By Meredith Rogers
This article received an honorable mention in the 2025 GMO Newsletter Awards for general interest articles for GMOs with 175-499 members. It appeared in the Eastern States Dressage and Combined Training Association newsletter, Collective Remarks, November 2024.
With the USDF Finals happening right now, I thought it would be good to take a closer look at what it takes to qualify with respect to musical freestyles. It is hard to image that before October 1980 there were no musical freestyles, but that’s when legendary British Olympian, Jennie Loriston-Clarke first collaborated with Gaynor Colbourn, a classical and session musician, and composer. Colbourn played keyboards live to match the riding of Loriston-Clarke as part of a dressage showcase at Wellington Riding, Heckfield, UK, that also featured a pas de deux comprised of Jeremy Michaels and his student, Neirede Goodman, the co-owner of Wellington Riding. In 1996, the musical freestyle (or Kür) made its Olympic debut, where Isabell Werth won her only Olympic individual gold medal to date, and the rest is history. However, in its early days, there was a lot of pushback, with people saying that riding to music will diminish the technical aspects of dressage, while proponents thought it would make dressage more accessible. Today, it is safe to say that no one can deny that when a freestyle is done well, it is truly like a dance between horse and rider, and a joy to watch.
The United States Dressage Federation (USDF) supports freestyles from Training level through Fourth level. The Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI) governs Prix St. Georges and above, although they only have freestyles for Intermediate 1 and Grand Prix. The USDF and the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF), which is the actual governing body, has tweaked the rules for performing musical freestyles over the years. The first significant rule change that caused a lot of controversy was in 2018, when the minimum score required to qualify to compete in a freestyle at a given level was raised from 60% to 63%. The rationale for that change was voiced by a USDF press release which stated, “…the 60 percent prerequisite score no longer shows proficiency at the declared level and a prerequisite score of 63 percent would raise the overall quality of freestyle tests throughout the country.” The USDF admitted that this change would affect 9% of competitors at all levels (Training through Grand Prix), and would unfairly target certain groups, such as poor, rural clubs. However, it was argued that instead of lowering standards, increased education should be the goal so that riders were capable of achieving the higher score.
A recent rule change also raises a qualifying score for freestyles from first through fourth. Starting in 2023, the wild card score need at a Regional Championship (“Regionals”) to qualify for US Finals was increased from 68% to 70%. The requirements for a horse/rider combination who competed at Regionals to receive an invitation to compete at US Finals in the national levels (first through fourth) are currently as follows:
- Earning Championship or Reserve Championship (or coming in first or second in your division [Open, AA, Junior/Youth] if classes are combined) or
- Earning a wild card score of 70% or
- If those riders who qualify using the above criteria decline, invitations will be extended down to the horse/rider combinations who ranked through fifth place, regardless of their score, in order of their placing (eg, if the Reserve Champion decides not to go to Finals, the third place finisher will be invited even if their score is under 70%; if they decline, then the fourth place finisher will be invited, and so on).
This is just a summary, so please check out the USDF Finals Prize List for full details: https://usdf.org/usdressagefinals/
Unlike the previous qualifying score change, this one was not associated with as much brouhaha. Supposedly the change was made for a similar reason as the previous qualifying score increase – to raise the bar on freestyles. To determine whether this most recent change had an effect on participation and freestyle quality at US Finals, this analysis assessed the number of entrants affected, as well as the differences in scores before and after the rule change. The adult amateur division was selected for analysis because, it has been expressed that the rule disproportionally affects amateurs. The results for the 2022 and 2023 US Finals were accessible on HorseShowOffice and the scores and placings from Regionals of those horse/rider combinations who competed at US Finals were downloaded from USDFScores. Due to the small sample sizes, all presented statistics are best estimates.
The first question was whether the increased wild card score had an effect on the number of participants at the 2023 US Finals. As seen in Table 1, there was no clear trend in the number of participants over the years where data were available. There was a spike in entrants in 2021, but that most likely was because there were no USDF Finals in 2020 due to COVID-19 and those who qualified that year were automatically invited to the 2021 competition. However, assuming all horse/rider combinations who qualified under the current criteria accepted the invite to US Finals in 2023, 9% of those who actually competed would have been excluded because although they met past criteria, they did not meet current criteria (Table 2). Interestingly, 24% of horse/rider combinations who competed at US Finals in 2022 did not achieve a wildcard score of at least 68% at Regionals and would have been excluded if all invitations had been accepted. In 2023, those who did not meet either past or current criteria, generally placed lower in their respective classes at US Finals, with the exception of one person who did not meet current criteria but placed third and two people who did not meet past criteria but placed fourth. Similarly, in 2022, there was one rider who would not have qualified under the old threshold, but ended up winning their class at US Finals and another who came in third.
The second question was whether the increase in qualifying score had an effect on test scores, and thereby the quality of rides, at US Finals. Figure 1 shows that there were no meaningful differences between median scores for the different years either at US Finals or Regionals. The scores may have remained consistent because a number of horse/rider combinations showed at the same level both years, and presumably used the same freestyle routine. It will be interesting to see if median scores increase in future years since not only did the qualifying score change, but the way the tests are judged has also been adjusted, and people may design freestyles with that in mind.
Change is difficult. However, if the underlying rationale is sound, change can foster growth not only for individuals but as a collective. Conversely, change can disrupt stability, and has negative consequences if not justified or poorly managed. Will this change decrease participation because people will feel the new threshold is unattainable so why even try, or will needing a higher score encourage people to improve their proficiency? Only time will tell if the increase in qualifying wildcard score from a 68% to a 70% is positive or detrimental to our sport, but so far, the data show that no substantial difference was seen with this change.
