Affiliated Dressage

[Alflover]

I hope to affiliate with next horse and I would like to know a bit more about it (british dressage is confusing plus i want a more personal perspective) How do you progress up the ranks - is it certain number of points and then you can move up? And at the lower levels is it hugely different standard to unaffiliated?
I cant think of anymore questions at the moment, but anything you can think of, please let me know. Im anxious to learn all i can.

[Lgd]

There can be a big gap between unaffiliated & affiliated, although it largely depends on the standard of judging. As a rough guide you want to be getting over 60% on a regular basis in unaffiliated before considering affiliated.

Points are awarded from Novice level upwards, you can enter any level you like up to Advanced regardless of the points the horse has. The only restriction is for the FEI level tesst (PSG, Inter I, Inter II, GP) where you have to have achieved at least 60% in and Advanced test first. The points only serve to exclude you from lower levels - once a horse has 37 points they can no longer do Prelim, 75 points out of Novice etc. I actually have an FEI level horse which is graded Medium on points, although she has competed at Inter I level so is actually graded at Advanced Medium (there are some fairly odd/complicated rules!), my 'baby' is graded Elementary but is competing Medium and Advanced Medium.

For Prelim you can enter section A (non-qualifying section/Class) without you or the horse being registered. For section B (qualifying class for regionals) the rider has to be a member of BD and the horse should registered (prelim registration is free).

If you are just dipping your toes in the water, section A Prelims are a good place to start.

Once you join BD you can tap into the Pyramid training system - these are training sessions run for BD members in the lower rider groups (usually Grps 6 - 8) with BD approved trainers. It may be simply a 'clinic' where you go for a lesson, or it may be a test riding training where you ride a test of your choice which is judged, you then have a 20 - 30 minute training session to work on your test skills and then ride the test again, either with the same judge or a different one.