| Author | Message | ||
     Cathy Willis |
Hi Barry I have responded to the article on the front page of the website. | ||
| Barry Hilditch |
Cathy, You are I believe quoting from the briefing paper which was presented to Council at their last meeting. Whilst Council approved the main changes recommended the finer details, such as promotion between classes are still being worked on by Competitions Commitee and will be presented to Council at their next meeting. The Committee came under pressure from members 'to do something' about the class structure and to address the issue of numbers at National Competitions. I am sure that Ian Gilbert & myself would be glad to receive members comments directly as well as via The Forum. Barry | ||
| Cathy Willis |
I am appalled about the changes to the class structure especially competitors not progressing into Advance Class from Open. It should be compulsory to go up if you have won two events with the relevant dressage mark. Why should someone be able to stay down and win everything, it’s not fair on the other competitors and will cause competitors to leave the sport. If you had a win because there was no-one else in the class then obviously this is a totally different issue. Perhaps the dressage mark should be moved from 55 to 50. After all the only difference between Open and Advance is the dressage test and cone speed. I believe that in the advance class competitors should be allowed to come down after a year if they are constantly in the bottom of the class irrespective of the number in the class, if they want to. Stop forcing Novices / Intermediates up with if you are in the top 50% of the Championships without a win. I have been forced up through from Novice, Intermediate to Open without ever winning an event due to being stupid enough to be in the top 50% of the class at the championship. You should only be allowed to progress up the tree by winning two events with the relevant dressage mark and move up at the end of the year. If you want more people to take part then get rid of the start fee (by bringing back horse registration) or at least make it fair by ensuring that it is proportionate to the number of horses a driver takes to an event. We were told that user pays, so therefore the charge for teams and pairs should be a lot more than the singles, or reduce the singles substantially. I believe the reason that drivers are not coming up from club to nationals is purely the cost in time and money. At a club event you will get a ribbon for each phase of the event at a National there are only a few events which give ribbons for the phase. It’s possible to spend £180 on an entry fee, start fee and come away with nothing. Organisers need to remember that the competition is made up of three phases. Some organisers really treat the competitor very well with a reception, ribbons for each phase and overall, some do not. Competitors want value for money. I think it is a retrograde step in removing Regionals where there is a site nearby which holds a National. I see the Regionals as a stepping stone into full Nationals from club level. The obstacles will be built to the required standard, 2 judges at dressage arena. I have been to some club events where the obstacles have a lot to be desired and only one (non listed judge). I thought that the other reason for Regionals was to allow the not so well known officials to use their experience. Surely if you have people prepared to put these events on you should be encouraging them not discouraging them. I believe that the BHTDA should keep Novices and Intermediates as separate classes. I know the classes have been small but has anyone asked those competitors why they are only doing one or two events, could this be down to costs. The Novice class should have always been at Nationals as well as at club events. The problem being is that at the moment the novices are at club, they qualify and then go to Championships where the obstacles are big posts, and tightly marked, it will put them off going to other National events because they will tar all Nationals as being the same. To compete at Nationals drivers must be full members of the BHDTA not Associate. It would have been good of the Competitions Committee to ask the competitor what they think of the class structure before informing everyone that it is done deal. | ||
| Sara Simmons |
Having just got back from running Goodwood Two Day Event I'm delighted to see that Novice Qualifiers are being scrapped (no disrespect to our two happy qualifiers). At last we can get away from having up to six classes with the word 'Novice' in the name (Pre-Novice, Club Novice & National Novice, Horse and Pony). I agree with Janet that Intermediate, Open and Advanced will be absolutely fine once the Open class actually becomes 'Open'. That said, I would dearly love to get rid of the ghastly name Pre-Novice and call it Preliminary (as in ridden Dressage). To me Preliminary means 'starting out' whereas Pre-Novice sounds like 'so hopeless you can't even manage Novice'. Having my secretary's tent in earshot of the scoreboard gives you great insight into how confusing and unclear newcomers find the current class names so I'm certainly looking forward to some changes (hopefully for the better) next year. | ||
| Janet Pilling |
I think we should be more in line with ridden eventing rather than any American classes, some people might be quite happy competing at lower levels but feel they do more than just a 'training' level. Maybe Novice, Open and Advanced? With the move up to Advanced not being compulsory then the Open class will be just that. Glad to see the comittee have had a good look at this. Personally I feel (even after a season of the test which is actually nice to drive) that the Advanced class is really a selection level class for those who wish to represent GB in International competitions. I don't know that I would want to go back down to the Open test though - will wait and see what comes out at the conference. | ||
| Vic Kusin |
As you will have seen on the front page, there are going to be some changes to the competiton class structure for next season, with the disappearance of the Novice class. The details are still to be finalised after discussion at the BHDTA Conference (30 October). In the meantime, what do people think the classes should be called ? Are we happy with Intermediate, Open and Advanced ? Is the Open class really open ? With Novice gone, is the Intermediate name appropriate ? Have you any better suggestions ? In the USA, the classes are Training, Preliminary, Intermediate and Advanced. Are these more suitable names ? Get your thinking caps on and let us know before the National Championships. |