Affiliated or unafiliated?

[FudgieFoo]

Hi!

I've been riding unaffiliated for ages now. Recently, with alot of work & progress, we've been coming home with rosettes and good scores! Last weekend we came 4 th in pre 18 with 65.5% and 5th in nov 21 with 59.5% (ok not that brill!). Anyway I'd like to ride affiliated but am I kidding myself?

I don't have any recent pics of me riding as I mostly go out alone.

Opinion?

I ride a 14.2h welsh d x

[DITZ]

Why dont you try an afilliated competition first to see what the standard is? You can enter section A of a prelim class without needing a ticket or membership. It will give you an idea of the standard at least. I guess it depends on why you want to affiliate. If its for BD points then remember that you dont get any points at prelim level but after that you get points for any score after 60% (60-62 1 point, 62-64 2 points etc).

Where I compete they use affiliated judges for unaffiliated classes so the standard is almost the same but it does depend on where you compete I guess as there could be a huge difference in judging.

[FudgieFoo]

Hi!

I had a look on the BD website and there weren't many places local to me that run prelims affiliated.

I was thinking about buying a ticket and riding a novice and a prelim (most places seem to only run 1 prelim)

I'd really like to prove myself and Fudge by getting some points.

[DITZ]

What sort of scores do you normally get doing a novice test?

[star]

do you normally get more than 59.5% novice unaffiliated? your scores are likely to drop by 5% or so going affiliated. personally i wouldn't want to spend the money unless i was regularly winning unaffiliated or getting 1st to 3rd at least. i have a 15hh Welsh D who i affiliated a couple of years ago. He was winning unaffiliated novice up to 76% and placed absolutely every time out. Went affiliated and have had some really good results, placed lots, now got 78 points but our average score is about 63% so quite a large drop and some judges still dont like him so sometimes we dont do so well. the standard is definitely higher than unaffiliated. by all means give it a go on a ticket but dont be disappointed if your score is lower than usual.

[Lgd]

The difference in marks varies considerably depending on your area. A lot of the unaffiliated up here use BD judges so the difference is not quite as big as those Star experienced. Definitely worth doing the BD prelims as an unaffiliated to dip your toe in the water first.

[FudgieFoo]

Yeah I expected to get a bit of a drop. Have only just started doing novices but have been placed in most classes at prelim (unless the judge doesn't like us/we have a bad day etc!) I might have a go on a ticket plus a prelim and then compare it to my unaffiliated.

My instructess who rides aff advanced level reckons were be ready for elem this year.