There are two types of dressage competition in the U.K. They are called Affiliated and Unaffiliated dressage competitions.
What is the difference?
Unaffiliated dressage competitions are held by Equestrian Centres, Riding Clubs and groups. As a competitor you do not necessarily have to be a member of any governing body and your horse does not need to be registered. The classes are run using the same tests as for Affiliated competitions and are generally run under the same rules and regulations. The only material gain from these shows are rosettes and possible prize money.
For Affiliated competitions the rider, the horse and the owner all have to be registered with British Dressage. The horse must also be registered with the British Database. Apart from the gains of rosettes and prize money, the horses are allocated points if they achieve over a certain level of score. The horses are then graded depending on how many points that they have, and when they have successfully gained enough points to move up a grade they cannot compete in the classes below them.
The order of dressage grades, starting with the first/lowest, with the points limit are:
Preliminary - up to 37 points
Novice - 74 points
Elementary - 149 points
Medium - 249 points
Advanced Medium - 324 points
Advanced - open to any horse
There are Championships held, at each level, for both the Winter and Summer seasons. The horse and rider combination must win two qualifiers, or one qualifier and one non-qualifier gaining over a certain percentage in each test. They then go through to a Regional Semi-Final and then through to the Championships. It is best to check teh current rule book for the qualifying percentages for each year and at each level.
To gain points at any level the horse and rider must gain over 60% of the marks available in that test, no matter where they finished in the running order.
60% - 61.99% gains 1 point
62% - 63.99% gains 2 points
64% - 65.99% gains 3 points
66% - 67.99% gains 4 points
68% - 69.99% gains 5 points
70% - 71.99% gains 6 points
72% and over gains the maximum of 7 points
There are many other rules and conditions but this page is just to give you an idea of the system. Visit the governing bodies web site at British Dressage.
In the next section of Competition Corner I plan to look at each of the levels of dressage and talk through what is required and show diagrams of some of the movements. If you have any particular question please e-mail me and I will be happy to go through it for you.