when is it time to affiliate?

[Gembo]

just wondering when is it the right time to affiliate as i know people that do becasue they can afford to not because they are particulaly good and other who win everything unaffiliated but dont affiliate

 

[maresmaid]

I think you need to think about why you want to affiliate, many years ago we affiliated our mare because she was ready to do some elementary classes and there weren't any unaffiliated ones near us, and we found the facilities at the affiliated competitions were much better than at the unaffiliated. We now have lots of local unaffiliated classes upto medium level & the facilities are all of a really high standard so I wouldn't be thinking about affiliating my current horse because I can continue to a higher level without the additional expense, unless she proved herself to be really talented and started getting the sort of scores that might actually win an affiliated class - then I might consider it.

 

[pintoarabian]

We had two competing BS affiliated, both doing very well. Another youngster had only competed round a course at schooling nights a few times but was going confidently so we affiliated her. She entered her first affiliated class with 40 competitors in October and won it! She has won a few more since. You know your horse and your own confidence levels better than anyone. We've found that, in our area, there are many more affiliated events so it's much better for us anyway.

 

[MagicMelon]

The very first time I went affiliated (BE and BSJA) it was because I was regularly winning open level at RC stuff so I wanted more of a challenge and so took the next step (this IMO is meant to be what affiliated is about, hence why I'm not a fan of the new little BE and BSJA classes).

I would tend to affiliate a bit earlier nowadays just because the courses are so much better built than unaffiliated which can be horrific.

 

[diggerbez]

well it depends really.... i tend to do more affiliated than i do unaffiliated because (generally) it is better organised and there are less plonkers in the working in with you... i also think that the standard is more predictable- so for DR you are definitely getting a listed judge- wheras at some unaffiliated comps you get somebody's dad because they couldn't be bothered to get a proper judge.... ditto SJ...the course is built by a reg'd builder so should be built properly...at unafil it might be/it might not be..... BE- the organisation and safety aspects are often better, but i would happily do unafil at a centre that also does BE...but probably not elsewhere as the courses are often strange to say the least!

 

[piebaldsparkle]

BD when you get fed up with inconsistent judging at unaffiliated