# what's a creditable score on a first dressage test?



## vikuca (18 April 2009)

Neither myself nor my horse have done dressage before and he is only a youngster (5). Today we had a go at our first ever dressage test and I'm really happy with him as, although it was understandably very rough round the edges, it was as good if not better than when we practiced at home.
The score, however, means absolutely nothing to me! I don't know anything about dressage scoring and I've no idea what I should be aiming for. The score seems to be a percentage rather than a total. I'm not going to say what our score was right now in case it is so terrible I get laughed off the forum!!
Also, what is a good score in the individual sections of the test? It is clear each section is out of a possible ideal score of 10 but what is generally seen as a good mark out of 10?
Sorry to be so ignorant! I've always concentrated on jumping in the past, I just thought I should make an effort to do flatwork now I have a nice youngster to bring on!


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## Baileyhoss (18 April 2009)

for your first time out anything over 50% is perfectly respectable.  Anything less wouldn't be the end of the world though, and it'll give you an idea of what work would be required for your next outing.

high 50's to 60% would be very very well done and anything over 60 is FAB.

if your up in the 70's -move over carl hester!

what did you get?


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## TGM (18 April 2009)

If you look on your dressage score sheet, it will give explanations of the marks from 1 to 10, so 5 = sufficient, 6 = satisfactory, 7 = fairly good, etc.  You can correlate your overall percentage to this marking scale, so a test that gains 50% will be sufficient, 60% satisfactory, 70% fairly good, etc.

Anything over 60% is usually deemed to be a pretty decent score, and over 70% you should be very pleased indeed.  However, some judges do mark very generously, whereas others can mark harshly, so it pays to see how your marks compare to other competitors.  

Sometimes, at low key events designed to encourage new competitors, the judges do mark very generously, so if you get 70+% in such circumstances, it can come as a shock later on when you do a test in front of a listed judge and get a more conservative score!


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## pinktiger (18 April 2009)

i took my 4yrold to his first dressage show to just pop round the arena and have a look/listen at/to everything (judges, flower pots, car horns, prams, dogs, lots of other horses) I went with the mind set that as long as he pootled round and was well behavedish i would be a happy bunny, and anything over 60% and i would have been totally delighted!  He was an angel and as it happened he got 63% and won 
	
	
		
		
	


	




, but even if he had got 40% for his effort i would have been pleased with how he copped with the whole day!


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## vikuca (18 April 2009)

Thanks - fancy me not noticing the scale of marks! That helps explain things a bit, as do your replies.
We got 56.5% which from what you have said I should be quite happy with. It was a low key event but our mark placed us just below average when compared with the other competitors so we weren't the worst!
Our lowest marks were for our canter which I am not at all surprised at as it is very unbalanced and he prefers not to lead with his right foreleg if at all possible! We did get the wrong lead on that leg but I brought him back to trot and then asked again and got it. I think the judge was pretty lenient with me on that as I got a 5/10 for that section.
I didn't get lower than a 5 and I got two sevens which according to the score sheet are "fairly good" 
	
	
		
		
	


	




He was very excited about it all, particularly as the showjumping arena was within sight of the dressage arena! He spooked a fair bit right at the beginning which lost me some marks I think. Any advice on discouraging spooking within a test? He never does it when jumping or when we do endurance rides.
(We went clear in the showjumping which came afterwards, so Boris really did me proud today!)


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## Baileyhoss (18 April 2009)

excellent - good effort.


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## jumptoit (18 April 2009)

I would of said anything over 50 is respectable imo! You should be really chuffed!


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## amandaco2 (18 April 2009)

my 5 year old got 79% for her first outing doing a walk trot.
i would be aiming for over 60% personally, but if the horse gets very tense and upset at events then over 40% could be an amazing mark!or even just getting in the arena!lol


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