USDF All-Breeds Award Program

Adequan®/USDF All-Breeds Awards

Important Information from the USDF web site.

New 2020 – competitors must be a minimum Associate Member of CWHBA to be eligible for USDF Award and horses must show the current correct ownership.

If you need help getting your horse recorded in the correct ownership, contact us.

This copyright information has been copied from the USDF site for the benefit of our Canadian members who compete in the USA, and owners of CWHBA horses who may not be aware that CWHBA sponsors awards with the USDF. CWHBA cannot be held responsible for errors in copying this information … please refer to the USDF web site for the most current regulations.

Designed to recognize the accomplishments of specific breeds in dressage, these awards are presented to horses declared for a participating registry/organization (PO) with USDF. While ‘Open’ is the standard division and ‘Training through Grand Prix’ are the standard levels for all-breeds recognition, optional division awards can be presented in the following categories: freestyle, adult amateur, junior/young rider, vintage cup, para-dressage rider of the year, USEF four-year-old, FEI five- and six-year-old, materiale, and dressage sport horse breeding.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN EARNING AN AWARD IN THE USDF ALL-BREEDS AWARD PROGRAM, READ CAREFULLY.

Specific All-Breed Award Rules:

STEP 1: Declare your horse for the Adequan®/USDF All-Breeds Awards Program.

For your horse to be eligible for the Adequan®/USDF All-Breeds Awards, you must make sure that your horse has been declared for the Adequan®/USDF All-Breeds Awards with the correct breed or performance registry, called Participating Organization (PO).

  • Provide USDF with a copy of your horse’s breed registry papers along with a completed USDF All-Breeds Awards Declaration Form and $35 declaration fee. Your horse will be declared for the PO that is designated on the form as long as they participate in the Adequan®/USDF All-Breeds Awards Program.  Once the declaration is made, you will be sent a confirmation email.
  • PLEASE NOTE: If you have sent in breed papers previously or even if your horse has received all-breeds awards from a specific PO in the past, your horse MAY NOT be automatically declared. All competitors and owners should check their horse’s declaration status on your horse’s summary page of USDFScores.com or use the Owner’s/Lessee Horse Portfolio Search.
  • Foals of the current year may be eligible for the Adequan®/USDF All-Breeds Awards even if breed registry papers for the foal are not yet available. To declare a foal for the Adequan®/All-Breeds Awards, you must submit a completed All-Breeds Awards Declaration Form and a letter of eligibility from your chosen PO stating that the foal is eligible for awards from that PO.
  • The deadline to declare a horse for the Adequan®/USDF All-Breeds Awards for the current year is August 1 of the award year or late fees will apply. The deadline to declare a current year foal for the Adequan®/USDF All-Breeds Awards is September 30 of the award year. No declarations may be made for the current year after September 30.
  • An all-breeds declaration may only be changed by submitting the All-Breeds Awards Declaration Formand the $50 declaration change fee to USDF by August 1 of the award year.
  • This declaration does not affect any other awards program.

STEP 2: Verify that the all-breeds declaration is correct.

It is the owner’s responsibility to ensure that an all-breeds declaration has been made correctly for his/her horse by August 1 of the current competition year. Once a declaration has been made, it will remain in place for future competition years. 

Verification of an all-breeds declaration may be done three ways:

STEP 3: Meet the requirements for your horse to appear on the POs eligibility list.

Throughout the year, POs monitor lists of horses that are declared for their organization. There are USDF requirements that must be met in order for a horse to appear on a POs list. In order for a declared horse to appear on a POs list to be marked as eligible for the all-breeds awards, the horse must:

  • Have a USDF Lifetime Horse Registration
  • Have a minimum of three scores of 58 percent or higher
  • From a minimum of two different competitions in the current competition year

STEP 4: Meet the year-end award requirements to appear in the Adequan®/USDF Year-End Awards preliminary standings.

