Like pieces on a chess board, players from every segment of the dressage world are squaring off over one of the most hotly debated proposals in recent memory. From grass-root rooks to Grand Prix queens everyone is lining up to give the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) their opinion. The issue: implementing performance standards and proposed rule change 275-07.
Inspired by existing European models, proposed rule change 275-07 would require riders to earn points and qualify to compete in Third Level and above at USEF and Federation Equestrian International (FEI) competitions. Riders may enter any USEF Training, First or Second level class at a recognized competition without any qualifying points. Riders may also ride the following FEI tests at recognized competitions without any qualifying point: FEI Pony, USEF Four-Year-Old, FEI Five-Year-Old and the FEI Six-Year-Old tests.
Though the Board of Directors voted at their 2008 USEF Annual Meeting in January to table the proposal until next year’s meeting, the issue is by no means dead. In their notes the directors clearly stated their support of the proposal and charged the USEF Dressage Committee with developing a detailed proposal for final approval.
In a post conference press release, USEF President David O’Connor said, “There was overwhelming support from the USEF Board for this concept of performance standards for dressage. This was an important first step. We look forward to seeing the specific proposals as they are further developed.”
An Internet Battlefield
In addition to flooding the USEF and United States Dressage Federation (USDF) with e-mails, both opponents and supporters of the proposal have taken their voices to the Internet. For months, online bulletin boards, forums and e-newsletters have been flooded with comments from dressage aficionados all wanting to express their opinion on the matter.
According to USEF Legislative Coordinator Abigail Cook, who accepts and distributes comments, proposed rule change 275-07 “has received more feedback from the membership than any rule change I’ve been involved with.” The thread about performance standards has received almost 5,000 views on the Chronicle of the Horse’s online bulletin board.
The official mission of performance standards is to fully prepare riders with positive competitive experiences in order to be able to successfully move up the levels, while supporting the welfare of the horse. However many critics feel the proposal will actually be detrimental to the sport – estranging amateur riders from the USDF and alienating many newcomers by furthering the perception that dressage is an “elitist sport.”
In the competition year of 2007, there were 8,888 rides at certified shows. Almost 70 percent of those rides were at Second level or lower. Another of the opposition’s concerns is that performance levels will make it financially impossible for amateur riders, who make up the majority of the USEF members, to advance through the levels. Either because they lack the means to purchase high end horses or pay the extra show fees necessary to earn the require points.
In a letter to the USEF Dressage Committee, the California Dressage Society’s (CDS) executive board stated that it “would like to go on record as opposing the USEF Proposed Performance Standards Rule Change for Dressage.”
“We are not against the idea of the performance standards,” explains Carol Tice, president of the CDS, in the organization’s letter. “I don’t think there is anyone that sets out to ride poorly. What we are opposed to is how the proposal is written. It could be fashioned in a different way. They could require that the rider received three or four scores of seven or above in the rider category. That would confirm through the judge’s approval that you rode well and had the horse’s best interest at heart.”
Carol says she felt one of the CDS’s members best summed up the problem’s current proposal with this analogy:
If Steffen Peters was riding a Haflinger, he could put years of training into the horse and get the horse to perform all the correct moves. His riding could be flawless, but would that horse have the movement necessary to get the scores needed to move up, and to allow Steffen to compete at
Grand Prix?
Carol went on to say, “My understanding is that this proposal came about to provide standards for better riding and better care of the horses. But it will only cause many riders to run off and find Christmas judges (judges that are known for being generous with their scoring), so they can be grandfathered in. That is not going to ensure better riding. Their proposal is based on what Europe does, but not everyone in the United States, or even in California, lives 20 minutes away from a short-listed trainer or a rated show. This is going to dramatically affect the industry. People will stop attending USEF affiliated shows if they think they will never be able to advance on a non-Warmblood horse. If this sport does not accommodate them, they will find another that will.”
Look Out, Construction Zone Ahead
The USEF board has charged the Dressage Committee to bring back a detailed proposal for final approval. Over the coming months, the Dressage Committee will further develop the specifics of the proposal, including an achievable way to implement it in stages by dressage level. Currently, plans are to have the proposal ready for distribution to the USEF membership this summer.
The committee plans to continue to collect feedback from potentially affected affiliates; particularly the United States Dressage Federation (USDF) through its Group Member Organization (GMO) delegates and USDF Participating Member (PM) delegates. Further opportunities for discussion of the proposal are scheduled for the 2008 USDF Annual Convention in Denver, Colorado.
Terry Wilson, USDF region 7 director, is waiting until after the April Board Meeting to comment. However, Marianne Ludwig, chair of the USEF Dressage Committee remarked, “We are pleased to have the support of the USEF Board of Directors for the concept of qualification standards for certain levels of dressage competition. The Committee appreciates all of the feedback received from members, and we welcome the opportunity to bring a detailed proposal back to the Board for next year’s Annual Meeting.”
The dressage committee members are: Marianne Ludwig, Anne Gribbons, George Williams, Jayne Ayers, Sam Barish, Kathy Connelly, Melissa Creswick, Jan Ebeling, Janet Brown Foy, Lisa Gorretta, Lendon Gray, Hilda Gurney, Scott Hassler, Carol Lavell, Janine Malone, Debbie McDonald, Axel Steiner, Elizabeth Williams and Linda Zang.
“In talking with certain members of the dressage committee, they feel they have got their feedback and they really believe they are doing what is in our best interest,” says Carol. “But they never gave anyone the opportunity to give input about the proposal until they presented it. If they had let us give feedback when they were drafting it, maybe they wouldn’t feel as though they had been attacked -- which is exactly what happened. But I do think the executive board was very impressed by the intelligent, intuitive feedback they did received. We are encouraging members to continue to pleasantly ask the committee, to ask us, about the proposal.”
|
