The closest I've ever come to cross-country jumping is hopping over low logs in a field, and I'm only just now beginning to grasp the correct fundamentals of flatwork, but I was reading a past issue of Practical Horseman and good old Jim Wofford mentioned that he had a rider rating chart on the PH website.
Of course, my first thought was, "My fans! They need me to share this with them immediately!"
So here you are. The chart is on page 4 of the PDF. I think I score between a 4 and a 5. I haven't jumped a real course for about a year, so who knows where I am with my jumping, but I think I can do all the dressage stuff. I've also never jumped a bank or drop jump, but I can do a 450 pace on a horse I know.
As for horsemanship--performance anxiety, check! I don't know how to drive a trailer either. But I do think I can self-analyze a lot of my mistakes, and I can detect lameness and discern good riding from bad as well as good shoeing from bad (well, I definitely know when I see bad, at least).
Where do you rank yourself?
Moral: Dressage comes FIRST, not last!
I would say I'm a 6.5/7 on dressage and jumping based on the chart. I've never jumped cross country, but I have jumped a bank in an arena, and I love doing hill work with my horse, so for the fact i've never don xc I'm a 2. I've never driven a trailer so I guess I'm a 4 on horsemanship.... oh and my idea of safe IM and IV injections is getting my vet to do it haha! So if I "normalize" my score I'm a 4.75 across the board.
ReplyDeleteI wish there was some kind of chart like this handed out at tack shops to all new riders. Neither my parents nor I had any idea what we were doing when I started riding at 11 years old, and in hindsight, I think I should have lessoned at an eventing or dressage barn where I would have been built up step by step...but as it actually happened, I think I missed a lot of the basic reasons for things (ie. not just jamming your heels down for the appearance of correct equitation, but having contact throughout the leg and stabilizing your weight in the heel) and I'm making up for it now.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was riding regularly, I think I was between a 6 and 7 for show jumping and almost a 5 for horsemanship. Man, I am definitely missing my horsey days right now.
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