How Dressage Scoring Works: What Judges Look For

Dressage scoring can look mysterious from the rail. Two combinations ride the same test, both look tidy, and one finishes four percentage points ahead of the other. Every one of those points comes from a sheet of marks out of 10, a few multipliers and the occasional penalty, and once you can read that sheet the sport makes far more sense, whether you are watching dressage at the London International Horse Show or warming up for your first Prelim.

This guide sets out dressage scoring the way the rulebooks actually describe it: the FEI Dressage Rules 2026 and the FEI Dressage Judging Manual for international sport, British Dressage and British Eventing for competitors in the UK, and Dressage SA’s national rules for riders in South Africa. Where those bodies do things differently, and they do on several points that regularly catch riders out, we say so. If you are completely new to the sport, start with our beginner’s guide to what dressage is and come back.

Dressage Scoring at a Glance

Dressage is not a head-to-head contest. Every combination in a class rides the same set test in front of the same judge or panel, receives a score, and is ranked against everyone else. The mechanics are the same at a riding club and at the Olympic Games:

• Every numbered movement on the test sheet, and certain transitions, gets a mark from 0 to 10 from each judge. Half marks are allowed (FEI Article 423).
• Some marks carry a coefficient, usually 2, so they count double.
• At the end of the test the judge gives one or more collective marks for the performance as a whole.
• The marks are added up, any penalties are taken off, and the total is turned into a percentage of the maximum available. With more than one judge, each judge’s percentage is worked out separately and then averaged (FEI Article 425).
• In pure dressage the highest percentage wins. In eventing the percentage is taken away from 100 to give penalties, and the lowest score wins.

The broad method is shared, but the details are not. This table shows where the main rulebooks part company:

Rule	FEI tests (2026)	British Dressage national tests	British Eventing	Dressage SA national tests
Scale of marks	0 to 10, half marks allowed	0 to 10, half marks allowed	0 to 10, half marks allowed	0 to 10, half marks allowed; 5 is called “Marginal”
Collective marks	One mark, “Harmony”	Paces, impulsion, co-operation, rider’s position and seat (2024 Prelim and Novice tests)	Paces, impulsion, submission, rider	Paces, impulsion, submission, and two rider marks
First error of course	2 percentage points off	2 marks off	2 penalties	2 marks off
Second error of course	Elimination	4 marks off	4 penalties	4 marks off
Third error of course	-	Elimination	Elimination	Elimination

Sources: FEI Dressage Rules 2026, Articles 423 and 424; Horse & Hound’s guides to the 2024 British Dressage tests and affiliated dressage; British Eventing’s penalties page; Dressage SA national rules, rules 32.7.6 and 32.7.12. British Dressage’s full rulebook sits in the members’ handbook, so always check the current edition before you compete.

The Dressage Scale of Marks: 0 to 10

Every movement is judged against a fixed scale, so that a 7 from one judge should mean the same thing as a 7 from another. The FEI wording below is from Article 423 of the 2026 Dressage Rules. Dressage SA uses the same scale but calls a 5 “Marginal” rather than “Sufficient”.

Mark	FEI wording	What it tells you
10	Excellent	Nothing to fault
9	Very good	Close to the ideal
8	Good	Correct and of good quality
7	Fairly good	Correct, with room to improve quality
6	Satisfactory	The requirements were met
5	Sufficient (Dressage SA: Marginal)	Only just met, with clear faults
4	Insufficient	The requirements were not met
3	Fairly bad	Serious faults
2	Bad	Very serious faults
1	Very bad	Barely recognisable
0	Not executed	Practically nothing of the movement was performed

The right-hand column is our plain-English reading, not official wording. The rulebook’s own definition of a 0 is precise: “Not executed” means practically nothing of the required movement was performed. A movement that was attempted badly earns a low mark, not a zero.

Half marks and decimals

Under FEI rules, judges may use any half mark from 0.5 to 9.5 for both movements and the collective mark, at their discretion. A shoulder-in that is better than satisfactory but not quite fairly good can therefore earn a 6.5. Dressage SA’s national rules allow the same. Decimals are used only in specific places: the artistic marks in a freestyle, the marks in five- and six-year-old Young Horse tests, quality of paces for seven-year-olds, and quality of riding in Children’s tests, all to 0.1 (FEI Article 423).

