British Dressage Points Explained: Rules and Thresholds

British Dressage points are the currency of affiliated dressage in Great Britain. They decide which section you are eligible for, which championships you can chase, and when a combination has outgrown the level it is competing at. They are also widely misunderstood: BD points have nothing to do with where you finish in the class.

You do not win British Dressage points for a red rosette. You win them for the percentage on your score sheet. A rider who finishes sixth on 68% takes home more points than the winner of a weak class on 61%. This guide sets out the actual points table, how the Bronze, Silver and Gold sections are decided, what membership you need, and how the qualification routes to the Regionals and Area Festivals work under the 2026 rules.

How British Dressage points are earned

The BD points table in full

British Dressage points are awarded on a single, published percentage scale. You win points when you compete in an affiliated class at Prelim level or above and score a minimum of 60%. Below 60%, you score no points at all, regardless of placing.

BD’s own worked example is the clearest way to fix this in your head: score 65% in an Elementary class and the horse and rider each win three points. The judge’s percentage is the only input. Class size, show status and finishing position are irrelevant to the points you bank.

What does not earn British Dressage points

Several classes are deliberately outside the points system, which matters if you are trying to stay eligible for a section:

• Intro — the walk and trot level carries no points at all.
• Music classes — freestyle to music does not award points.
• Young Horse classes — scored, but outside the points scheme.
• Team Quest competitions — the grass-roots team series is points-free by design.

There is also a separate points table for CDI competitions from Prix St Georges to Grand Prix, and for CDI Young Horse and Young Rider classes, so international results are not converted at the national rate.

Points accumulate level by level

Points are banked against the level at which they were won. Novice points sit in a Novice pot, Elementary points in an Elementary pot. That per-level record, not a single lifetime total, is what feeds into eligibility for future competitions. It is also why a horse can be perfectly eligible for a Bronze section at one level while being locked out of Bronze at the level below.

One quirk worth knowing if you are importing: horses aged five and over are allocated points on importation to the UK, scaled to their age on arrival, so an imported six-year-old does not start from a clean sheet.

British Dressage levels: Intro to Grand Prix

The affiliated ladder

BD runs eleven competition levels. Each is made up of numbered tests, and within a level the lower the test number the more straightforward the test — Prelim 1 asks less than Prelim 19. If you are new to the discipline, our complete guide to dressage for beginners covers the basics before you look at affiliating.

1. Intro — walk and trot only, and the one level with no canter work.
2. Preliminary (Prelim) — the first level to ask for canter.
3. Novice — introduces counter canter and leg yield.
4. Elementary — shoulder-in, simple changes and tighter transitions.
5. Medium — half-pass, extended paces and walk pirouettes.
6. Advanced Medium — flying changes and more demanding lateral work such as travers.
7. Advanced — sequence changes and canter pirouettes.
8. Prix St Georges (PSG) — the entry FEI Small Tour level.
9. Intermediate I — Small Tour, with three-tempi and two-tempi changes.
10. Intermediate II — Big Tour, introducing piaffe and passage.
11. Grand Prix — the Olympic level.

Grand Prix Special and Grand Prix Freestyle are tests ridden within Grand Prix, not separate rungs on the ladder. At Advanced and FEI levels BD also runs PYO — “Pick Your Own” — classes, where riders choose from a selection of tests and the highest percentage still wins.

Minimum ages for horses

Riders can be any age to compete with BD. Horses cannot:

• Four years old — the minimum age to compete at all.
• Seven years old — the minimum for PSG and above.
• Eight years old — the minimum for Grand Prix.

Age is taken from 1 January in the year of birth, so a horse foaled in June 2022 counts as four from 1 January 2026, not from its actual birthday.

What changes as you climb

Each step up asks for more collection, more accuracy and new movements, and the standard expected of the basics rises with it. A 65% at Prelim and a 65% at Inter I are not the same achievement, because the work being marked is harder. The scales of training are the framework BD judges are trained against, which is why correct connection earns marks long before flashy movement does.

