Today marks a month since Peter Abisheganaden’s passing. Pete inspired and pushed me to start this blog and was an integral part of my life for the last 20+ years. He was my mentor, my coach, my friend and an amazing horseman who had done it all. I still pick up the phone to send him a message about the latest news I heard or about a horse / polo / course designing / riding question that I have.. only to remember that he is no longer with us. Pete has very much left a hole in our lives, but life has to go on and with this blog, I carry on my memory of him! Till we meet again, Pete!

The FEI dressage tests for children have a quality mark, unlike the General Impression mark in their other tests. The Equestrian Australia tests uses collective marks for Paces, Impulsion, Submission and Rider.

For the FEI Children’s tests, which are used in some countries, as Preliminary, Novice, Elementary aand Medium tests, there are 4 Quality Marks to be given.

These 4 Quality Marks are:

1. Rider’s Position and Seat
2. Effectiveness of the Aids
3. Precision
4. General Impression

In the FEI’s Dressage Judging Manual, from page 57 onwards, you can read more about how these 4 scores are marked. The judges will look for these criteria and mark accordingly.  We are allowed to use decimal points when scoring, unlike in the technical marking where we are only allowed full or half marks.

https://inside.fei.org/sites/default/files/FEI%20Dressage%20Judging%20Manual%20-%20Effective%201%20January%202024_0.pdf

When there are 2 judges, the C judge will mark the technical part of the test. There will be a score for every movement of the test as per usual.

The judge at B / E will mark the quality part of the test and will only mark the 4 Quality Marks as per the test sheet, taking into account how well the technical parts were executed. Often the Quality Mark total will be slightly higher than the Technical Mark total. It does not mean the judges are not in agreement with each other but that they are judging different aspects of the test.

When the rider gets their test sheet back, they will have comments from the C judge on the technical part of their tests and the comments from the B/E judge on the Quality part of their test. For more insight on how to interpret your test sheet, do read my previous blog post here. https://www.1mingong.com/your-dressage-test-sheet-explained/

For a normal test, the General Impression mark is marked as per these guidelines. https://inside.fei.org/system/files/Guidelines%20for%20Collective%20Mark%202023%20%28PD%29.pdf

Judges really want to see and reward 2 happy athletes working together in harmony. If a test looks flowing and fluent and easy, with a horse that is happy to work into a good correct connection into the rider’s hands, with correctly fitted bit / noseband, and with a rider that looks like he/she is giving invisible aids, the marks are going to be on the higher side.

The object of Dressage is the development of the Horse into a “Happy Athlete” through
harmonious education. As a result, it makes the Horse calm, supple, balanced, loose and
flexible, but also confident, attentive and keen, thus achieving perfect understanding with the
Athlete.
These qualities are demonstrated by:
• 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 transmitted through a supple back.
• The acceptance of the bit, with submissiveness/throughness (Durchlässigkeit) without
any tension or resistance (e.g. open mouth or swishing tail).
2. The Horse thus gives the impression of doing, of its own accord, what is required. Confident
and attentive, submitting generously to the control of the Athlete, remaining absolutely straight
in any movement on a straight line and bending accordingly when moving on curved lines.

FEI DRESSAGE JUDGING MANUAL