When do you Know your ready to Affiliate?

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little_legs

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As the title says really
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I am hoping to affiliate my little man in Dressage next year, but how will I know if Im ready
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Jane & William
 
Assuming you are already competing at un-aff level then a good guide is the scores you are getting.

Work on the basis of dropping around 5% off your score when you make the move to affiliated. So if you are currently getting low 60's percentage then probably too early. If you are getting 65%+ then go for it.

Having said all that there is no reason to delay going affiliated even if your current scores are not great. One of the advantages of BD is more consistent judgeing and less descrimination if you have a more ordinary horse (like my wife).
Tended to get lowish marks at un-aff. Could only put it down to judges seeing a welsh pony rather than a correctly trained and ridden equine. Marks increased significantly when she moved to BD.

You could always try a few prelim / novice test on a ticket to see how you get on.
 
i think it depends on where you are, i compete affliated BD and the judging in my area is anything but consistent!! However its the same unaffliated in my area too.

And you will find some people on here say their marks increase on going from unaffliated to affliated depending on where they live, its not the case down here but it is in other parts of the country.

I agree with perhaps getting a couple of tickets and going out and seeing what you are up against. Also ask your trainer, as he/she is going to be the best judge of whether you are ready or not.
 
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judges seeing a welsh pony rather than a correctly trained and ridden equine

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Its funny you should say that, I ride a 14.1 connie, and some judges just dont see through the pony
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I get low 60% or even high 50% scores, nothing outstanding, but not to bad, saying that there are some places round here where I always do badly, they just cant see through the pony !

Think I might have a bash at a day ticket first, really want to see wha they think of my little chap
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Jane & William
 
If its dressage you want to do then I think it is well worth affiliating.

At least when you compete affiliated you will be up against riders at the same level as they have restricted and open sections for riders. I found that I won more rosettes once I affiliated, as the venues I competed at unaffiliated had no closure on who entered them.

Why don’t you buy some class tickets first and see how you get?
 
i affliated once i cracked the 60% barrier novice which happend on the first occassion. the judging in our area is consistant whether affliated or not and was getting about the same sorts of marks affliated as unaffliated. my lad always came away with at least one point an outing and we part qualified twice for the regionals. notbad for horse people kept telling me to sell!

i would go for it. good luck
 
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Tended to get lowish marks at un-aff. Could only put it down to judges seeing a welsh pony rather than a correctly trained and ridden equine. Marks increased significantly when she moved to BD.

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Interesting, because I know Tessa Frost and her coloured gypsy pony Wayward Wesley from when I lived in Cambridge, and she told me she once got a comment on a test that said "This a drum horse, not a dressage horse" or words to that effect. How rude, don't you think?!
 
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"This a drum horse, not a dressage horse" or words to that effect. How rude, don't you think?!


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Oh my god thats so RUDE
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Im in Cambridge
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Jane & William
 
I think that if you are getting around the 60% mark then go for it. I think it's hard to really say when is the right time as it depends on the horse/rider. I affiliated Louis when he was consistently getting above 60's in prelim and I did some unaff novices and he won a couple. I would have probably happily have continued in unaff as I found competing very nerve wracking and scary but my trainer at my new yard gently (or not so gently!) nudged me into affiliated. Affiliating had a lot to do with my confidence too as it is also about pushing u out of your comfort zone. Once u enter the world of affil the competition gets tougher and so do the other competitors. I used to get physically ill with nerves when I started competing affil but now I have overcome it I thoroughly enjoy it and have started to develop a competitive streak I never thought I had
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So in conclusion it is really up to whether u feel confident enough to take the next step. What ever u decide, good luck x
 
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The fact that you are considering it means that you think you are ready

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The trouble is Ive been thinking about it for the past year, but when it comes down to it, I decide that we are not ready for it, but I supose Ill never know until I try
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Whats the worse thing that can happen, we come last
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Thanks for the support
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Jane & William
 
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We have all been there at some stage. Stop thinking and get going.


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Ill do my best, its the thought of being surrounded by big warmbloods that puts me off, think me and my ickle 14.1 might stand out like a sore thumb
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Jane & William
 
Hi Jane - I affiliated on August and have already qualified for the winter regionals at prelim and have a half way qualification for the summer regionals.

When I threw my cap in I was pretty consistently getting 62 - 63%. Maybe the marking is much better or maybe I have lifted my game a bit but I am now getting between 67.5 and 70.5% at prelim.

You can enter the open sections at any BD competition at prelim level and these can be a really useful tool in judging where you might be placed if you were to join.

If there is only an open section all riders will be judged in a single class and this wont really tell you that much, however if the competition runs an open and a restricted section because both sections are judged by the same judge you will be able to tell where you would have come in the restricted section if you were a BD member - it will help you decide.

As a taster you can join BD for about £50 but leave your horse as unregistered until you qualify for the regionals (in which case you will have to register him/her to compete) or until you are ready to go up to novice because at this level the horse has to be registered.

My advice would be .... go for it.

p.s. just ignore the WB's - its all show in the collecting ring.
 
Well I take William to Keysoe and enter the unaffiliated, they run open and select sections, and I always take note of where I come over all, not just in my section.

When I went this weekend, in N21 I game 11/20 and in N24 I came 4/14.

Then I took him a few months ago, and came 8/21 in P10 and 4/24 in N21.

I think thats quiet good, but is it good enough?


William is like marmite you either love him or you hate him
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Jane & William
 
Well I like marmite so you go give it a go. Your scores are respectable because the class is pretty large. Classes are rarely that large in affiliated so you should be pretty near the top.

Let me know how you get on.
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I know nothing about dressage, but BSJA and BE wise I move up from unaffiliated with a horse when I get fed up jumping crappy courses (!) or Im at open level unaffiliated so there's no bigger unless Id affiliate.

So I guess dressage wise, once your consistenly doing well or want to get proper decent marking (by proper judges) then you'll need to do BD.
 
Hi

I would suggest that you go to a couple of competitions to watch the level that you intend to compete at....and the other indication that you are ready is that you can complete the tests at the level you intend to start...i.e at novice level, elementary or wherever you want to start.

I started at elementary with my Dutch because he had previous points and we just prepared well and I knew what to expect!

Most of all, good luck, have fun and remember there are always highs and lows with competing, it is also a journey of training!

Diana
 
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I don't think you will find many, if any, judges would descriminate on the type of horse, especially at the lower levels.



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I find alot of judges discriminate against me being an adult on a pony
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They dont see the stride as a pony stride, they see it as fast and hurried, instead of just shorter !

Im going to give it a bash in the new year and see how we get on, we can only try
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We can always go back to unafiliated
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Jane & William
 
Thing is, its no different to unaffiliated really..... what have your percentages been like over the past few months? Are you up in the 60's? If so, just go for it! At least a whole new calendar of days opens up for you this way..... I took the plunge back in June and still cant work out why I was so worried about going affiliated!
 
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