Tack and turnout rules also shift with the level. Trot work may be ridden sitting or rising at Elementary and below. At Medium, trot must be sitting except for medium and extended trot movements, which may be ridden rising. From Advanced Medium upwards, sitting trot is mandatory. A double bridle becomes an option at the higher levels, which is the point at which handling two sets of reins stops being optional homework. From 1 January 2026, noseband measuring devices are used at international and national championship competitions, and may also be used at regular BD competitions where a steward is present.

How a dressage test is scored

Marks out of 10 per movement

Every test is broken into numbered movements, each marked out of 10 against the FEI scale of marks. Judges may award half marks.

Coefficients and collective marks

Some movements carry a coefficient of 2 and count double. These are usually the movements the test is built around — an extended canter, a half-pass, a rein-back. Collective marks at the foot of the sheet cover the overall picture rather than any single movement. The practical consequence is that a scrappy double-weighted movement costs you twice what a scrappy ordinary one does, so it is worth knowing where the coefficients sit in your test before you ride it.

The final percentage

Marks are totalled, divided by the maximum available for that test, and expressed as a percentage. Since that percentage is what generates your points, consistency pays: two steady 66% tests bank eight points, while a 72% and a 59% bank only seven.

Errors of course

If you go wrong, the judge sounds a horn, tells you where you went wrong and where to restart, and you carry on. Errors of course are penalised as marks deducted from the total score, not percentage points:

• First error — minus 2 marks.
• Second error — minus 4 marks.
• Third error — elimination.

Because the deduction is in marks and the test total is typically in the low hundreds, a single error usually costs under one percentage point rather than a full two. That is still comfortably enough to move you down a points band. A commander may be used in normal classes, but not at Area Festivals, championships or selection trials — though a judge may allow you to bring one in mid-test at their discretion. One whip of any length is permitted at ordinary competitions; at most championships whips are not allowed.

Bronze, Silver and Gold sections explained

Three sections, not four

Each level from Prelim upwards is divided into three sections: Bronze, Silver and Gold. Intro runs as Bronze only, and Intermediate II and Grand Prix run Silver and Gold only. There is no Platinum section in British Dressage.

Everyone at a level rides the same class in front of the same judge. The class is only split into sections afterwards, for results and qualification purposes. That is why you can be beaten by a professional on the day and still win your section.

• Bronze — for horses and riders who have just started competing at that level.
• Silver — for combinations who have gained ability at the level and are no longer beginners at it.
• Gold — for riders with experience at higher levels who are bringing on a less experienced horse, and for combinations who are established at the level.

How your section is actually decided

This is where the common myth bites. There is no simple “Bronze up to X points, Silver up to Y” ladder. BD publishes an eligibility guide for every level and section, and each one is a checklist of achievements covering the rider on any horse, the horse with any rider, and the combination together. If you answer yes to any statement on the list, you are out of that section and need to look at the one above.

Points do appear in those checklists, but only at specific thresholds and often referencing a different level. To take Prelim Bronze as an example, you are no longer eligible if, as a rider on any horse, you have won more than 25 points at Novice or hold any points above that; or if your horse with any rider has won more than 25 points at Elementary or holds points above that; or if the combination has competed at Regionals at Prelim or above. Other statements reference Championship appearances and percentages achieved at Regionals and Area Festivals, several of them on a rolling four-year window.

The upshot: check the current eligibility guide for the section you intend to enter before you enter it. BD publishes all of them on its competition rules page, and it is expressly the owner’s and rider’s responsibility to make sure the combination is eligible for the class entered.

Nobody forces you out of Gold

Moving up through the sections is a one-way trip: once your record makes you ineligible for Bronze at a level, you cannot go back to it. But there is a widespread belief that BD eventually pushes you up a level, and that is not the case. In BD’s own words, there is no obligation for a combination to move out of the Gold section at any given level if they do not wish to compete at the levels above. A happy Novice Gold combination can stay a Novice Gold combination.

