What Is Para Dressage? Grades, Scoring and Andalusia's 2026 Champion

What is para dressage, and who just won in Andalusia?

If you're asking what is para dressage, the short answer is: dressage for riders with a physical or visual impairment, judged on the same 0-to-10 scale and with the same goal of a calm, supple, willing horse. What changes is that riders are sorted into grades by how much their impairment affects riding, and each grade rides tests written for it.

The sport made a regional headline this week. Alejandro José Espejo Lanzas, from Alameda (Málaga), won the 2026 Andalusian Para Dressage title on Operario VI with 130.777 points, as reported by Ocio Caballo and La Crónica. Ana San Román Mateos finished second on M. Cooper with 125.334.

The title was decided at the 35th Campeonato de Andalucía de Doma Clásica y Paralímpica, at the SHOT (Sevilla Horse Tour) grounds in Carmona, Seville. Ocio Caballo published the results on November 8. Neither report lists the exact competition days or a test-by-test breakdown, so we aren't guessing at them.

A total like 130.777 is what you get when two test percentages are added together, which would put each ride at roughly 65%. That's our reading of the number, not something the reports spell out.

It wasn't his first podium of the year. In June he took bronze at the Spanish Para Dressage Championship in Murcia on the same horse, with 123.353, in the medal group the federation formed for Grades I, II, III and VIa.

Para dressage grades: the five levels, I to V

The FEI, the sport's world governing body, uses five grades. The lower the number, the greater the effect of the impairment on riding, and the simpler the gaits asked for.

The arena sizes and freestyle times are those of the FEI tests as Spain's rulebook applies them; national classes elsewhere can differ. In Spain, a Grade III freestyle may include canter, but no lateral work, flying changes or pirouettes at that gait.

Equestrian Canada's fact sheet gives a feel for who rides where. Grade I and II riders often use a wheelchair in daily life and have significant impairment of the trunk or all four limbs. Grade V riders usually have an impairment in one or two limbs, or a visual impairment.

Some movements are off the table for everyone. Spain's 2026 rulebook bans piaffe, passage and full pirouettes in para dressage, along with one- and two-tempi flying changes.

In Spain's national programme, each grade has a ladder of tests, so nobody starts at the top:

• Novice A and B: the entry level.
• Intermediate A and B: the middle level.
• Grand Prix A and B, plus the Grand Prix Freestyle (Kür) to music: the championship level.

The FEI also publishes Novice and Intermediate freestyles, which some other countries use.

New to the vocabulary? Our guide to how dressage is scored covers the basics, and the glossary explains the gaits.

Spain's extra grade: Grade VI

Spain adds a national Grade VI for riders whose eligibility is an intellectual disability and/or autism spectrum disorder. It is split in two: Grade VIa rides the Grade III tests, and Grade VIb rides the Grade IV tests.

The Spanish federation (RFHE) calls this a pioneering pilot project. The catch is that the FEI and the Paralympic Games do not currently admit riders on the basis of an intellectual disability or autism alone, so Grade VI competes at regional and national level only. A rider who also has an eligible physical or sensory impairment can choose to be classified on that basis instead. The rulebook points to Virtus and Special Olympics for international competition; each has its own eligibility rules.

At the Spanish Championship, the federation's technical direction reviews the entries each year and decides whether to merge grades for medals. That is why the June national medals were awarded in three groups instead of grade by grade.

How para equestrian classification works

Classification is the sport's fairness system. It measures how an impairment affects riding; it does not measure talent.

In Spain it works like this:

1. For Grades I to V, the rider needs a measurable, permanent physical or visual impairment backed by medical evidence, and must meet the minimum criteria in the classification rules. Grade VI has its own eligibility criteria.
2. Two RFHE or FEI classifiers assess the rider and assign a functional profile, which maps to a grade. In exceptional cases a single medically qualified classifier may do it, but the grade cannot be confirmed until a second assessment.
3. The rider gets an official classification card (or a place on the federation's master list) showing the grade and any approved aids beyond the standard ones.
4. The profile can be reviewed later. Riders must compete in the grade on their card. If an international classification changes the grade, the rider may finish that year in the previous national grade.

Not classified yet? The RFHE recommends that regional federations let riders who have an eligible impairment and a recognised disability of 33% or more start at beginner and elementary level, choosing tests by technical level. A later classification can still find a rider not eligible for the para category. That says nothing about the disability itself, only its measured effect on dressage.

