Show Registration and Awards

Show associations and awards in a nut shell (Friesian Focus) 

Horse registration – to show in the below your horse has to be registered with papers of some kind. Can be KFPS/FHANA or one of the many other Friesian or part Friesian associations. But start with having registration papers.

USEF  - United States Equestrian Federation https://www.usef.org

This is the show governing body, makes the rules for all the breeds and disciplines.

The rider, owner, trainer AND horse will need a membership or you pay an additional fee at the show. To get points you need to have the active membership, but paying the non member fee at the show will not get you points. So if you go to more than 2 shows it’s worth paying for the active membership because the fees are similar.

Human  - To compete you’ll need a Competing Membership. Membership is for one year from the date that you started your membership. The competition year is 12/1 of each year to the next,  but your membership is for 12 months from the day you sign up.

Forms are here https://www.usef.org/join-usef/membership-forms-resources

As of 2018 Active is $80 and Life is $2500 Fees can and will go up from time to time so check the link to make sure you get the current year membership form/prices. You can register online. But the form has the prices clearly laid out.

This is where you declare if you are a professional (makes $ for shows/training) or Amateur (no compensation for shows/training)

Horse – a horse ID is free but you are not eligible for USEF qualifying points. This is enough to have for showing if you don’t care about USEF points or year end awards for that horse.

IF your horse is born that year and you register them for life it’s $35 (as of 2018) so if you plan on ever showing don’t miss out on this discount because the next price for horse life is $300 for life (as of 2018). The annual recording fee as of 2018 is $95 and this will qualify the horse for year end points. If they have the lifetime Recording then you do not have to renew the horse annually.

Awards - For awards the horse, rider, owner and trainer have to be members if the owner, rider and trainer are all the same person then that is covered under the 1 owner membership. For USEF they record the points for you on the web page. You can see the points that your horse has earned by logging in, going to My USEF, clicking on the horse that you are interested in, Scroll down to a Cup symbol “view details and results” click there and you’ll see the points for that horse. The shows can take 4 weeks to be loaded into the system.

USEF Breed specific for Friesians

IFSHA (International Friesian Show Horse Association) https://www.friesianshowhorse.com

                This is the Friesian based USEF organization. If you don’t have a membership to this organization you will only have to pay an additional fee at USEF shows that are recognized by IFSHA and USEF. Your horse will also have to have a membership at IFSHA recognized shows. Fees https://www.friesianshowhorse.com/Fees.htm

                 Human membership - https://www.friesianshowhorse.com/cgi-bin/Members/NewMember.pl

                For showing you will need an Annual membership (Jr, Adult, open) or Lifetime. As of 2018 the fees were $35/year Jr $50/year Adult/Open and $1000 lifetime.

                Horse annual is $35 BUT if you get your horse signed up as a weanling it’s $35 for life. It goes up incrementally after that but see fees link above to get the most current pricing. (as of 2018)

Awards- This organization has an awards point system for showing. You can submit your show information online prior to a certain date that is close to the regional shows. After that you have to email them to the IFSHA office for them to enter the scores. They will record IFSHA regional and national shows results for you. You can see the points online at any time and the rankings of each division at any time. It’s a little delayed if you have to email the scores in because a human has to enter them, but the year end is November 30^th of each year so you’ll have your ranking by then.

USDF – United States Dressage Federation https://www.usdf.org/

                This is the Dressage organization.

Dressage tests

Here is a link to the tests offered by USDF https://www.usdf.org/competitions/competitors/tests.asp  USDF does not have the Training level and above on their web page because those are actually USEF tests and can be found here https://www.usef.org/compete/disciplines/dressage/2015-2018-dressage-tests. The USEF tests change every 4 years so please make sure the year is correct on what you are learning. The USDF page also does not have the tests for Western Dressage because that is through the WDAA https://westerndressageassociation.org/wdaa-tests/ .

Human - To have points count towards year end awards the rider must be a Participating Member of the USDF ($90 in 2019) Here is a link to the forms https://www.usdf.org/downloads/forms/index.asp?TypePass=Membership

You can also compete through a Group membership by joining your regional Group. https://www.usdf.org/clubs/gmo/  For example I’m in Colorado RMDS (Rocky Mountain Dressage Society) is my group. By joining them for $60 (2019) I can show USDF, but not qualify for USDF yearend awards only RMDS yearend awards. The Group also has a sub chapters. My area is AVDA (Arkansas Valley Dressage Association) the group membership includes that chapter level also. Chapters usually have schooling shows but may also have recognized shows. The RMDS shows usually are recognized by USDF.

                Horse – Your horse needs to have a membership also. A Horse ID (HID) is $35 (2019) and a lifetime horse registration (LHR) is $115 (2019). It doesn’t matter what age the horse is this is a flat fee. The LHR makes the horse eligible for awards and points. The HID allows them to participate.

                My RMDS local group requires the horse also be registered with them for a 1 time lifetime fee of $40 (2018), so make sure that you check your group membership requirements for the horse also.

                AWARDS - USDF horse awards program is very tricky and if you miss the dates is very costly so don’t miss this one. By August you have to pay the $35 (2019) annual fee if you miss that there is a $100 late fee for 30 days then a fee of $300 and absolutely no acceptance past Sept 30^th of that year so watch out for this one. The first time you send in the application you have to send in registration papers for your horse for the registry that you specify as the PO for your horse. The form has the list of participating organizations (PO) for the year end awards program. FHANA is listed as well as a few others.  To get most of these awards you need to look at the class requirements for each class. I know USDF awards usually require 3 shows.

                RMDS also requires volunteer hours for the year to get yearend awards so be aware of what your group requires for you to get yearend awards.

With the USDF awards most registries have their own awards programs. FHANA has a list of awards that they offer if you submit your scores http://www.fhana.com/sport/performance-awards . For the USDF All breed award for FHANA you don’t have to submit anything, that is already calculated and relayed back to the organization.

Summary for weanlings that you may show get a USEF and IFSHA membership the year they are born so you can save money. Even if you never use it it’s still a good just in case. And when you sell the horse it’s on the transfer fee not the full registration amount. For all other ages IFSHA the younger they are the better to get a life discount.  USDF is not horse age specific so you can do that when you are ready to show. BUT watch out for the awards points application deadline. The late fees are huge.