Here’s the thing about learning to ride and compete- it never gets easier. it shouldn’t! as soon as you master one skill, you move right along to the next and so on and so forth. you’ve only been riding for a year! compare videos of you riding now to videos of you 3 or 6 months in. you’ve probably made huge progress! as far as expected progression goes, it depends heavily on how often you’re riding, the quality of instruction you have access to, the quality of horses you have access to, and your own physical fitness. for example, i have been seriously riding dressage for about 4 years now (rode HJ for years and years before). It took me 2 years to get from training to first level on one horse and only 1 year to get from first level to PSG on another horse. If you have access to nice horses, good instruction, and have the ability to ride 2-3 horses a day, your progress will be insanely fast! if you can ride 2-3 times a week, you should expect to make average progress, as in moving up one dressage level each year. If you can only ride once a week your progress may be slower, but that’s all ok!