How judges are told to mark common problems

The FEI Judging Manual gives judges a set of reference points so that a given fault costs roughly the same marks wherever you ride. A few examples, quoted from the Judging Manual effective 1 January 2025:

What the judge sees	Guidance in the FEI Judging Manual
A short stumble or momentary loss of regularity in trot	6 or below
Severe loss of regularity, breaking pace for several steps, or an extension not attempted	Below 5, lower depending on severity
Trot barely recognisable, multiple breaks of pace	1, 2 or 3
Repositioning one leg in the halt, or a slight loss of straightness	6.5 or below
Collected walk overtracking by three hooves or more	No higher than 5.5
Extended walk not stretching to the bit, or the rider giving up the contact	Deduct 1 to 1.5 points
An unintentional flying change between two movements, immediately corrected	Deduct 2 points, maximum mark 6
A circle, half volte or serpentine ridden imprecisely	Deduct 0.5 to 1 point

That walk guidance is worth understanding if you have ever lost marks for overtracking in a collected walk: a long stride that is welcome in the extended walk shows a lack of collection when the test asks you to shorten. The extended trot works the other way, because the judge wants to see the frame and the steps lengthen without the rhythm changing.

Coefficients: Why Some Movements Count Double

Some marks carry a coefficient. The judge still marks the movement out of 10, but the scorer multiplies it, so a 7 on a movement with a coefficient of 2 counts as 14 points. Under FEI rules the collective mark and “certain difficult movements” can carry a coefficient, and the FEI fixes which ones (Article 423.10).

The movements chosen are the ones a test writer most wants to see done well at that level, and walk work is a frequent choice. When British Dressage brought in its 2024 tests, for example, Horse & Hound reported that the free walk on a long rein in Novice 1 gained a coefficient, as did the free walk in Novice 5 (H&H, 5 December 2023). A tense, hurried free walk on a doubled mark costs twice what a scrappy 10-metre circle does.

The practical lesson is simple. Before the day, find the coefficient column on your test sheet and highlight every doubled mark. Those are the movements to rehearse until they are boring.

Collective Marks: Harmony, Paces and the Rider

Collective marks are awarded once the test is over and reflect the performance as a whole rather than any single movement. This is where the rulebooks have moved furthest apart in recent years.

FEI tests: a single Harmony mark

FEI tests now carry one collective mark. For 2026 the FEI renamed it from “General Impression” to “Harmony”, described as “a broader evaluation that includes harmony, cooperation, lightness, effectiveness and sensitivity of the aids, as well as adherence to the Training Scale” (FEI Dressage Rule Changes 2026). British Dressage updated the FEI tests it runs with the same wording for 2026 (BD 2026 Rule Amendment Synopsis). In FEI eventing tests the equivalent mark, for the harmony of athlete and horse, carries a double coefficient (FEI Eventing Rules 2026, Article 544.2.5).

The Judging Manual spells out what sits behind that mark. Judges look for a harmonious presentation in which the scale of training is fulfilled for the level, the rider’s position and seat, and a discreet and effective influence of the aids. On the rider, it describes a seat that is “well-balanced, elastic, sitting deep in the centre of the saddle”, heels as the lowest point, and hands carried steadily close together “with the thumb as the highest point”.

National tests: several collectives

National tests in the UK and South Africa still use several collective marks, and each body sets its own:

• British Dressage: the 2024 Prelim tests carry paces (coefficient 1), impulsion (1), co-operation (2) and the rider’s position and seat (2). Co-operation replaced the old “submission” wording, and the Intro tests dropped the paces collective altogether (Horse & Hound).
• British Eventing: 10 marks available for each of paces, impulsion, submission and rider (Horse & Hound’s eventing dressage guide).
• Dressage SA: paces, impulsion and submission, plus the rider’s position and seat and the correctness and effect of the aids as collective marks 4 and 5, with Preliminary, Novice and Young Horse tests using different categories (rule 32.7.6).

Because collectives are often weighted, they reward the things that run through the whole test. A horse with regular, elastic paces and a rider who sits still and quiet will pick up marks here even on a day when one movement goes wrong. That is also why the training scale matters so much: rhythm, suppleness and contact show up in every movement and then again at the bottom of the sheet.

How Dressage Scoring Turns Marks Into a Percentage

Once the judge signs the sheet it goes to the scorers. Under FEI Article 425, they multiply each mark by its coefficient, add everything up, and divide by the maximum possible total printed on the test sheet, then multiply by 100. The Grand Prix, for example, is marked out of 460; the Grand Prix Freestyle has 200 points for technical execution and 200 for artistic presentation. Penalty percentage points for errors and technical faults are then deducted on each judge’s sheet, and all FEI results are published to three decimal places.

