Dressage Committee Raises the Bar At USEF Connvention in Louisville

Article and Photos by Diana DeRosa

Overcoming the Resistance

I asked Janet why she felt there was so much resistance to this proposal. “This is the United States and everyone is used to being free to do whatever we want.  I ran across this a little in the breeding when I was standing a stallion.  Everyone thought that even if their horse was lame or mentally unrideable that they should still be allowed to breed to my stallion.  In Europe you have to go through a strict process for breeding and it’s important to set standards.  People are used to qualifying in other areas so this shouldn’t be that surprising.”

Janet continued to explain that overall the committee was able to resolve most of the concerns voiced by the 500+ people who had emailed them.  “Once I explained what we are doing and cleared up any misinformation, I would say 98% came back satisfied and some even apologized.  What people have to understand is that we don’t have hard hearts.  We know the adult amateurs drive the sport but it’s a fine line between what is good for the sport and safe for the horses and fair to the riders,” she added. 

Janet went on to explain that there were riders completing Third Level tests with a 30% score.  “That’s bad.  A lot of time it is not the horse but the rider has no clue about the correct classical aids.  Little things like the rider sitting crooked or giving the horse poor signals and then the horse becomes confused and frantic.  There are also riders that think that every horse should do Prix St. Georges but not every horse can be trained to be in the correct balance and have the necessary elasticity for that level.  I see a lot of very unhappy horses.”

Janet feels that they are giving the riders a very fair chance.  If you got a 58% in school that would be a ‘C’; If you got a 50% in school you would fail so we are being fair about what we are expecting from the riders and it should take them 2-3 shows maximum to get the number of points they will need to qualify.