Dressage Guidelines

Dressage Guide

by rafa

I. Introduction

This is a guide to a new Dressage system I devised after scouring USDF, USEF, and FEI rulebooks and thinking critically about how Dressage might best be done in Petz. Our horsez are unfortunately limited in movements and in the past Dressage on SS has been so maddeningly difficult that many of us simply opted out of showing it entirely. Dressage is not only a vital equestrian sport in its own right, but it can also provide a truly essential foundation for training in many other disciplines. Dressage is frankly too important to go neglected in SS! This was my solution to the problem.

II. The New System

First, horses are judged on the alignment of their poses.  Poses in dressage are worth 20 possible points, with 0 being the worst and 20 being perfect.  

At Training Level, all horses will receive a full 20 points for this part of the test, regardless of their pose.  

Beginning at First Level, we expect to see a level halt.  The halt is judged the same as a Halter pose: the legs should be aligned and level, the body straight, ears aligned, and eyes forward, relaxed.  The horse should not be spooky or sleepy.  

Once the horse has moved on to FEI Levels--beginning with Prix St. George--judges expect the horse to show some kind of movement.  The movement is up to the handler, but it should showcase your horse's ability.  These poses are also judged on alignment, levelness, straightness, and expression.  Judges cannot request that horses all use the same pose for their show; you are not comparing horses, after all, but rating a horse's position depending on how well it lives up to the ideal.  

Because poses are judged on levelness, alignment, etc., tack may not be used in Dressage.  If you would like to show Dressage with tack, try Showmanship.

The actual test consists of 8 movements. These movements are rated from 1 to 10 (on the die, 10 is represented by a shield) using 8 different dice rolls per horse.  These dice rolls are totaled, added to the points for the pose photo, and the resulting number is the horse's percentage points.


Dressage has 9 levels: Training, First, Second, Third, Fourth, Prix St. George, Intermediate I, Intermediate II, and Grand Prix. Horses can advance up to the next level once they score a 70% in their current level. This changes after Fourth Level: after scoring a 70% in Fourth Level and moving up to Prix St. George, the horse will need to score 75% to advance in the upper levels.

You needn't worry about finding a Dressage show at your horse's level! Horses of all levels can enter the same show. Dressage does not award points, so placings are only for fun. What matters in Dressage is doing well enough to advance to the next level. When entering a Dressage show, you will need to specify what level your horse is showing. You may have the only horse competing at that level, but you can still earn the score needed to advance up the levels.

A Dressage horse is the equivalent to Novice Champed after scoring above a 70% in Fourth Level. A Dressage horse competing in PSG, Intermediate I, Intermediate II, and GP is considered advanced. Scoring a 75% or higher in Grand Prix means your horse has gone as high as it can go in the discipline!

III. Hosting A Dressage Show

Hosting a Dressage show is remarkably easy.

Let's say you have a class of 10 horses.  You'll want to begin by evaluating each entry's pose photo, the ideals receiving 20 and the less than ideals being docked points as you see fit.  Once you have these numbers, you'll want to post your judge's score card with 8 dice rolls per horse.  Thankfully, our dice plugin for Proboards has given us an easy way to to do this:


In the case of ties--and there can be quite a lot of them--you'll need to use Random.org to decide between them.  Take your ties and generate a number for each of them.  The highest places higher.  I typically add these numbers at the end of their score; for example, if a horse has 72% and random.org gives me a 2, I make her score 72.2%, safely beating out the horse that was 72.1% but losing to the horse that got 72.8%.

You may award placings per level, or for all of the entries. As I mentioned previously, Dressage doesn't award points, so Firsts and Seconds and Thirds and so on are mostly for fun. What's important is letting people know when they've advanced to the next level!

IV. Entering a Dressage Show

Entering Dressage is easy! You just need to supply your horse's name, its level,  and an appropriate photo. Be sure to make sure that your horse is in the positions required: halt from Training to Fourth Level, movement from Prix St. George on.  Dressage photos cannot be edited.

V. Sample Show Rules
- X horses per person
- Show will be judged at X entries
- Horses' photos will be judged on alignment, levelness, straightness, etc.  Horses should not be spooky or sleepy.
- Horse's photo evaluation score will be added to their dice rolls to find their score.
- Horses may advance in level after scoring 70% or above up until Prix St. George.
- After Prix St. George, horses must score a 75% to advance up the remaining levels.

VI. Sample Entry Form

[b]Horse Name:[/b]
[b]Level:[/b]
[b]Photo:[/b]·····xPlNYfKL