All Adequan®/USDF All-Breeds awards requirements must be met before the horse will appear in the Adequan®/USDF Year-End Awards preliminary standings.

These rules are in addition to the general rules for the year-end awards.

  • Horse and owner must meet all requirements of the PO, and it is the responsibility of the owner to make sure these requirements have been met.
    • Owner must be a minimum Associate Member to the CWHBA – $35 Canadian
    • Horse must be recorded in the correct ownership in the CWHBA database
  • Open is the standard category and Training Level through Grand Prix are the standard levels for all-breeds recognition.
  • The open division includes all riders, regardless of rider status.
  • Other categories may be recognized. However, it is the PO’s choice as to which additional categories they would like to recognize. Optional categories include freestyle, adult amateur, junior/young rider, vintage cup, para-dressage rider of the year, FEI five- and six-year-old, USEF four-year-old, materiale, and dressage sport horse breeding. This information can be found on the USDF website. Specific eligibility criteria pertaining to these categories must be met, and rider must also verify adult amateur, vintage cup or junior/young rider status by September 30 of the award year.
  • It is the owners and riders responsibility to check the standings throughout the competition year and notify USDF and your PO if for some reason you believe that you have been incorrectly ranked or left out. Also please monitor your current year scores on USDFScores.com to make sure all scores are listed correctly.
  • For USDF official year-end results or award standings, no corrections will be accepted after 5:00 pm EST on October 15 of the award year.

Requirements:

Training, First, Second, Third, and Fourth Level

  • Minimum of eight scores:
    • From four different judges
    • From four different USEF-licensed/USDF-recognized competitions
    • Including two at 60 percent or higher from the highest test of the level
    • Median score of 60 percent or higher to qualify

Prix St. Georges, Intermediate I, Intermediate II, and Grand Prix

  • Minimum of four scores:
    • From four different judges
    • From four different USEF-licensed/USDF-recognized competitions
  • Median score of 60 percent or higher to qualify

USDF Eligibility:

  • Horse must have a USDF Lifetime Horse Registration (LHR) when scores are earned.
  • Owner must:
    • Have a USDF Participating Membership (PM) or Business Membership (BM), and be a member in good standing of USDF, when scores are earned.
    • Verify eligibility with PO.
    • Verify that an all-breeds declaration has been made by accessing the USDF website.
  • Rider must have a USDF PM and be a member in good standing of USDF when scores are earned.
  • If interested in competing for awards in an optional division, it is the owner’s responsibility to determine which of the optional divisions will be awarded by their all-breeds PO.

Recorded Scores:

  • Musical Freestyle scores are only recorded for the musical freestyle category.
  • Scores must be from open, junior/young rider, adult amateur, Great American Insurance Group/USDF qualifying and championship classes, other classes specified in the general rules, or from the same classes restricted to horses of a particular breed.
    • If scores are earned in open and breed-restricted classes, the combination of the scores is used to calculate the median score.
    • Classes restricted to horses of a particular breed must be judged by a USEF-licensed dressage judge.
    • Scores earned in classes restricted to horses of a particular breed will be recorded only for all-breeds awards.

Awards:

  • Given that there are enough horses that have met the minimum award criteria as detailed above, in the standard open category, POs must award first and second place in each level (Training through Grand Prix). They have the option of awarding up to five places per level.
  • Given that there are enough horses that have met the minimum award criteria as detailed above, POs must award at least first place in each level of the optional categories that they have chosen to recognize.
  • Champion and reserve champion at each level in the open category will receive a custom cast USDF medal.
  • For optional categories that the PO has chosen to recognize champions will also receive a custom cast USDF medal, as will reserve champions if recognized by the PO.
  • Other prizes may be given by the PO at their discretion.
  • Only champions and reserve champions will be awarded on stage at the Adequan®/USDF Annual Convention.
  • Certificates will be available online.

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Phone: (859) 971-2277 Fax: (859) 971-7722 | USDF 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Organization

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