A worked example

Here is an illustrative test, not a real one, built to show the arithmetic. It has 18 movement marks, two of them carrying a coefficient of 2, and four collective marks laid out like a British Dressage Prelim sheet.

Part of the sheet	Maximum	Marks earned	Points
16 movements at coefficient 1	160	An average of 6.5	104
2 movements at coefficient 2	40	6 and 7	12 + 14 = 26
Paces (x1) and impulsion (x1)	20	6.5 and 6.5	13
Co-operation (x2) and rider’s position and seat (x2)	40	6.5 and 7	13 + 14 = 27
Total	260		170

170 divided by 260, multiplied by 100, is 65.385 per cent. Now suppose the rider went wrong once. Under a national rule that takes 2 marks off the total, the score becomes 168 out of 260, or 64.615 per cent. Under the FEI rule, which takes 2 percentage points off instead, the same mistake leaves 63.385 per cent. One wrong turn costs almost three times as much on an FEI sheet, which is worth knowing before you ride your first international test.

More than one judge

With a panel, each judge’s sheet is converted to a percentage separately and the final score is the average of those percentages (FEI Article 425.5.9). The rulebook’s own example has five judges giving 69.990, 70.333, 70.205, 71.120 and 69.660 per cent, for a final score of 70.262 per cent. Each judge’s percentage is published alongside the total, so you can see if one judge saw your test very differently from the others.

From a percentage to British Dressage points

In affiliated British Dressage classes at Prelim and above, that percentage also earns points towards your section and level. Points start at 60 per cent and rise by one point for every two percentage points, up to 11 points at 80 per cent and above (British Dressage). Our worked example at 65.385 per cent would earn 3 points. Our guide to British Dressage points covers the full table and how points move you between Bronze, Silver and Gold.

What Dressage Judges Look For

The marks only make sense once you know what the judge is measuring them against. The FEI’s answer starts with the object of dressage: “the development of the Horse into a ‘Happy Athlete’ through harmonious education”. According to the Judging Manual, the qualities that show it are:

• the freedom and regularity of the paces
• the harmony, lightness and ease of the movements
• the lightness of the forehand and the engagement of the hindquarters, originating from a lively impulsion
• the acceptance of the bridle, with throughness, without any tension or resistance

Regularity and the training scale come first

“The regularity of the paces is fundamental to Dressage,” the Manual says, and it tells judges that severe, basic faults in rhythm, suppleness or contact, or a lack of impulsion, straightness or collection, “must be clearly marked down”. In practice this means a movement can be ridden exactly to the letters and still score a 5 if the rhythm went, while a slightly inaccurate one in a lovely, regular pace can outscore it. Our guide to the scales of training explains each stage, and the Manual’s picture of a horse working in self-carriage, light in the forehand and engaged behind, is the one judges are scoring you against.

Firewalls: when welfare caps the mark

The Judging Manual is blunt that “the most important task for the Judge is to keep the Welfare of the Horse in mind”. Signs of discomfort are to be penalised significantly, either by a deduction for minor problems or, for serious ones, by what the FEI calls a “Firewall”: a mark that cannot exceed 5. Contact problems get particular attention. A neck that is pulled together, an unsteady contact, or a very busy, open mouth with the tongue drawn up are listed as fundamental mistakes, and if the tongue is clearly hanging out to the side the mark cannot be higher than 5. That is one reason a horse ridden deep and short, the outline associated with hyperflexion or rollkur, will struggle to score well even when the movement itself is accurate.

Accuracy, transitions and the small deductions

Accuracy is where most riders find easy marks. The Manual tells judges to deduct 0.5 to 1 point for circles, half voltes and serpentines ridden imprecisely, and to deduct for walk work that does not start and finish at the letter. If a transition is clearly more than five metres early or late, the deduction can apply to both the movement before and the movement after. Riding every transition at the marker, on the correct line around the dressage arena, costs nothing and protects every mark on the sheet.

Breed does not score, movement does

British Dressage puts it simply: any horse can do dressage, and “it doesn’t matter what breed, colour, size or age they are, if they can perform the movements to the guidelines” (British Dressage). It adds that at the very top levels the warmblood breeds, such as the Hanoverian and the Trakehner, are generally considered the most suitable for their conformation, movement and temperament. The judge is marking what the horse does in front of them, not its passport.

Errors of Course and Penalties in Dressage

Mistakes are part of the sport, and a single poor movement rarely ruins a test. What changes the result is how the rulebook you are riding under treats errors and technical faults, because the penalties are very different.

