We just went through this at our last ADT. One driver in our group - and she drives a Quarter Horse - opted to drive her horse in Preliminary. She is a green driver, this is her first event, and the horse is moving from the gymkhana arena to driving, so also green where ADTs are concerned. Why did she opt for Prelim? Because she cannot keep her horse to a trot!
I'm new to combined driving, but I am going to toss my 2 cents in from a long time combined training/3-day event point of view.
I competed this year in the Green Driver division. It was a blessing, and clearly defined as Green Driver, in that I would not be eligible for this division next year. Regardless of what I had done previously, I have only been driving since January, 2010, and my horse is also green in that he'd never done dressage, seen cones, or driven hazards or obstacles, or even shown in breed shows. For us, Green Driver was a no brainer. The fact that we drive the same test as Training, had the same cones times and no times on the hazards allows green drivers to experience the training level without going crazy in the hazards - a good opportunity to see hazards in various states and plan for one's horse's abilities.
Training level should have relatively little to do with the driver - the driver's experience should have been brought on in lessons, and the Green Driver division. Training should be where the horse gains its foundation. That is why the dressage tests are written the way they are - to develop steady, accurate gaits and paces, willingness to go forward, to be obedient, to go where the driver puts him. Dressage isn't just about circles, working trot and rein back. It's about acquiring the suppleness and flexibility necessary to turn cones, blast through hazards and bring home a horse who is sound because he has become a willing, attentive athlete, able to stretch a working trot into a ground eating extended trot, then snap it back to a medium trot - or even a halt, when an incorrect gate suddenly jumps in the way. Training tests are the beginning of bend, which leads to pivot, and willingness to put that pivot around a cone. It's a basic foundation for what is to come.
A second point to green horses going into Training, regardless of driver level is the dressage judge. If the judge is doing his/her job, he/she has ingrained in the brain, those gaits and instructions printed at the top of each test. For the driver, those sections should be studied and applied. If the horse cannot do them with some proficiency, then it is not ready for the test in a competitive venue. If one reads the Training test instructions, one will see that "transitions are made through the walk. Longitudinal stretch an moderate lateral bend are required." By the time one gets to a Prelim test, the horse should have progressed to: "Horse must show longitudinal & bend & increased activity of haunches." Also, transitions may be made through the walk. This is what a judge will be looking for in a preliminary test. Take time to read Training and Prelim tests and look at the differences. Now consider the Quarter Horse from above. A judge seeing this horse pop up and maybe break into a canter for a step or two will score it far more harshly in a Prelim test than a Training test. It is equally bad at either level, but there is more leeway at the Training level. As many have learned, a great dressage test will carry a team through shaky cones or hazards, but a really poor dressage test will be devilishly hard to make up.
Finally, at the training level cones and hazards, a green drive needs to develop an "eye" for the course. Yes, walking the courses is a must do - as many times as necessary. But many green drivers do not realize how much a course can change after 20 horses have run over it. Sand piles up and makes a speed bump out of what was once a flat surface at that 7AM walk, the water hazard was nicely raked for the first horse, I was horse #41 and the water was surrounded by deep ruts and slides in the mud, and by the way that one hazard with the poles had developed enough of a sand bank to roll a cart and eject the driver - because she didn't know enough to look out for that, she too having moved to Prelim so she could canter. The point being that a more experienced driver - even a second year driver - should have learned how to keep a green horse out of trouble. Training level should be where the horse learns to rely on his driver, who should be keeping both of them out of trouble. Goodness! That's why times are slower at training!
A training level horse - the green horse - should be able to get through cones and hazards whether the driver is a trainer, permanent Training driver, aggressive amateur, or 2nd year driver. Yes, the more experienced driver will do better, but a savvy 2nd year driver will balance the end result if he/she has paid attention.
And some horses should, perhaps, never leave training: they may never become fit enough for the longer courses or fast enough for Preliminary and Intermediate times. The point is that, first and foremost, the event should be safe for the horses, the competitors, and fun for everyone - including the horses.
One last comment regarding the dressage. Any horse can do the figures, in much the same way that anyone can put on ice skates and within a fairly short period of time, do the same line figures Olympic skaters do - not the jumps of course, but the figures. However, it is the suppleness, the ability to bend and flex, that gives those figures life and beauty. For this reason, skaters are still required to perform the basics - the straight lines, circles and figure 8s for the judge - to demonstrate they have done their basics and are ready to move on. In the same way those figures eventually lead advanced skaters to "airs above the ground" the turns, circles, serpentines, transitions, halts and rein backs, when correctly and accurately done, give life and beauty to the movement - because the horse is balanced and capable, working from behind and willing. They too lead to the more advanced movements. It usually doesn't hurt a lower level horse to perform the movements, but compare a horse that is flat and unbending to a flexing, supple horse and understand why one will fly through cones and one will plank around, balls in flight.
Just my 2 cents - maybe a nickle.
