me or the horse, just to get a taster before I spend the money.

My ultimate goal is to affiliate, and next year I can see me riding affiliated only.

However, this year I'm having fun at some of our local venues, they are giving me and the horse confidence to stretch ourselves, and I would like to continue there for this season (until August) so I can take part in the unaff championships I've qualified for, and I'm also a contender in the members league at one place.

So, to get to the point, if I like the affiliated on Sunday, and spend the money to affiliate us proper so we can try and get our area/regional sheets - is there any ettiquette that would make me a bad sport for continuing the unaff for a while as well? I would be riding unaff Novice (or maybe Elem if I'm REALLY brave/lucky by the end of the season) and staying at Prelim for the time being at affiliated....would this be wrong?

I'm new to this, so it's a genuine question. I'd like to continue at my local, but I also want to push into aff too...but I want to be sure I don't need to be going HC at unaff to be a good sport!?

Does ANY of that make sense??!!
 
If you start to win any points you need to be honest when entering an unaffiliated competition, because some of them clearly state not to have won points at...

When I competed, even though we weren't exactly hot stuff, I preferred not to go back to unaffiliated because I felt I wanted to move on and try better venues and (hopefully) judges.
 
I think you would be fine! As long as you are within the entry requirements - eg one of our local venues says no affiliated cOmbinations allowed - then I think doing aff prelims and unaff novices really wouldn't raise any eyebrows.
 
I'm sure if you're just knocking on the door of novice no one is going to resent you being there at unaffiliated. The fact that you affiliate won't bar you from having some fun and getting some extra confidence and practise locally. The only slightly grey area is if you're staying "down" in an easier (unaff) class in order to do championships/ points leagues then that could be seen as pot hunting and slightly unsporting to those that are genuinely stretching themselves to compete....

You don't have to affiliate to do Prelim at an affiliated show, and you can still qualify for area festivals (you just have to register before the festivals) so no real need to affiliate just yet (as opposed to start going to aff shows).

Only other thing I'd say is keep an eye on your percentages rather than your placings and be ready for a drop of 5 - 10% at a BD show. :) Good luck on Sunday :)
 
I would say you would be completely fine, unless the entry on the unaff state you are not eligable for the class. What annoys people is if you were competing affiliated novice/elementary and then doing unaff prelim because there were no entry restrictions.
 
Thanks guys!

Yeah I am already worrying because I qualified for the Prelim champs (unaff) on my first time out...but now I'm moving up to Novice I'll already feel bad going and doing the Prelim champs...not that I'm any great shakes at Novice yet...but if we DO start getting regular placings at Novice, I will ask if I can move up to the Novice Champs...and if I'm lucky enough to qualify Novice anyway, then I'll not go for the Prelim champs because I know how I'd feel if I were one of the others.

I want to win stuff, but I hate pothunting and always have, I actually felt guilty for winning four Prelims in a row a few weeks ago, hence why I made the move to Novice!!!
 
unless you think you're going to be winning affiliated prelim and qualifying for the Regionals (bloody difficult - round here requires plus 70% normally) then you dont need to affiliated yet. You can get your area festival qualifying sheets in open classes and just register for the festivals in Aug/Sep.

Round here unaff dressage standards vary hugely. I have done some affiliated Novice with Monty but I would still happily do unaffiliated Novice at Merrist Wood or Pachesham. However, I wouldn't do unaffiliated Novice at a local show or some of the smaller centres because I know the standard would be much lower. At Merrist Wood I'd be perfectly likely to come up against an Olympic eventer in the unaffiliated prelim (no joke - Alex Hua Tian won the unaff prelim champs there last yr!) I would say just do what feels right - you know what the standards are like around you. Dont keep going back somewhere when you are winning every time - it's not fair, but if competition is strong and you have to go some to get placed then there's no reason not to keep doing it.
 
Thanks that's really helpful...The standard does vary, but is generally challenging, especially now I'm attempting Novice tests and although i think at some point over the summer we will be likely to land a first place at Novice, we def won't be doing it every time out!

Ok, so if I carry on doing the open affiliated, and I get the %s on my sheets, I can affiliate later and still be eligible with those sheets? Then that's what I'll do.

Apart from having fun, it feels good supporting some of the smaller local venues because over the last few months I've seen them grow in etries no end, and I have a lot of loyalty!
 
Tr0uble said:
Thanks that's really helpful...The standard does vary, but is generally challenging, especially now I'm attempting Novice tests and although i think at some point over the summer we will be likely to land a first place at Novice, we def won't be doing it every time out!

Ok, so if I carry on doing the open affiliated, and I get the %s on my sheets, I can affiliate later and still be eligible with those sheets? Then that's what I'll do.

Apart from having fun, it feels good supporting some of the smaller local venues because over the last few months I've seen them grow in etries no end, and I have a lot of loyalty!
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Yes, I've only just registered Monty but have been doing affiliated all yr with him so he has sheets from the beginning of the year that will count towards his area festivals. I only bothered registering him now because he's starting to get results that will win me prize money! At some of my local venues, you can go and do unaffiliated prelim and find 30 in the class and some of those will be people eventing at Novice level upwards plus who knows what else. I have no qualms about going to do those classes despite doing aff Novice as I know Monty wont beat them but it's nice to have a bit of challenging competition. Would rather take him to a big venue and struggle to come in top 6 than win at a little venue but I know not everyone thinks like that.
 
Yeah round here it tends to be the intros that attract those types! I've seen some intro horses who would challenge the Novices!!!
 
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