What can restrict you is success at the top of the pathway. A combination placed in the top three at the Music, Winter or National Championships at a level or above may not subsequently compete in the Silver section at that level or below, and any existing qualification switches to Gold.

Horse points, rider points and combination eligibility

Points are credited to the horse and the rider. Both records are permanent and both travel — the horse’s record goes with the horse when it is sold, and the rider’s record follows the rider onto their next horse. The eligibility checklists then test three things separately: what the rider has done on any horse, what the horse has done with any rider, and what the two of them have done together.

Two practical consequences follow. First, buying an established competition horse buys its record too. A well-produced eight-year-old may be a lovely ride and still be ineligible for the Bronze sections a first-season rider was hoping to campaign in, so the record is worth reading before the vetting. Second, a professional producing a young horse will frequently be in Gold at a level the horse has barely started at, purely because of the rider’s own history — which is exactly what the Gold section is designed to absorb.

You can check any horse’s or rider’s accumulated points through the BD results portal, which is searchable by rider, horse or venue.

British Dressage membership: what you need to earn points

Affiliated versus unaffiliated

BD points exist only in affiliated competition. Unaffiliated shows are useful, cheap and low-pressure, and BD tests are widely used at them, but nothing you score there touches your BD record. To earn points you need the right membership for both you and your horse — a rider membership alone is not enough, the horse needs its own registration.

Club membership

Club membership is the entry point, aimed squarely at riders taking their first steps in affiliated dressage. It costs £42 a year, with Club horse registration a further £21 a year. It allows you to compete in Prelim Bronze qualifier classes, My Quest and Team Quest, Combined Training, and Music Championship qualifiers.

The catch worth planning around: if you qualify for a championship within the Petplan Area Festivals, the Associated Championships or Para, you must upgrade to Full membership to be eligible to compete there.

Full membership

Full (competing) membership opens up every affiliated competition at every level and the whole championship pathway. It costs £9.75 a month or £106 a year, with Full horse registration at £7.75 a month or £88 a year. Both rider and horse need Full membership and registration to compete at a Summer or Winter Regional Championship.

The other options

• Trial membership — three months of Full member benefits for brand new members only, at £38 for the rider and £17 for the horse.
• Winter membership — October to March, £62.50 for the rider and £62.50 for the horse. Popular with eventers.
• Full (non-competing) — for owners, judges and officials, from £5.75 a month.
• BD Community membership — online resources plus the ability to try an affiliated competition on a class ticket.

All of it is set out on BD’s membership packages page, and prices should be checked before you join since they are reviewed annually.

Qualifying for Area Festivals and Regionals

Two routes, deliberately separated

BD runs two parallel championship pathways from everyday competition. The Petplan Area Festivals are aimed at Bronze and Silver riders. The Regional Championships are the gateway to the National and Winter Championships and run at Silver and Gold. Qualification for both comes from scores at ordinary affiliated shows, not from a separate qualifier circuit.

Area Festival qualification, 2026 rules

• Prelim to Elementary — four scores at 62% or above, all from one section (Bronze or Silver).
• Medium and Advanced Medium — three scores at 62% or above, from one section.
• PSG and Intermediate I — two scores at 60% or above, from one section.

Additional Area Festival qualifications need two further scores at the same percentage. Offshore combinations qualify on reduced numbers of scores.

Regional Championship qualification

The qualification period for the Summer 2026 Regionals ran from 1 January to 30 June 2026; the window for the Winter 2027 Regionals runs from 1 July to 31 December 2026. Regionals feed the LeMieux National Dressage Championships at Somerford Park and the Winter Championships at Addington Equestrian, with places allocated on a ratio system and remaining places filled by wild cards awarded to the highest-scoring non-qualifiers across all the regional finals.

