Para dressage: grades, classification and scoring.

A note on the sources

We could not read the FEI's para dressage rules directly: the FEI's website refused our requests, and Equestrian Australia's January 2026 para dressage rulebook was too large for our tools to open. The main source here is the para dressage infosheet published by the organisers of the 2026 FEI World Championships in Aachen (Version 1, January 2026), which says it is based on the current FEI rules. The FEI's current rules and the officials at an event have the final word.

The five grades

The Aachen 2026 infosheet says riders are placed in five grades according to the type and severity of their impairment. Grade 1 is for the most impaired riders and Grade 5 for the least. The USPEA (United States Para-Equestrian Association) adds an important point about what a grade means: it reflects physical impairment, not riding skill, and within a grade riders are judged on how they ride.

The infosheet describes what each grade's tests include:

The sources disagree on Grade 3. A search summary of an older Horses Daily article says Grade III riders could canter only in the freestyle, while the 2026 Aachen infosheet lists Grade 3 as walk and trot only. We could not confirm either version against the FEI rule text.

The grade names themselves changed. A search summary of a USPEA page says that in 2017 the older labels Ia, Ib, II, III and IV were renumbered as Grades 1 to 5 without changing anyone's classification. We could not open that page, so the detail is unconfirmed.

Who classifies riders

The USPEA's classification page (updated 30 April 2024) sets out the process:

• Classification is carried out by a licensed physiotherapist or medical doctor trained in para dressage classification.
• The FEI trains and certifies international classifiers, and US Equestrian licenses national classifiers.
• For visually impaired athletes, classifiers work with IBSA (International Blind Sports Federation) classifiers, and vision is measured under IBSA standards.
• The governing document is the FEI Para Equestrian Classification Rules, 2024 edition.

How tests are scored

The Aachen 2026 infosheet says scoring follows the classical dressage criteria of rhythm, relaxation, contact, impulsion, straightness and collection, adapted to the rider's ability. The scale of marks and the way percentages are formed are explained on the dressage page. Equestrian Australia's 2026 dressage rules include para tests among those where an error of course costs 0.5%, then 1%, with elimination on the third.

For team results, a search summary of Horse and Hound says that at championships the Team Test and Individual Test results are added together, with the best three of a team of four counting. We could not read the article, so this is unconfirmed.

Compensating aids

The Aachen 2026 infosheet says compensating aids are permitted individually. Its examples include special stirrups, belts and corsets, readers for tests, and a "friendly horse" for Grades 1 to 3. A reader or an acoustic caller may be approved for a rider with a visual or concentration impairment.

Two further descriptions reached us only through search summaries, so their wording is unconfirmed:

• British Equestrian's FEI classification crib sheet (February 2024) is reported to describe three kinds of compensating aid: standard aids open to all graded athletes, profile-specific aids tied to an athlete's profile and grade, and non-standard aids that an individual needs but the rules do not list.
• Equestrian Canada is reported to state that a compensating aid is meant to level the field, and is not there to make up for a lack of riding skill or to enhance the horse's performance.

Horses and warm-up

Under Equestrian Australia's National Dressage Rules 2026 (rule 4.8.3.4), a horse must be at least six years old to compete in para dressage. The Aachen 2026 infosheet adds that in Grades 1 to 3, a registered trainer may warm the horse up for no more than 30 minutes a day, under monitoring.

History

British Dressage's timeline gives the main dates: the first para dressage World Championship was held in Sweden in 1987, para dressage was on the Paralympic programme from Atlanta in 1996, and it became an official FEI discipline in 2006. Wikipedia, a secondary source, also dates its Paralympic place to 1996, and the FEI's own 2018 release, carried by US Eventing, says it took on para-equestrian dressage in 2006.

Rider age categories across the disciplines are on the rider ages page, and the wider level structure is on the levels and classes page.