Peculiar dilemma: nationality when registering...any non-Brits?

[TarrSteps]

But isn't that because their entire system in France has traditionally been breeding oriented? So lower grade horses are of little interest.

Is it still a rule that anyone going for Teams has to ride a French bred horse? I remember some vague discussions about making an exception for dressage and possibly Reining but I think they found a way around it

 

[Booboos]

They are mainly interested in French bred horses but got into trouble with the EU so now they have to accept other breeds. Registering foals in stud books is an on going battle if they don't have a French pedigree.

I think they've had to drop that one but I am not sure.

 

[TarrSteps]

Ah, I'd forgotten about the EU. That must have been a shock for them! I wonder if that affects Team picks, though.

The discussion of dressage horses was pretty funny, I remember, as the French have not produced a native bred top class dressage horse in, well, ever. I think they were trying to find a way to justify getting a few Dutch ones in.

Do they still fund all horse sports through the Tote? I always thought that was a great system.

 

[Booboos]

They are actually much more effective in ignoring the EU than the Brits who moan about it but at the end of the day feel honour bound to obey the rules. The French seem to be constantly in court for violating some EU directive or other.

I am fairly sure they have chilled on that rule. Making a virtue of necessity and all that. They now even have a non-French assistant team trainer, the wonderful Jan Bemelmans!

Don't know about that one, I could ask my trainer on Thursday.

 

[Caol Ila]

Is it still the case in the US that if you're a working student getting free board for your horse in exchange for barn chores, riding, or whatever, you technically lose your amateur status?

I must admit, myself and others in that boat (and it is a very big boat) used to lie about that. And as we were all thoroughly unimportant and in my case, my scores thoroughly shight, it's not as if anyone was going to be bothered finding out. 'Cause nothing gets you noticed like pulling in those consistent 57%'s at Second Level Test 2. It's a wonder Steffan Peters hasn't phoned yet.

 

[TarrSteps]

Is it still the case in the US that if you're a working student getting free board for your horse in exchange for barn chores, riding, or whatever, you technically lose your amateur status?

I must admit, myself and others in that boat (and it is a very big boat) used to lie about that. And as we were all thoroughly unimportant and in my case, my scores thoroughly shight, it's not as if anyone was going to be bothered finding out. 'Cause nothing gets you noticed like pulling in those consistent 57%'s at Second Level Test 2. It's a wonder Steffan Peters hasn't phoned yet.

Yes, payment in kind counts although it's easier to keep that under the radar. But most working students with anyone of stature pay for the privilege, too, so I'm not sure how they work that out.

To be fair, most people are quite careful about it. I worked for someone whose husband was an Amateur and he would not so much as pick up a pole for a client, let alone get on a horse or offer pointers. He wouldn't even help me jump young horses that belonged to their own farm.

 

[spookypony]

Righty-ho, we have a few answers (and more confusion!) Caol Ila, you'll like these, though.

BD seem to think that below FEI level, I don't need any permissions or even membership in my own national federation to register; all they're interested in is that I can prove my competition record (or lack thereof) in the other countries.

EC (Canada) think that it's up to BD if I have to be a member of EC, so apparently, I do not have to buy a Canada Sports License to register BD. They're willing to write me an email attesting to my lack of competition record.

Germany have a "permission to compete in other countries" form that they think I need to fill out, which costs about 30 Euros. From the looks of the form, I should probably have had one all along for Endurance, but I had no clue that such a form existed, since SERC don't seem interested in nationality. I don't know what they'll do about the competition record question yet.

At the moment, it sounds as though I can just register for BD, with these two letters/forms allowing me to be put in the correct rider group.

Booboos, isn't it the case in France that in Endurance, horses are exempt from the predigree thing? Or has that changed? I never quite understood why the pedigree thing is relevant for geldings, anyway!

 

[Booboos]

That all sounds very positive! Hopefully you'll be out competing in time to qualify for the summers!

I don't know about Endurance in France to be honest. I know that all horses must be registered with the FFE and there are two types of registration: either pleasure horse open to any horse, or sports horse open to horses with a three generation pedigree who can then compete Amateur and Pro.

To be honest I think it's all protectionism on the part of the French. Despite the EU there are many barriers to free trade here, e.g. it took me two years to register my UK lorry in France, just because of checks, tests and paperwork that make it near impossible (my garage guy said he had never heard of anyone else being successful before!), if you buy things on Amazon.co.uk many companies can't send to France you have to go via the French representative for that brand (who may not sell online at all). It's really different to the UK where you can buy anything on the internet.