Between the Lines - a guide to interpreting your (UK) dressage sheets

You exit on a long rein at A, reasonably satisfied with your first dressage test. When the results go up, however, and the sheets are given out, you may be confused. Why did you not do as well as you thought you had? What are these weird symbols and abbreviations on the test sheets? What does "not coming through from behind mean"? Your test sheet is a valuable guide to improving your own riding and your horse's schooling, so it is worth learning to understand it.

Each movement is marked out of ten and the scale of marks and their definitions are printed on the test sheet, as follows:

The usual range of marks employed by judges, however, is likely to be from three to eight, a ten is not often awarded as equine perfection is rare! A guide to how to interpret the marks on your test sheet follows, but it must be stressed that this is an average guide, some judges will have a tendency to mark either higher or lower.

TEN

As explained above, rarely awarded. In a preliminary level test for example, a ten might be given to a horse who is actually schooled to a more advanced level and shows a high degree of engagement and submission not usually seen at prelim level.

NINE

Again, nines are rarely seen on the test sheet. If you ever get one you can justifiably feel proud as this would indicate a very high standard of performance for you and your horse.

EIGHT

This is the highest mark you would normally expect to receive in a test. It indicates that the horse has performed the movement accurately showing no resistance and exhibiting an outline and degree of engagement appropriate to the level of competition. For example, a horse showing some lack of engagement may gain an eight in a Prelim test but would receive lower marks for an identical movement in an Elementary test.

SEVEN

This is still a very good mark, but there may have been some minor fault, such as a lack of accuracy or a small resistance. The horse will basically have a correct way of going and a good outline.

SIX

The horse has performed the movement fairly well in an obedient manner, but perhaps shows some flaws in his way of going, typically being slightly on the forehand or above the bit.

FIVE

The movement perhaps lacked accuracy or perhaps the horse performed obediently but not in a rounded outline with engaged hindquarters. A typical five-rated performance would be by a reasonably obedient horse who lacked impulsion and was rather on the forehand.

FOUR

Either the movement was noticeably inaccurate or the horse exhibited quite a serious fault in his way of going, a very hollow outline for example, or being behind the bit.

THREE

A mark as low as three would indicate problems such as lack of control, very late and resistant transitions, severe resistance and stiffness, etc.

TWO

To warrant a two, the performance would have been very poor and would indicate a severe disobedience on the horse's part, perhaps napping, rearing or bucking.

ONE

Hopefully a mark you will never receive, but again would indicate severe disobedience with very little of the movement performed, perhaps because the horse bolted or shied.

ZERO

Usually awarded when riders forget the test and miss out a movement or the horse is so disobedient he does not perform the movement at all.

Five is usually the mark a judge awards to what she feels is an average performance and is the most common mark given. It tends to embrace a wider range of standards than the other marks, particularly at the lower levels where the judge may be reluctant to discourage novice competitors by giving fours.

It is important to remember that judges are human and vary in their likes and dislikes. It is a difficult task to mark consistently and fairly a class of thirty horses and ponies of various shapes, sizes and levels of schooling. Judges will also tailor their marking and comments according to the level of competition. Usually, a judge will mark higher and give more encouraging comments in a closed club event aimed at novices than at an affiliated event.

All judges at affiliated dressage events are 'listed', that is they are approved by the British Horse Society and have attended courses on judging tests. As a result, the judging is reasonably standard and you can be sure the judge has reached a certain level of competence. At many unaffiliated events the organizers try to ensure they use listed judges, but this is not always possible. Usually, local instructors and competition riders are invited to judge and although many are excellent, there maybe some whose eye may not be as practised as an experienced judge. If you find yourself getting conflicting comments from one test to the next, it is worth checking whether those judges were listed and what their reputation is.

As one judge varies from another and the total marks available varies between the different tests, it is no good comparing your marks from one test to another. You need to study and analyse each test sheet thoroughly to discover how well you are doing and whether you are improving.

Are the collective marks higher, lower or the same as the marks for individual movements? If they are lower this probably indicates that your horse performed accurately and obediently but showed some problems in his basic way of going. If the collective marks are higher than the movement marks this would indicate your horse is going correctly but you are losing marks for inaccurate movements.

Is the collective mark for the rider higher or lower or the same as the marks for the horse's paces, submission etc? If the rider mark is lower this may indicate that the judge feels you are hindering the horse by faults in your position. If, however, the mark is higher, this could mean your horse was not going perfectly but the judge felt you were doing the best you could in the circumstances.

What movements do you get the lowest and highest marks for? Make a note of these and work to improve your weakest areas. Compare test sheets to see if the same weak areas occur in all of them and whether you are improving. Take a particular note of the comments next to your lowest marks as this will be one of the major points to improve. Similarly, make a note of the most frequent comment on your sheet.

If you are feeling particularly mathematical, divide your overall mark by the total possible marks and multiply by 100 to give you your percentage marks. For example, if your overall mark was 79 and the total of available marks for the test was 140:

79÷140 = 0.5642
0.5642 x 100 = 56% (rounded down)

This will give you some idea of your average mark - in the example above your average mark is 5.6. This is a useful method to compare marks between different tests, as the total marks in the different tests vary.

You may sometimes find that you do not understand the comments the judge makes on your test sheet. If you have riding lessons, ask your instructor if she can explain them to you. Otherwise it is worthwhile purchasing a good book on dressage - Kate Hamilton's 'Practical Dressage' is particularly useful as it lists all the paces and movements required in the tests with a list of possible faults and ways to correct them.

Some of the abbreviations used on test sheets can be confusing to the novice competitor - some of the most common are listed below:

Your first few dressage sheets may seem confusing and even discouraging at first, but it is worth making the effort to study them and work out how to improve your future performances. After all, there are not many equestrian disciplines where you get a detailed written analysis of exactly where you went wrong, so make the most of it!