We all are aware of the horse welfare issues going on in equestrian sport (here, we are speaking specifically of dressage). The answers to these issues have been staggeringly inept. Banning double bridles, spurs, whips, eliminating for blood, etc. when the root of the problem is the lack of quality education from both amateurs and professionals.  We understand that the US lacks an education system like Europe has, but we believe that the first step in enticing riders to seek out quality education is to impose a points system in order for riders to move up the levels.  This forces riders to achieve some level of proficiency at the level before moving on to the next, ensuring that the horse and rider pair are not out of their element and the horse is not being pushed to do movements it is not ready for….something that is damaging both physically and mentally.  We have been told that it was brought up one time at the USDF convention, and because so many opposed it, it was never brought up again.  This was well before the welfare atrocities we are seeing today. We do not feel this will result in people showing less, we believe this will give riders smaller, incremental goals to achieve and give the horse some sort of upward trajectory in the training.