Nearing the Years End

So being new to the dressage sport I have a thing or two to learn about year end awards. When I rode on the Hunter/Jumper circuit it seems like most everything is done for you when it comes to year end awards you just show up at the banquet and receive your award.  Well with the dressage while USDF keeps track of all scores you do need to send in paper work and keep track of your own scores for other associations such as New England Dressage Association (aka NEDA) which we are members of. It has been a good refresher for me to go back over some of my earlier tests this year and see how I have improved or to review things I still need to improve on.

So a couple weeks ago I started the process of filling out paper and organizing myself to send everything in for year end awards. Only one more show this season to acquire some good scores! 

So far Connor and I have had an amazing year. He has come such a long way from an unbalance jumper who could barely canter a 20 meter circle to a horse that can actually properly use his hind end and then some! He has helped me earn my Rider Performance Award through USDF at both Training and First Level. This award was an easy one to do and it was done via the USDF website (www.usdf.org). We needed 4 scores of 60% or better at the given level. Performance awards are given up till 2nd level then there are your USDF medals which are a cumulative award based on a couple of different levels depending on the medal (For example your USDF Bronze Medal is 2 scores from First Level, 2 from Second Level, and 2 from 3rd Level I am not sure what the percentages need to be or other criteria because we are not at that stage yet! Someday maybe!).

The next award Connor achieved this year is his Performance Certificate at Training Level. He did this all in one year! This award can be a cumulative over all the years the horse competes so most likely we will use our First Level test scores from this year and combine them with our First Level test scores from next year to hopefully achieve his Performance Certificate at First Level next year. We needed to achieve 10 scores of 60% better with four of those scores coming from the top test of the level (so in our case training 4).

Other awards through USDF include Horse of the Year (or HOY). Which we are currently in the top 25 for Training Level adult amateur section and 113th in the open section of the award. Remember all these awards are based out of all of the USDF regions so even though we may not official receive an award I am still impressed at how far we have come!

The American Hanoverian Society also gives out an All Breeds award and we are standing in the top 5 in the adult amateur section of Training Level and in the top 10 in the open section! If we do receive an award through the American Hanoverian Society I am planning on heading to the annual convention with some other Hanoverian Breeders and will be able to receive my award while we are there. Keeping fingers crossed!

NEDA also has year end awards but we will have to wait and see how our final show of the season goes because for NEDA year end awards you send in your five best scores with two scores coming from the top test of the level. The NEDA banquet is going to be right down the road from us in Northampton, MA so I look forward to attending even if we do not receive a year end award! Hubertus Schmidt will be giving a speech during the banquet as well as conducting the NEDA Fall Symposium that week so it will be an educational experience to go hear him speak and watch him give lessons.

Overall this year has been wonderful! We leave for NEDA Fall Fest and Regionals in 4 days! I can't wait to experience the show for the first time.