How is dressage judged?

Official EA Dressage tests are judged by EA judges (officials) who are accredited under the National Officials Accreditation Scheme approved by the Australian Sports Commission. Mostly, at least two judges are required for national tests in order to give a balanced assessment. Judges provide marks per movement on a judging sheet, ranking of the class and also helpful comments to improve the performance. The judging sheets are returned to the rider.

At FEI CDIs (international events), five (5) judges from different countries are used; lower level tests (PSG- Intermediate I) may use three (3) judges. At Olympic Games, Championships and World Cup Finals under FEI Rules, seven (7) judges are now used.

As soon as the horse enters the arena it is being judged. The judge is looking for the quality of execution of the various moments against the standards laid out in the FEI Dressage Judges Handbook. The judge actually judges the horse, not the rider, although the rider is given a mark out of 10 for position, seat, correctness and effectiveness of the aids, at the end of the test. Each movement is given a mark out of ten and half marks may be used by the judge. Once totalled, these scores produce a percentage and the rider or team with the highest total score is declared the winner.

Dressage Movements

Dressage Rules and Tests