Errors of course

An error of course is going the wrong way: taking a wrong turn, leaving out a movement and so on. Under the FEI rules the judge at C rings the bell, shows the rider where to pick the test up if needed, and then lets them carry on. The judge at C alone decides whether an error has happened, and if no judge noticed, the rider gets the benefit of the doubt. An error of execution, such as trotting rising when the test says sitting, is penalised in the same way (FEI Article 424).

Rules	First error	Second error	Third error
FEI senior tests	2 percentage points	Elimination	-
FEI Young Horse, Children, Pony and Junior tests	0.5 percentage points	1 percentage point	Elimination
British Dressage national tests	2 marks	4 marks	Elimination
British Eventing	2 penalties	4 penalties	Elimination
FEI eventing tests	2 points	4 points	Elimination
Dressage SA national tests	2 marks	4 marks	Elimination

Sources: FEI Dressage Rules 2026 Article 424.4; Horse & Hound, 27 February 2025 for British Dressage; British Eventing; FEI Eventing Rules 2026 Article 544.2.1; Dressage SA rule 32.7.12, which applies the FEI penalties when an FEI test is ridden.

Technical faults

Under FEI rules a set of smaller faults costs 0.5 percentage points each. These deductions are not cumulative and cannot lead to elimination. They include entering the space around the arena, or the arena itself, with a whip, with boots or bandages on the horse’s legs, or with something wrong with your dress such as no gloves; entering before the bell; entering more than 45 seconds after the bell but within 90; in a freestyle, entering after more than 30 seconds of music; using the voice or clicking the tongue repeatedly; and not taking the reins in one hand at the salute (Article 424.4.2). Our guide to holding the reins covers the salute. Dressage SA’s national rules take 2 marks off for the same kinds of fault, again not cumulative.

Voice aids are a good example of how national rules differ. From 2026 British Dressage allows “discreet use of the rider’s voice” in regular competition, but at championships the voice is still penalised, by the loss of two marks from each movement in which it is used (BD 2026 Rule Amendment Synopsis, rule 90).

What gets you eliminated

FEI Article 424.5 lists the reasons for elimination. The main ones are:

• marked lameness, which the judge at C decides on the spot with no appeal (our guide to lameness in horses explains what judges and vets are seeing)
• any resistance that prevents the test continuing for longer than 20 seconds, or a shorter resistance that endangers anyone
• a fall of horse or rider
• the horse leaving the arena completely, with all four feet, during the test
• unauthorised assistance, including signals or electronic communication, from the moment you enter the space around the arena
• fresh blood on the horse, with specific rules for the mouth and spur area
• not entering the arena within 90 seconds of the bell, a performance against the welfare of the horse, and riding with equipment the rules do not permit

Equipment is the one riders most often get caught by. Article 434 of the FEI rules forbids martingales of every kind, including a false martingale, along with breastplates, bit guards, side, running or balancing reins, a bearing rein and blinkers that interfere with vision. The ban applies during training and in the warm-up ring as well as in the competition arena, under penalty of elimination. Bridles have changed too: from 2026, Grand Prix riders at events up to CDI3* may choose a snaffle or a double bridle (FEI rule changes 2026). National tack lists differ, so check the current British Dressage or Dressage SA rules for your level.

The Judges: How Many, Where They Sit and Who They Are

British Dressage describes each movement as marked by a panel of one, two, three, five or seven judges (British Dressage). Many riders will only ever be marked by a single judge sitting at C. Nationally, BD judges are listed according to the level they can judge, go through a training process to qualify and must keep up continuing professional development, and they also monitor the welfare of the horses in front of them.

At international level the ground jury has between three and seven members, all on the FEI list. The FEI grades its dressage judges from Level 1 to Level 4, and the most senior events require the higher grades. At the Olympic Games and senior FEI championships at Grand Prix level, the FEI appoints seven judges plus a reserve, all of different nationalities, and the World Cup Final has five (FEI Article 441).

Where the judges sit

Three judges sit along the short side: the judge at C on the centre line, with the judges at M and H set in from the long sides. The side judges sit at B and E. When there are seven, the extra two sit at the opposite short side. With only three judges, two sit on the short side (C plus H or M) and one on the long side at B or E (FEI Annex 1). The point of spreading them out is that each judge sees the horse from a different angle: a shoulder-in that looks correct from C can show clearly too much angle from B.