Compensating aids: the equipment riders may use

Compensating aids are pieces of equipment that make up for a physical or sensory limitation. The Spanish rules sort them into three types.

Standard aids are open to every para rider and don't need to be on the card:

• A soft hand-hold on the front of the saddle, or a neck strap
• One whip, up to 120 cm
• Joined reins, simply knotted reins and elastic inserts
• Elastic bands on the stirrups, magnetic stirrups and enclosed stirrups

Profile-specific aids must be written on the classification card:

• A rigid hand-hold, looped or ladder reins, a connecting bar between the reins
• Two whips, foot reins, or riding without stirrups
• Velcro above the knee, or straps from stirrup to girth
• A reader who calls out the test, or callers who name the arena letters for riders with a visual impairment

Non-standard aids are one-off solutions that need written approval before the show. The one exception is a rider's first show and first classification, where the steward and chief classifier can approve them on site.

One safety rule sits above all of them: nothing may fix the rider to the saddle. Any Velcro, leather or elastic must release so the rider can fall free of the horse. Competing with the wrong aids costs 10 percentage points off the final score.

There is one more accommodation. In Grades I, II, III and VIa, a coach or designated rider may school the horse for up to 30 minutes a day at the show, under a steward's supervision and never in the 15 minutes before the test. For more on standard gear, see tack and equipment.

Para dressage scoring: how the judges mark a test

Para dressage scoring follows classic dressage.

• Each numbered movement gets a mark from 0 (not executed) to 10 (excellent). Half marks are allowed.
• Some difficult movements and the collective mark can carry a coefficient, so they weigh more in the total.
• Each judge's marks are added up and turned into a percentage. The final score is the average across the judges.
• At the end of a technical test, a collective mark for general impression rewards harmony, the rider's feel and skill, and accuracy. The freestyle is scored differently, with separate technical and artistic marks.

The Spanish Championship calls for five judges. Smaller shows can run with fewer.

Errors are priced in. A first error of course costs 0.5% per judge, a second costs 1%, and a third means elimination. In the freestyle, deliberately showing a forbidden movement costs 8 points per judge and caps the choreography mark at 5.

Championship totals are usually built from more than one test. For the 2026 Spanish individual title, the federation's rules call for the Grand Prix B and Freestyle percentages to be added together and divided by two. Ocio Caballo's report gave the totals as sums, which is why the bronze score reads 123.353.

How to get started in Spain and Latin America

In Spain:

1. Find a federated club with a coach who has para experience, and take out your licence through your regional federation.
2. Ask your regional federation about its para dressage classes and what paperwork it wants for a first start.
3. Request classification through the RFHE when you aim at national shows. A national sport licence is required there.
4. Start with Novice tests. One-star national shows (CPEDN*) are open from age 8; two- and three-star shows from age 12.
5. Choose the horse for temperament first. Horses and ponies of any origin or height may compete from 6 years old.

On cost, the Spanish rules set useful ceilings. In the Copa de España the maximums are 40 euros per start and 90 euros per stable. At the Spanish Championship, entries plus stabling may not exceed 250 euros in total, and the minimum prize money is modest: 140, 100 and 60 euros for gold, silver and bronze.

In Latin America the path is similar, but the structure varies a lot by country. Contact your national equestrian federation and ask whether it runs national para dressage classes and has classifiers. If you aim at FEI international shows, ask the same federation how to request an international classification.

If what you want is riding for wellbeing more than sport, that is a different activity with different goals. Our piece on equine therapy for autism explains it, and Get Started covers first lessons for any rider.

What to watch next

• Andalusia: the final of the Copa de Andalucía de Doma Clásica is scheduled for November 27 and 28 in Granada, according to the Real Maestranza de Ronda riding school. We could not confirm whether para classes are on that programme.
• Spain's 2027 calendar: the RFHE publishes qualifying conditions for the national championship before January 1 each year.
• New tests: the FEI's updated dressage tests for 2027 are on the way for classic dressage; check with your federation before learning a new para test by heart.
• At a show: read the start list for each rider's grade, then watch the percentage, not the gait. A 68% at walk in Grade I is exactly as good as a 68% in Grade V.