Bundeschampionate: New Judging Procedure for Riding Horse Tests
Pferdesport Deutschland is adapting the tests for riding horses and riding ponies for the year 2026. Following intensive consultation with this year’s judging panel and the working group convened in spring, the reform pursues a clear objective: to reduce the challenge and the test time in the arena for young horses while simultaneously promoting an even more age-appropriate and horse-friendly presentation of the young horses.
Two central changes are the focus. Firstly, the scoring will be even more differentiated, as body quality will in future be assessed before the actual presentation under saddle, combined with impressions of the harmony of the presentation and the functionality of the conformation under saddle. Secondly, the test format will be significantly reduced, particularly for three-year-old riding horses and riding ponies.
Three-year-old riding horses and riding ponies will complete only one riding horse test at the Al Shira’aa Bundeschampionate 2026. Mandatory training the day before gives riders the opportunity to familiarize the young horses and ponies specifically with the test arena, while also ensuring a calmer, less stressful introduction to the competition situation. Scoring for three- and four-year-old riding ponies and horses will be in tenths of a point, not in 0.5-point increments as previously.
Four-year-old riding horses and riding ponies remain in the two-stage system and qualify for the final via a riding horse test. What is new is that the final tests for four-year-olds will be held as a dressage horse test at Elementary level. Only the score from the dressage horse test counts for the final decision. The Bundeschampion will therefore be whoever completes the dressage horse test best.
The new assessment system is also at the center of the riding horse tests at the Al Shira’aa Bundeschampionate 2026. The four basic scores for walk, trot, canter, and rideability remain and continue to contribute 20 percent each to the overall result. The decisive new design concerns the fifth score for overall impression as a riding horse. This will in future be composed of two equally weighted partial scores. For the first time, the body quality of the horses and ponies will be assessed before the test under saddle. The judges assess here the quality of the physical conformation with regard to suitability as a riding horse or riding pony respectively. The second partial score for overall impression as a riding horse is determined during the presentation under saddle in the arena. Pferdesport Deutschland/sag