Checks on the judges

There is no rule that throws out the highest and lowest marks, which is a common belief. The FEI safeguard is the Judges Supervisory Panel (JSP), which is compulsory at the Olympic Games, World and Continental Championships at Grand Prix level and World Cup Finals. The JSP may correct definite technical mistakes and counting errors, but may not set a mark outside the range the judges themselves gave. If one judge’s final score differs from the average of the others by five per cent or more, the JSP may, by unanimous decision, change it to the next closest score (FEI Article 442). At Youth Championships with five judges the same five per cent adjustment is applied automatically.

The Score Sheet and the Judge’s Comments

Each FEI judge’s sheet has a column for the original mark, a column for any corrected mark, and a column for remarks. The FEI tells judges that comments are “strongly recommended” for marks of 5 and below and are “intended for the information of the Athlete”. Dressage SA goes further and obliges its judges to record the reason for any mark below 6 next to the movement. At the end of the sheet there is space for general remarks on the test as a whole.

Riders usually get their sheets back after the class, and the sheet is worth far more than the percentage at the top of it. A few ways to use it:

• Look for patterns across several sheets rather than reacting to one comment. The same remark appearing on three tests is a training priority.
• Compare the movement marks with the collective marks. Low collectives with reasonable movement marks often point to tension or contact running through the whole test.
• With a panel, compare the judges. A movement marked 5 from B and 7 from C usually means something was visible from the side, such as too much angle or a loss of straightness.
• Take the sheet to your trainer. A comment like “needs more bend” or “hurried” is shorthand, and a trainer can turn it into an exercise.

Ties: How Equal Scores Are Split

Ties are rarer than you might think, because FEI scores run to three decimal places, but the rulebooks do settle them, and not all in the same way:

• FEI tests: for the first three places, the combination with the highest median score among the judges wins. Ties are not broken at FEI Children events, where combinations are placed equal (Article 425.2).
• FEI freestyles: the higher artistic mark wins, then the higher harmony mark, then choreography. Ties for lower places stand.
• FEI Young Horse classes: the marks for submission and perspective are averaged, then submission alone decides.
• Dressage SA national tests: for first place only, the total of the collective marks may be used; if that is still equal, the result stands as a tie (rule 32.7.5).

How Freestyle to Music Is Scored

In a freestyle the rider designs their own floor plan and sets it to music, and the score has two halves. The technical mark covers the compulsory movements and is judged like a standard test, in full and half marks. If a movement is shown several times, each attempt gets a mark and the judge averages them. The artistic mark is made up of five marks, each with its own coefficient: rhythm, energy and elasticity; harmony between athlete and horse; choreography; degree of difficulty; and music and interpretation of the music. Artistic marks may use decimals (FEI Judging Manual, freestyle directives).

The final percentage for each judge is the technical and artistic percentages added together and divided by two (FEI Article 425.5.6). The Manual makes clear that a difficult floor plan does not buy marks on its own: if the piaffe, passage or pirouettes are executed incorrectly, the harmony and degree of difficulty marks have to come down, and if a freestyle is clearly over or under the time limit, 0.5 percentage points come off the artistic score. Modern freestyle stars such as Glamourdale show what happens when difficulty and quality line up.

Dressage Scoring in Eventing

The dressage phase of eventing is marked in the same way, but the result is converted into penalties so it can be added to the jumping phases. Under the FEI Eventing Rules 2026 (Article 544.2), each judge’s good marks, including the harmony mark at a double coefficient, are added up and any error penalties taken off. That total is turned into a percentage rounded to two decimals, the judges’ percentages are averaged, and the result is subtracted from 100 and rounded to one decimal place. A 65.38 per cent test therefore starts the competition on 34.6 penalties, and the lowest final score wins.

British Eventing works the same way: the judges mark each movement out of 10, the total is converted into a penalty score, and the lower it is the better (British Eventing). Horse & Hound’s eventing guide gives the example of 130 marks out of 200, which is 65 per cent and 35 penalties. It also notes that BE tests are marked out of between 200 and 280 depending on the level and FEI eventing tests out of between 210 and 300, and that there is one dressage judge from BE90 to Intermediate, usually two at Advanced Intermediate and Advanced, and three at long-format four- and five-star events (H&H, 29 February 2024). A good test gives an eventer a head start before the cross-country and show jumping phases.

What Is a Good Dressage Score?

