How many tests?

[teach1]

:confused:Hey Im just embarking on my british dressage career and trying to plan my winter season, and just wondered how many tests you do in one day. I would have initially gone for two ( we'll be going in at novice and hopefully moving up to elementary before too long)

So what does everyone else do?:confused:

[IrisSilverMoon]

I've never done more than two.

You would be surprised at how much energy the horse uses for just those two short tests. generally after the second one i can definately feel that the horse would rather not have to keep going for a third.

though with school horses we have done more than that. generally though its something like a kid rides really easy two tests for the horse and then someone else either does two more easy tests or maybe two more hard tests. Doing more than two tests at the limit of what you can show well really is a lot to ask.

[andreaB]

i usually do 2 , if you are just competing at one level most venues only do 2 tests at a given level , often by the time it gets to the m or AM only one test as the number of entrants drops considerably

also i tend to think of timing , venues that run two arena's tend not to be too bad & you can usually manage about 30 mins to 1.5hr btw classes , prelim through to elemen , however if they are only running one arena this can increase dramatically , eg if a prelim with 6 min intervals & classes of 30 can be 3 hours wait between classes:eek:

also as its winter i think about how many times i am happy get my horse potentially a little sweaty given the cold weather & wether i'm going to be freezing my butt off between classes!

there's also the fitness level of your horse to consider & how long you consider your ideal working in time to be

[Jane.A]

I would say do two tests. I would also box clever, the new qualification season starts on Dec 1st. If your horse is working well at novice I would go out at Prelim if you are eligible and get qualified early for the summer regionals. Once you have 14 points at Elem you will not be eligible to qualify for the prelim champs again as you will be too high a rider group, so do it while you can. You will be surprised how tought the competition is, you need two wins or a first and second in a qualifier to qualify and will probably need 70% to secure it. Then go out and try for your novice qualifications, after all you may as well make your trip the the summer regionals worthwhile! Be careful not to aquire too many points at Novice that you disqualify your horse from the Prelim regionals tho. Its easy to clock up points piecemeal, ie 2 or three on each trip out and suddenly find you've got 50 points I believe it now is before a horse is out of prelim. Choose your venues carefully too. If you can manage a mid week competition the classes can be smaller, tho not neccesarily less quality as the semi pro's and pro's go. I know it sounds very technical but I wish someone had given me the advice when I first started. I too rushed to get out of Novice, never having achieved a score over 66% and got a few points a Elem thus making myself ineligible to qualify at Prelim, and putting myself in the open novice against all the pro's. Luckily with the rule change I can down grade for 1st of Dec, so see you out there either as a fellow competitor or maybe your judge. :D

[teach1]

thats excellent thanks guys. Im really excited about going to our first BD, I aggree with doing the two. Its all the working in that takes it out of them to, although my horse is very fit having evented all summer, but it will be a new adventure for him to, so he may well be more tired than I expect.

Thanks Jane.A for your pearls of wisdom, I'll be sure to let u know where Im going, but it will probably be Sheepgate, Elms farm, Epworth, Willerby of Port Royal.

[RachelEvent]

I do two or three, or sometimes four.

Depends on fitness of the horse, the setup of the venue and how much warmup you need.

On occasions when I've done four tests, it's been when Ferds was eventing fit, and I had very minimal warmup (5 minutes per test or so, 10 for the first test) so I was only riding for about 45 minutes in total - the length of an average schooling session.

But generally two tests worked best for my memory (and wallet) - always did at least two, because one always seemed to go much better than the other :rolleyes:

[Jane.A]

Am at all those venues at some point in the coming season. We are bound to meet up at some point:D

[MeMe]

I normally do 2, but have been known to do 3 when he is fit.