I walked an unaff 90 course one day with the girl riding my livery and a young rider who has been round 4*'s, we got to a big ditch/ rail at which point the pro declared she was 'going to die'!!!, had no chance of getting the horse round for it's owner, she was right, an E at that fence whereas ours jumped it and came home with a ribbon.
Many pros tend to use unaff to get their more tricky youngsters going, usually around a BE standard course without it being on their record if things don't go to plan, I have never seen it as an issue, they will rarely turn up at the lower levels for long as they move on faster than the rest of us and don't spend too much time on anything that is obviously not going to make the grade.
Like someone said earlier riders still going out at 90/100 after several seasons getting to the GR champs, having 100's of FP's should be in an open section if they don't want to move up a level, I have no problem with them competing but think something needs to be done to get them in their own section to level things up a bit more.
Totally agree with your last paragraph - there are several partnerships in our area who go to the same events every year for several years running always get placed.
