Talk to me about Dressage Scoring

[insecure123]

My instructor thinks I should do some low level dressage...... I mainly go to her for jumping lessons but after fitting in some flatwork in between to work on my position etc she thinks I would benefit from it.

Initially she will give me a dressage test to take away and memorise then practice in lessons. Then an "informal" test at the yard (for my own development/experience etc)

After that possibly work towards low level competing.

I have always been a jumper...... XC (low level) is my thing....I have always found dressage a bit dull to be honest BUT I really want to give this a go and am so grateful to my instructor for giving me the chance.

I wondered how the scoring works. When I "groom" for my friends at events she always mutters about her dressage score but I never really understood it.....how does it work? What are you scored again? What is an "ideal" score? Is it above a certain %??

Many thanks in advance

Exciting times. So for BD and unaffiliated competitions run under BD rules (it works slightly differently for the dressage phase of BE), each movement within the test is scored out of 10 (10 being highest). The 'movement' is quite long, e.g. trot down the centre line, halt at X would be a movement. There are roughly 10-12 movements per test IIRC. Some may be 'double-scored' so count for double points, e.g. the free walk on a long rein which features in every test is often double-scored. There are then the 'collectives' at the end which also count double, they score the overall performance in the test and are: "Paces" of the horse, "Impulsion", "Submission" and "Rider" (effectiveness). All the scores are aggregated to then give a %.

So if for instance you mess up one move (miss a transition or similar) it won't jeopardise the entire test and you have a chance to make up marks with good collectives. In theory a nice consistent test, accurate and obedient with all the movements happening in the right places should score higher than an inconsistent test done by a flashy/horse rider (although you will hear much bitching to the contrary!). At prelim (I assume the level you'd start at) they are not looking for an advanced outline or to show any extension/collection (although you will lose marks esp in the collectives if your horse is hollow or overbent), they want a nice relaxed rhythmical horse working forward and correctly through the back.

All the moves and scores are listed on the test sheet along with the criteria they score the collectives against, so you can see what you are aiming for! Good luck.

Wow thatnks for that informative reply Maxelly! This is all quite new to me. How does it work with doing it to music.....? Is that completely different to standard dressage? Or can you do every test (provided it is unaffiliated presumably) to music? I just feel this would make it a bit more appealing to me....

Ah, so yes 'freestyle to music' is slightly different. There are separate classes for it. There you have a set list of movements which you must include (according to the level of the test), but it's up to you which order you do them in and how you put it together - effectively you choreograph your own 'routine' to your choice of music. Again each movement is scored differently and you have collectives at the end - which include marks for the choreography and 'musicality' as well as the usual ones about paces/submission (I think!).

To do it well takes quite a bit of work as people have specially put together music with different segments/rhythms for the walk/trot/canter parts, there seems to be a lot more to it than rocking up and doing a 'regular' dressage test to some music. Plus I don't see that many unaffiliated freestyle classes esp at the lower levels round here and you'd want to be sure you're going to stick with it before shelling out for a BD membership! So maybe for your first ever go you'd want to stick to the regular/boring tests and if you enjoy it then maybe put together something for a freestyle?

But for fun me and my pony do sometimes make up our own 'tests' to music if there's some playing while we're in the arena, you could try that... It is actually quite an interesting exercise to think about what are the strong/weak points of your horse and how you'd best show those off/hide them in a test - although as my current strong points in dressage are "managed to stay in arena, didn't fall off" and I don't always achieve even those, I'm not sure how well it would work

Ah - so maybe more of a longer term goal then :) best not run before I can walk, so to speak haha!

I already have the music picked - I am afraid it is not negotiable, the paces will just have to be forced to fit in and the routine is already planned in my head mentally doing it in my head really makes the commute to work bearable haha

Thanks so much for the help. once other (daft lass) question - presumably I don't need to join BD for unaffiliated?

For unaffiliated you just rock up usually and pay your entrance fee (unless it's something like an event run by a riding club where they want you to become a member first but that's no usual!). You can also actually do (I think) 3 affiliated BD events a year on a 'ticket' without becoming a full member as a kind of trial. But I am scared of taking my little scruffy coblet to fancy events where there are lots of prancy warmbloods and posh ladies in fancy outfits so we stick to unaffiliated which is a bit more inclusive .

If coblet had her say 'freestyle' (and indeed all dressage!) would include fabled moves like the 'very fast canter wall of death' and the 'transition to canter-fart-buck' which she absolutely will not negotiate on, so picking the music is the least of my worries!

transition to canter-fart-buck ah yes I am familiar with that particular shape! hahaha that did make me smile. I ride a similar cob :)

I don't really fit in much with the prancy fancies either - lovely as they are to watch!

One of the good things about dressage is there’s no hanging about.
You get your time a few days before
Rock up a bit early to warm up , do your test and go ( unless you wait for sheets etc rather than going back )
It’s a very time friendly equestrian sport.

Re DTM, there are now quite a lot of unaffiliated (I do it thru BRC comps & local riding club comps) BUT and this is a very big deal, you must join BD (at an associate level £30 per year) to play ANY music in a competition. This is due to the fact that any copyrighted music played in public requires a license. BD has one, and by paying, you are granted the licensed rights. Music has to be disclosed to BD.
Much as you may love some music, it must really work with your horses paces. It is pretty complicated to put it together, process is 1. Do floor plan, 2 video floor plan, 3 create sound track to match floor plan. You can pay someone to do 3.
I like DTM as it gives you more freedom to make a floor plan to suit you/your horse. Also you won’t be marked for accuracy if you change paces or do a move in a particular place, as you are not being tested against a pre-determined test.

maxelly I just love the sound of your horse! I knew there had to be some cob involved!

I remember the comments on one of my more memorable tests: 'left arena' 're entered arena at K' etc

I used to love doing dressage to music at our local riding school comp - Dad and I often got complimented on our choice of music - my 15hh cob trotted to Foot Tapper by The Shadows . Dads irish Draught mare worked really well to the Bands of the Mounted Guards (I think - lots of big drum noises). The horses loved doing it too and soon adjusted their pace to the tempo of the music.

It was in the old days when we could transfer music from record to tape or tape to tape and we got the timing of pressing the pause button down to the millisecond!! Happy Days

You can also do online competitions, dressage anywhere is a good one. I coach RDA and it is usually a well-respected judge who does the marks. Saves travelling and you can do as many takes as you like. Doesn't compare to the atmosphere at a live comp and the pressure but can be useful in between. Have fun! I do a tiny bit of judging and always try to make positive and helpful comments, hope you get some too!

Just thought I'd say I just went for it and entered an intro test in jan this year having never done it before, practiced it once with instructor, memorised it and signed up for a local comp, I came 7th. I did two more intros then took a stab at prelim and came 3rd so my advice is get in there and do it without thinking too much then once you have a score work on improving it using the commenta you get :) have fun

Just remember that dressage judging is subjective and you will never get the same marks from two judges and a lot depends on whether they like your horse.