How is the dressage freestyle to music judged?
I · Intermediate · The competition · 4 of 5The rider designs their own pattern to music of their choice, including the movements the test sheet requires. Judges give technical marks and artistic marks, and the score is the average of the two percentages. It is the only timed test, and running over or under the set time costs half a point.
How it works
- Two halves: "the total average percentage per Judge is calculated by adding the technical and artistic percentages and dividing by two".
- Points: in the Grand Prix Freestyle, 200 points for the technical side and 200 for the artistic.
- Marks: half marks for the technical marks and tenths for the artistic ones.
- Timed: "Only Freestyle tests are timed." The clock runs from the move-off after the opening halt to the final salute.
- Too long or too short: 0.5 of a percentage point off the total artistic score.
- Halts: a halt and salute on the centre line facing the judge at C is compulsory at the beginning and the end.
- Starting: the rider has 45 seconds after the bell to signal for the music and must enter within 30 seconds of it starting.
- Degree of difficulty: at championships, Games and the top classes a declared system for the difficulty of the routine must be used.
- If the music fails: with no back-up, the rider may leave the arena with the permission of the judge at C and return later.
- Restarting: the rider chooses whether to begin again or to carry on from where the music failed. Marks already given are not changed.
- Ties for the first three places: the higher artistic marks decide, then the mark for harmony, then the mark for choreography.
The glossary has the freestyle, the marks and percentage entry, the movement, the dressage ties entry and the technical faults entry.
Tricky cases
Can the rider leave out a required movement to make room for something showier?
No, not without cost. The required movements are on the test sheet and are marked on the technical side. A movement not shown has nothing to be marked on.
The music cuts out halfway through. Does the rider have to carry on in silence?
No. With the permission of the judge at C they may leave the arena, and they return later to restart or to continue from where it failed.
After a restart, are the earlier marks wiped?
No. Marks already given are not changed, whichever way the rider chooses to resume.
Two riders tie for gold on percentage. Who wins?
The one with the higher artistic marks. If those are equal the mark for harmony decides, and then the mark for choreography.
Why the rule exists
The set tests show whether a horse can do the movements. The freestyle asks what a rider can make of them, and it is the form of dressage most people have seen. Splitting the score keeps it honest: a routine cannot win on music alone, and a correct but dull one cannot win either.
Where it differs
| Where | What changes | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Set tests | Not timed, one set of marks | FEI Dressage 420.1.1; FEI Dressage 425.5.5 |
| Freestyle | Timed, technical and artistic marks | FEI Dressage 425.5.6 |
| Places below the first three | Tied riders share the place | FEI Dressage 425.2.2.2 |
| Time allowed and required movements | On each freestyle test sheet, not read | FEI Dressage 404.2 |
From the rule book
Fédération Équestre Internationale, Dressage Rules 2026, articles 404.3, 419.2, 419.4.2, 420, 423.6, 424.4.2.3 and 425.2.2, 425.5.3 and 425.5.6. Checked 14 October 2026. Official document: FEI Dressage Rules 2026 (PDF).