The clash rules that catch people out

• A combination may not compete at the same level, including music, in both an Area Festival and a Regional in the same season. If you do both, the Area Festival level must be the higher one.
• Score 68% or more (70% in music) at a Regional and you may not compete in an Area Festival at that level or below, in the current or any future year.
• Score 68% or more (70% in music) at the Area Festival Championships and you are out of Area Festivals at that level and section or below, permanently.
• Once a horse has qualified for the Regionals the rider may be changed, because it is the horse’s qualification. Qualify on for the Championships and it becomes the combination’s qualification, so the same rider must ride.

Planning a season around BD points

Compete at the level you are actually at

Because points only start at 60%, competing above your level is doubly expensive: you pay the entry, and you bank nothing. A combination scoring 68% at Novice earns five points a run. The same pair scrambling round Elementary on 59% earns none. There is no prize for being brave about it, and systematic training at home moves you up faster than entering above yourself.

Count backwards from the qualification you want

The qualification tables above are the plan. If you want a Novice Silver Regional ticket you need four scores at 65% or better inside the qualifying window — so work out how many outings that realistically takes at your current average, and enter accordingly. If the Area Festivals are the target instead, four scores at 62% from a single section is a materially easier ask, and it is the right first goal for most Bronze and Silver combinations.

Watch the eligibility cliff, not just the points total

The moment that catches people out is not running out of points but running out of section. A strong run of results, or a single 68% at a Regional, can close a section or a whole championship route for good. Before a big class, re-read the eligibility guide for the section you want to be in next season — it is far easier to plan around than to appeal after the fact.

Use the unaffiliated circuit properly

Unaffiliated shows award no points, which makes them ideal for the jobs that would otherwise cost you points: a first outing on a young horse, a first run in a double bridle, or a return to work after a lay-off. Save the affiliated entries for when the work is ready to be marked.

British Dressage points FAQ

How many British Dressage points do you get for winning a class?

None, specifically. Winning awards no points in itself. Points come purely from your percentage: 60.00–61.99% earns one point, rising in two-percent bands to 11 points for 80% and above. Win on 61% and you take one point; finish last on 70% and you take six.

What percentage do you need to get British Dressage points?

60%, at Prelim level or above. Anything below 60% scores nothing, and Intro classes, music classes, Young Horse classes and Team Quest award no points at any percentage.

How many points do you need for Silver at British Dressage?

There is no single points figure. Section eligibility is decided by the eligibility guide for that level, which is a checklist covering the rider’s record on any horse, the horse’s record with any rider, and the combination’s record together. Points appear in some of those statements — more than 25 points at Novice moves a rider out of Prelim Bronze, for instance — but championship appearances and percentages achieved at Regionals matter just as much.

Do British Dressage points expire?

The points themselves stay on the record. What is time-limited is parts of the eligibility criteria: several statements in the section guides only look at the last four years, and some Prelim Gold criteria look at the current and previous two years. So a result can stop restricting your section long before it disappears from your record.

Can you compete at British Dressage without full membership?

Yes, within limits. Club membership plus Club horse registration lets you compete at Prelim Bronze qualifier classes, Quest, Combined Training and Music Championship qualifiers. To compete at Novice and above, or to take up a place at the Petplan Area Festivals, Associated Championships or a Regional, you need Full membership and Full horse registration for both horse and rider.

Where can I check my British Dressage points?

Through the BD results portal, which is searchable by rider, horse or venue, and through the member area of britishdressage.co.uk. Both the horse’s and the rider’s running totals are visible there, broken down by level.

A note for readers outside Great Britain

British Dressage governs affiliated dressage in Great Britain only. Riders elsewhere — including in South Africa — compete under their own national federation, affiliated to the FEI, with its own points, grading and membership structure. The FEI tests at PSG and above are common ground, but the national points system described here is not. Check your own federation’s rulebook for grading and qualification, and treat the figures on this page as a guide to the British system rather than a universal one.

If you are still deciding whether affiliated competition is for you, it is worth reading about dressage as a discipline first, and about the Hanoverian, Dutch Warmblood and Lusitano types you will see filling the Gold sections — though plenty of points are won every weekend by horses of no particular breeding at all.