Update from Dressage Queensland

Hello Dressage Enthusiasts,

On the weekend Dressage Queensland and a handful of actively participating AAOR/Foundation riders met to discuss the 2022 calendar and how this would look in terms of AAOR/Foundation etc.

We have a few key developments to report for the forthcoming season:

1. We will no longer be scheduling 1* events. Their historical purpose no longer exists and they are essentially redundant.

2. We will be renaming 2* events, although we’re still yet to decide on a suitable name to indicate their elevated status on our calendar. For 2022 we will call them ‘Star Championships’

3. Star Championships will still be squad selection events and Dressage Queensland will continue to provide the event committees of these events with AAOR Rosettes to encourage them to run AAOR classes. (As always, any club can run AAOR at their events, but AAOR prizes will be the responsibility of the host club).

4. AAOR eligibility at Star Championships will be as per National Guidelines with no amendments or additional conditions.

5. However, at Star Championships these rosettes will not be awarded in addition to open rosettes. Riders who opt to ride AAOR will forfeit open rosettes - riders will not be able to take home two rosettes for the same class.

6. We will not be running the Foundation Series at Star Championships. This will move into a club-facilitated series to encourage participation at our clubs and lighten the workload of Star Championship event organisers. More information will be out soon.

7. We will be piloting removal of weighting on our percentages for end of year awards. This is due to both the historical reason for weighting no longer remaining, and to try and simplify the awards calculation process such that it can be generated more simply through a computer program, reducing volunteer hours.

8. Dressage Queensland will continue to offer AAOR Rider of Year Awards in the 2021 format with all eligible scores counting with the exception that this award will no longer be self-nominating and will be worked out based on the results database.

Hopefully these developments will satisfy the majority of our participants and continue to grow and develop dressage in Queensland.

Kindest regards,

Anita Barton

Dressage Queensland Chair