Happy Trails…
It is with mixed emotions that I write to announce that — effective immediately — CenterlineScores.com is shutting down operations.
For 9 years, we gave the American Dressage world an alternative:
- To $20 “score reports”
- To awkward/difficult-to-use websites & interfaces
- We created an alternative for evaluating Riders (and potentially Trainers) that went well beyond the previously popular standard of “Do they have their medals?”
- Our rider rating system highlighted the riders that put in the hard work of grinding up the levels rather than leasing a schoolmaster to go ahead and “get their medals out of the way” — actual quote from a “trainer”.
- According to one well-known trainer, “[CenterlineScores] changed the way that Dressage Horses are bought and sold in the US.”
- We did that by providing tools for riders & horse-owners that enabled data-based transparency and accountability and encouraged dressage folk to do their own research to verify a trainer’s or horse-seller’s claims.
For a number of reasons, many out of our control, it is no longer viable or sustainable to continue CenterlineScores. Starting in 2010, we made all the public data that the USDF published in their Results Calendar available to users at no charge as a labor-of-love and a gift to the American Dressage community. This would have been impossible without the financial support of a single advertiser and supporter. Just over a year ago, we asked our most active users to pay a small monthly subscription, while 85% of our visitors still used the site without any subscription or fee. Today, we have made the hard decision to shut down operations because we can no longer consistently deliver the same level of quality we have over the last decade and the costs have simply become prohibitive.
As of this morning, all existing CenterlineScores subscriptions have been cancelled and we are in the process of taking the site offline.
We are proud of CenterlineScores’ accomplishments. For almost 10 years, we gave American Dressage enthusiasts an alternative to buying expensive individual score reports and what one of our users called “a horrid” user experience. We were surprised and happy when the USDF gave us the sincerest flattery by copying our display format and interaction patterns. We hope and believe that the Dressage world is more transparent & more educated because of our efforts.
We wish our supporters, our detractors and Dressage enthusiasts everywhere happy trails as you continue to make the world a better place through the partnership, training & love of one of God’s most noble and gentle creations: the horse.