There is no official definition of a “good” score, but British Dressage’s own thresholds give a useful ladder. In affiliated classes at Prelim and above:

• 60 per cent is where points start (1 point at 60.00 to 61.99 per cent) (British Dressage).
• 62 per cent is the qualifying score for the Area Festivals at Prelim to Elementary, with four such scores needed from the Bronze or Silver section (BD 2026 Rule Amendment Synopsis, rule 196).
• 65 per cent (Silver) and 67 per cent (Gold) are the minimum scores for qualifying for the Regional Championships at Prelim to Elementary, with four scores needed. At Medium and Advanced Medium the figures are 64 and 65 per cent from three scores (rule 199).
• 80 per cent and above earns the maximum 11 points from a single test.

For a first affiliated outing, a score in the early 60s means the basics were in place. Remember that 65 per cent is the equivalent of averaging 6.5 out of 10 across the whole sheet, coefficients included, which sits between “satisfactory” and “fairly good”. In eventing, the same test would start you on 35 penalties.

The highest dressage scores ever recorded

No one has ever scored 100 per cent. British Dressage lists the current world records as:

Test	Score	Combination	Where and when
Grand Prix	87.460%	Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro	Olympia, December 2014
Grand Prix Special	88.022%	Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro	2012
Grand Prix Freestyle	94.300%	Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro	Olympia, December 2014

Source: British Dressage world and British records. The 2014 freestyle beat the pair’s own record of 93.975 per cent, set at Olympia in December 2013, which in turn had beaten the 92.30 per cent set by Edward Gal and Totilas at Olympia in 2009. Horse & Hound confirmed in December 2025 that Valegro and Charlotte still held all three world records (H&H, 17 December 2025). Valegro and Totilas were both Dutch Warmbloods; our profile of the KWPN Dutch Warmblood explains the studbook behind them.

When to move up a level

British Dressage decides which section you ride in (Bronze, Silver or Gold) from your points and experience, and there is no obligation to leave the Gold section of a level if you do not want to move up (British Dressage). Deciding when to try the next level is a judgement for you and your trainer. Our own advice is to look beyond the percentage: if your scores at the current level are consistently comfortable, your collective marks are holding up, and the movements the next level builds on are no longer drawing 5s and below, you are ready to try it. A good percentage built on accurate geometry with weak paces and contact marks usually drops when the movements get harder.

Dressage Scoring Is Changing: The 2027 FEI Rules Revision

The FEI’s changes for 2026 were deliberately minor because a full revision of the Dressage Rules is scheduled for 2026, to take effect in 2027 (FEI). Horse & Hound reported on the first draft of proposals in August 2026, and several of them go to the heart of how dressage is scored (H&H, 1 August 2026):

• Collective marks could disappear. The FEI Dressage Technical Committee proposed removing all collective marks and instead assessing harmony and the training scale within each technical movement. Other bodies proposed the opposite, a second collective mark, either one for the horse and one for the rider, or one for the training scale and one for harmony.
• Judges could move to the long side. Two organisations proposed that at championships four of the seven judges sit on the long side at V, P, R and S, to give a clearer view of contact. The committee agreed in principle and said a test event would be held.
• Comments could be published. British Equestrian suggested publishing the judges’ summary comments; the committee was concerned that judges might become less specific.

These were proposals, not rules, when this guide was updated. If you ride FEI tests, check the 2027 rulebook when it is published rather than relying on any article, this one included.

How to Improve Your Dressage Score

Most riders gain more from tidying up the basics than from chasing a single big movement. In our experience these are the places marks are most often found:

• Know the test cold, and the rulebook it is ridden under. At British Dressage national level you can use a commander in most classes, but not at Area Festivals, championships or selection trials (British Dressage). Under FEI rules a second error of course ends your test.
• Highlight the coefficients. A doubled walk mark is worth two circles.
• Ride to the letters. Accurate geometry and transitions at the marker are the cheapest marks on the sheet.
• Protect the rhythm. Regularity underpins every mark. Ask for less in an extension rather than lose the beat, and work on a steady, accepting contact at home so the judge sees it in the arena.
• Prepare the movements you find hard. Lateral work such as leg yield, shoulder-in and half pass loses marks for angle, bend and rhythm long before it loses them for direction, and clean flying changes come from a straight, balanced canter.
• Ride the free walk and the halt. They look easy and they are marked like everything else.
• Check yourself before you go in. Whip, boots, gloves and tack are all checkable faults. There is no rule that you must plait at British Dressage, but most people do (British Dressage), and our guide to plaiting covers it.
• Enter promptly. Under FEI rules you have 45 seconds from the bell before a penalty and 90 before elimination.
• Read the sheet afterwards, all of it. The comments tell you what the percentage cannot.

Frequently Asked Questions