Thinking of joining BD but no idea of what to do!

Ali27

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I have always competed my pony in Arena Eventing and Hunter Trials! However since changing to a different instructor who has transformed our flatwork, I have been doing a bit of dressage over the last few years. I did Prelim unaffiliated last year and had a few wins and was sccoring high 60’s/ low 70’s. I have now just started doing Novice unaffiliated and in my second Novice competition got 68.5% in Novice 28 and 2nd place. I think I will give Pony the Winter off jumping and focus on dressage! I’m thinking of doing BD but no clue re levels etc so would welcome any advice. I’m under no illusion that we are amazing at dressage but pony does seem to prefer Novice as she is very forward thinking so there is more to keep her thinking! Can I go in at Novice or do I need to start at Prelim?
 

DabDab

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You can go in at novice 😃

It's basically the same as unaffiliated to be honest. You just register you and your horse, get given a membership card and then enter affiliated shows giving your membership number. The only difference at the comps themselves is that you will be given a competitor number with your time, so you need a bridle or saddle pad number holder to display this in the ring.

Good luck!
 

vickie123

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You will need a bridle/saddle number on both sides as I found out last week when I was deducted 2 marks for only having one. My fault for not keeping up with rule changes!

Good luck and enjoy.
 

Ali27

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Great! Thanks both for that info! Oh dear! I still use the tie on number provided at events so guess I had better order the bridle disks then. Haha, I seemed to be the only one yesterday in a jumping saddle and jockey skull helmet. I really don’t look the part!
I also don’t understand about bronze, silver and gold. Also what membership to get! Club?
 

DabDab

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No, definitely go for full (i think there are some 'trial' 6 month options if you want to test the waters first), club membership only lets you do prelim.

I have no real clue about bronze silver gold, except that I know what I am at a given level - there's a points table somewhere if you search for it. But basically you'll start at bronze, and then if you win more than a couple of classes it's worth just going to check where you are points wise (not that the BD website every really keeps up/is accurate, so you tend to have to work it out for yourself 😜)
 

vickie123

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I can really recommend Quest as it’s very friendly and you can either compete as an individual or in a team or both. With the scores you’ve been getting I think you’d be a real asset to a team. Plus it’s good fun and I’ve found it very encouraging.
Like dabdab, I’m not 100% on the rules for Bronze etc. (Clearly, I need to swallow the rule book :p) but I do know that if you have a class of, say 12 at novice, four could be competing at gold, four silver and four bronze. Therefore, in terms of placings/frillies you would only be competing against the other 3 Bronze competitors realistically.
I think you need to get a certain number of scores over a certain percentage before moving up from bronze to silver and so on. I’m sure more knowledgeable people on here can verify that bit for you.
 
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