By Ellen Broadhurst
This article received first place in the 2025 GMO Newsletter Awards for first person experience articles for GMOs with 75-174 members. It appeared in the Lehigh Valley Dressage Association newsletter, Centerline News, August 2025.
The USDF Rider Awards Program—Bronze, Silver, and Gold—exists to recognize proficiency at increasingly advanced levels of competition. The Medal program was launched in 1974, just a year after the founding of the USDF itself. In 2022 USDF raised the bar by adding Distinguished Medals offering a distinct award category requiring qualifying scores of 67% and above.
I’m here to wave the flag for the Distinguished Medal program—not as some impossible hurdle, but as an opportunity. Bronze and Silver Distinguished Medals reward riders who stay and shine and demonstrate a higher level of proficiency at the lower levels before moving up. Proficiency at the lower levels is the foundation for success as riders move up, so recognizing and valuing the riders who work toward that proficiency seems just as important, if not more so, than achievement of a Bronze, Silver or Gold Medal.
I distinctly remember the moment in my mid-twenties when I announced to my trainer that my goal was a USDF Bronze Medal. Third Level didn’t sound that hard—how tricky could a flying change be? I was barely stringing together a First Level test at the time, and my long-suffering “S” judge of a trainer just squinted at me and sighed.
Fast forward a couple decades, I now understand exactly how tricky Third Level really is; the flying change is just a small part of it. From my first score to my last, it took me twenty-six years to earn my Bronze. And like many riders, my Third Level scores came at 3-1—so let’s be honest, I’ve barely dipped a toe into the level.
When someone asked if Silver — which requires scores at Fourth Level and Prix St Georges–was next for me, I just laughed. In general, being able to cobble together a decent 3-1 isn’t a magical key that unlocks Fourth Level. For me specifically, I can promise you I am not ready to be thinking about stringing changes together.
The beauty of how the USDF tests work is that each individual test at each level is designed to step you up to the next. The first test of the level represents a leap from the prior level, while the second and third are smaller steps asking progressively more. And the tests ask more than just “can you do the movement?” but “can you do it with the basics still intact?”
Take the Third Level flying changes. At 3-1 you get a ten-meter circle to organize the canter and half a short diagonal to pull it off. By 3-3, the setup is tighter, the placement stricter, and the question is clear: are you heading toward changes on the letter, as you will need to do in 4-1? If you can’t ride a competent 3-3, you’re not ready for 4-1. Period.
Some argue that the Bronze Medal itself should require scores at the highest test of the level. That’s a tough sell—because for many, just making it to Third Level at all is a massive victory. The reality is that for some people, achieving the Bronze is the culmination of years of working with a horse that has physical limitations and gaits that might be below average. For others, a lovely moving horse can help a rider achieve scores that — real talk here — may not reflect their readiness to move up the levels. The 60% threshold at 3-1 feels fair enough as a baseline.
But here’s the catch: the leap from Bronze to Silver is huge. Like Grand Canyon huge. From achieving the 60% hurdle at 3-1 to doing the same at PSG is a technical gulf most riders don’t ever vault. Fourth Level is there to bridge the gap, and each Fourth Level test in between Third Level and PSG provides stepping stones that require more technical expertise. You can’t just get a 60% at 4-1 and go charging off to buy a tailcoat expecting to be successful.
Which brings me back to the Distinguished Medal program. For riders who love a challenge and see the value in mastering the basics before moving up, Bronze and Silver Distinguished Medals offer a middle ground. The Distinguished Bronze is not “between” Bronze and Silver, but this step can serve as proof of readiness. A Bronze Distinguished requires two scores of 67% at First, Second, and Third. Higher bar, better riding.
For me, I think USDF missed an opportunity by not requiring Bronze and Silver Distinguished Medal scores at the highest test of each level. A truer test of readiness to move up would be scoring consistently in the high 60s at the highest level of the test. But just because USDF doesn’t require it doesn’t mean we can’t require it of ourselves.
I’ve been thinking about this for a long time, so the good news for me is that I’m ready. I’ve already submitted my Bronze application, and my next goal is a Bronze Distinguished with every score at the highest test of each level. I’ve got two 67%+ at First-3 and Second-3.
Third-3? Not even close. I’ll be camping out there for a while. Maybe forever. And I think it’s really important to point out that that’s okay.
There is a lot of focus in the dressage community about “moving up” levels. But, that’s not what dressage is really meant to be about. Levels aren’t boxes to be checked by riders as some kind of badge of honor. They exist as training stepping stones, allowing horses and riders to demonstrate increasing levels of connection, throughness, and harmony.
As I’ve gotten older and spend more time training and less time showing, my goals in dressage have shifted. They’re less about breadth and more about depth. Less about “what level can I say I ride?” and more about “how well can I ride the level I’m at?”
Would I love to canter down centerline in a shadbelly someday? Absolutely. But if I ever get there, I want it to be with a solid Fourth Level foundation, with a horse who can demonstrate the purpose of the tests correctly, with a rider who understands that purpose and is riding toward that goal.
And if I never make it to Prix St Georges? Then I’ll still be out there, patiently striving for correctness. And if that journey keeps me circling at Third-3 forever—well, at least my ten-meter circles will be fabulous.
So as we all spend time this fall thinking about our winter training plans, and long term planning for where we would like to see ourselves, think about the Distinguished Medals. They have a unique place in our training plans, the opportunity to take the time to demonstrate proficiency and depth. And if you add on the bonus challenge of waiting to apply until you have your scores at the highest test of the level, well done! You’ve done yourself and your horse a service.
