Mar. 30, 2026
Changes to Olympic rules and the future presentation of dressage were foreshadowed at the FEI Sports Forum Monday, including a move that in future would allow teams eliminated such as USA in 2024 to remain in competition.
Among issues on the sport’s agenda to be dealt with under the umbrella of horse welfare include limits on the number of CDI Grand Prix permitted by relatively young horses, standards of judges based on performances and the introduction of instant video replays of the type displayed in figure skating at the recent Winter Olympics.
Some alterations to long standing requirements such as a snaffle instead of a double bridle up to CDI3* Grand Prix and elimination of draws based on rankings are already applied or in the works.
A proposed rule change for dressage at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 is that a team with an athlete eliminated will still register a score though it will always be ranked below teams with three scores.
A team with an athlete disqualified will not register a score and the entire team will be disqualified, similar to anti doping violations.
This a change from the 2024 Paris Games where a U.S. rider was eliminated in the Grand Prix because of blood on the horse’s leg and, as required, eliminated the team from the medal-deciding Special. It thus would prevent a rider with a qualifying score from moving on to the Freestyle to compete as an individual.
The FEI Sports Forum, is an annual get-together of national federations and officials of different aspects of horse sports that is held at Lausanne. Switzerland where the FEI is located.
The most significant proposals, however, will come mid-year when the Dressage Strategic Action Planning Working Group led by George Williams, a prominent American competitor and active in management and operation of both international and U.S. dressage organizations.
Other members are Dressage Committee chair Diana Al Shaer of Palestine; Monica Theodorescu, Olympic gold medalist and coach of Germany’s team; Raphael Saleh of France, a top rated judge; British high performance competitor Gareth Hughes; Kyra Kyrklund of Finland, long time top sport rider and a leading trainer; Klaus Roeser, chair of German Dressage Committee, chef d’equipe of the German team and secretary general of the International Dressage Riders Club, and Lise Berg of Denmark, FEI veterinarian and university professor.
Ronan Murphy, FEI dressage director, provided a rundown of initial recommendations by the group, some that do not require rule changes.
The recommendations from the DSAPWG covered six core strategic focus areas, he said.
–Judging and assessment, including appointment, evaluation and transparency of officials, primarily judges, and publication of judges’ comments on tests.
–Horse health and wellbeing, such as increasing minimum age of horses competing in senior tests at CDI2* and above from eight to nine years.
–Tack and equipment, reviewing use of double bridle at 4* and 5* and championship levels.
–The warm-up area and stewards.
–Communication, promotion and engagement,and education.
Proposals include reviewing and updating dressage tests at all levels that was last done in 2015.
An FEI Dressage Judge Monitoring Program was also designed to evaluate and educate FEI judges, aid in the selection of judges for top events, provide feedback on judging to all stakeholders, and monitor for bias and consistent misjudging.
A new Freestyle Degree of Difficulty system will be introduced after the World Cup Final in Fort Worth in two weeks.
The Working Group has also proposed that all dressage trainers attending an FEI event should be registered with the FEI.
