Will I look a fool?

[HufflyPuffly]

Go for it!

A few years back we dipped our toes back into eventing, Topaz was out at medium at the time scoring well, eventing test was prelim level and I was excited that at least we could nail that part! Topaz's feet touched the grass and she was wild , genuinely didn't think she was stopping at the end and was going to go over the judges car, I was mortified! No-one would ever have guessed she was out at BD at Medium .

I also used to drop her down a level if we'd had a break from competing too, as she really needed to go out consistently before she settled and could give her best work.

 

[eggs]

You certainly won't look a fool and I doubt anyone would notice that your horse had competed to a higher level. At UA you can have just about anyone entering a class and entering hc no-one can complain that you have taken a placing away from them.

Years ago there was a rider in my area who competed BD successfully to medium but spent most of her time doing all the UA shows entering every class from Prelim upwards and usually winning every one. I never understood what she got from it.

My horse had competed to Inter 1 with my friend and is a solid mid-60s horse all the way up through the levels. When I took over the reins I started at affiliated Novice and am now entering Medium and about to go out at Advanced Medium - there are plenty of combinations at each level who are waaay better than me.

I find that often the lower level tests are harder to ride on a horse that has competed at a much higher level as there is not enough to keep their brains occupied!

 

[Ceifer]

So in the spirit of updating things. We finally got out last week.

I didn’t enter the competition I wanted to as work got in the way so in the end I managed to get into an Elementary. Still entered HC so not to upset people.

I was a nervous wreck but my horse held it together and was an absolute star. We’d had teething troubles all week prior as @eggs mentioned above - keeping him occupied was problematic . But on the day it all miraculously came together and I enjoyed it (once it was over )

 

[eahotson]

So in the spirit of updating things. We finally got out last week.

I didn’t enter the competition I wanted to as work got in the way so in the end I managed to get into an Elementary. Still entered HC so not to upset people.

I was a nervous wreck but my horse held it together and was an absolute star. We’d had teething troubles all week prior as @eggs mentioned above - keeping him occupied was problematic . But on the day it all miraculously came together and I enjoyed it (once it was over )

Well done!