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     Emma Burton |
Having the choice of a dressage test seems a good idea, if difficult to work to for the judges. This season i've driven Novice,Intermediate and 7a tests. For a newcomer it means I can't get into a rhythm, yes i know it was all my choice. But without the option to do pure dressage as eventers can then the amount of actual 'test time' is somewhat lower. To drive, say the intermediate test at club level means i would be getting valuable feedback in readiness for that class at Nationals. I like the chance of a rosette, at all levels, and i like to compete against those i consider my superiors. But to be paying the fees at a national, and not have a realistic chance of a placing because of bigger class sizes, does that really encourage anyone? As has been said before, those at the top of the ladder are already hooked, the earlier classes are the ones that need to fill and therefore enable progression. Personally i've found this sport far more addictive than any other horse sport i'm involved with! We just need to snag a bigger percentage of the population.... I personally (there's that word again!) think that you cannot compare entries with a period in the past, entries in most horse sports have struggled, due to economy and i'm sure many other reasons. But debate, discussion and input from all levels is the only way forward. In my opinion! I'm sure there are those who chuck their rosettes in the back of the horsebox but mine take pride of place along with the photos. Please don't take them away from me! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jane Wilson |
Dear "Victor McMeldrew", What’s wrong with everyone taking home a rosette? It’s a perfect adjunct to the thousands of pounds worth of prize money we all compete for!? I’m perfectly happy with dressage having a big influence. After all, if your horse or pony is going forward correctly into the contact, with the correct bend, in a balanced and obedient fashion, surely the add-on effect of this will be a horse more able to cope with obstacles at speed – isn’t that what we’re all striving for? In the “good” old days, you could do an abysmal dressage but as long as you went hell-for-leather across country you could still be in with a chance of winning. Nowadays, by and large those doing the good dressage are also doing a good marathon – no coincidence me thinks. We’re a small sport so there is no room for the progression through dressage as they have in the ridden world – sad but true. I’m a big fan of the intermediate stage as an easier step from one to the other. I think you will have to test the water with our judges to see what they think about the possibility of having to flit from test to test throughout one class! I think the playing field should be level and not have a class where a competitor is allowed the advantage of a dressage test which is less demanding. When dividing two classes into four it stands to reason that initially each class will be small, but one would expect this to even out over a couple of years as new people came through the system. However, if we don’t get a reasonable number of novices filling the classes up from the bottom, numbers will remain low until eventually, theoretically everyone ends up in the Advanced class! That said however, I think we should stick with it for a few more years yet. After all, surely it’s only a question of a few more of those pesky pretty coloured rosettes? I think it’s sad that numbers are down since the last time Osberton ran (you know, when dinosaurs roamed the earth). Perhaps what we should really be seeking the answer to is why that is so and then we should ask ourselves what we can do to reverse the trend. I’m not sure that taking away the chance to compete at proper nationals from the novice competitors was a good move towards keeping them in the sport. This year at club level we have had a record number of pre-novice competitors; I wonder how many of them we will see moving on to novice next year? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fiona Powell |
For the past couple of years we (EACDG) have been allowing different dressage tests to be driven in the same class. This means there is one decent-sized class for open pony, say, of about 6 - 12 at our larger events instead several classes with 1, 2, 3 people in each. We ask competitors and they like this, most of them: one or two don't and think that everyone should drive the same test. (This tends to reduce entries, however.) Poor old judges (who are consulted) - they have to judge up to 5 tests* for the open pony class. All the tests are marked out of 160 and, as one might expect, the people who do the best dressage tests come out on top, never mind what test they drive. As a reasonably competitive driver myself, I would rather attempt a modest dressage test which I feel reflects my own and my pony's ability/level of training than perform a more advanced test poorly. If the clubs are to encourage drivers to progress, I think this is a good way to do it - provided your judges (and the scheduler!) can cope... While I, like Douglas (well, almost) can remember competing in classes of well over 20, not everyone now has the patience of those days: perhaps it's something that grows as you stick at it! Pretty rosettes are nice to encourage people to start with! I'd rather compete against those I consider better as it makes me try harder, but I want a slight chance to catch up in all phases so I agree with the idea behind Douglas's point 2), also. Point 3 is well worth consideration, I think. I agree. Thank you, Douglas! *At clubs there are NNQ, intermediate, open and advanced drivers who are all eligible to enter open pony/horse class. (Intermediate class is intended for nationals only, I believe, but several clubs run it.) This means tests Novice, Intermediate, 1A, 9 and 7A could all be requested. It usually works out surprisingly well! p.s. By my reckoning, and not counting 29 novices (for whom this is their first chance), there were only 121 competitors taking part in the nationals this year. (Please correct me if I'm wrong!) This is showing a decline of about 10%, I think... However we are at the stage when almost everyone could go to Windsor (ha!) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Douglas Strachan |
As a Grumpy Old Man, am I being unfair in comparing the number of Rosettes being awarded in the present Class Structure with the status of “A” and “GSE” exam passes???? The following table, based on the present BHDTA Points Table and Windsor Qualifiers indicates a high percentage of “passes” From the original 10 classes we now have 16 classes averaging 3.91 entries per class and the opportunity to qualify for Windsor is now 81% Compare these stats. with the Osberton 1983 entries in the “Bad Old Days” (shown in red) where the average entry was 14.2 per class
Thoughts 1) The existing system must be given a fair run to see how it settles down but if the current pattern of virtually everyone going home with a pretty coloured rosette continues, then a radical change must be considered in 2011 for the 2012 season 2) Driving Trials consist of Three Phases. A few years ago it was considered that Cones were having a disproportionate influence on the final results. It was therefore decided that the value of a knock-down would be reduced from 5 to 3 points Today it would appear that this mantle has now been taken over by the Dressage phase having a predominant influence on the final results to the detriment of the marathon phase. Why not recalculate the Dressage marks out of a 100 rather than the present 160. eg two competitors with present dressage marks of 52 and say 65 would have 32.5 and 40.63 The difference between the two is therefore reduced from 13 points to 8.13 3) In 2012 for Singles and Pairs why not revert back to just two classes for Novice and Open? In the Open class competitors could elect to drive one of three dressage tests which would be given “Degrees of Difficulty” (as in the Olympic Diving competitions ) |