Hi again. I am a returning to the horse world after an absence of many years. I wish to thank Carola for the information on trying to retrain my horse to soften.

I now have another question and hope that all of you out there do not treat me as some ignorant fool. I am after a list of the levels of Dressage competition and the order in which they go please. ie: pre-novice, novice preliminary etc etc.

Can someone be patient enough with me to explain the rankings and give the correct order to me.

Thank you and I do hope all you KNOWLEDGEABLE people do not mind an ignorant novice joining the ranks.

Nobody knows it all. We should never stop learning.
Horses are the best teachers, don't you think?

Anyway, here it is - and I added the German and American equivalents in case someone is interested.
...and does anybody know if the English have a different system?
or other countries? Let us know, please!

AUSTRALIA..........USA..............GERMANY
--------------------------------------------
Preliminary........Training level...E
Novice..............Level 1...........A
Elementary.........Level 2..........L
Medium.............Level 3..........M
Advanced...........Level 4..........S
(FEI)
Prix St. George....PSG..............PSG
Intermediate I.....Interm. I........Intermediaire I
Intermediate II....Interm. II.......Intermediaire II
Grand Prix.........Grand Prix.......Grand Prix

High School........High School......Haute Ecole (Hohe Schule)

Thank you so much for posting the American/British equivalents of the German drssage levels. I've been looking everywhere for them! One thing though... I'd been looking on german websites to try to find out at all (if possible)the german dressage levels and it looks to me as though the S level is also the Grand Prix level -- with piaffe/passage/1-tempis, etc. Is this right? Anyone out there who knows, let me know. It will be greatly appreciated.

Hi, R.B.
"S" stands for "schwer", meaning "difficult/hard" - and yes: In the advanced levels you find some of the GP movements.
(but GP is GP and an FEI test)
All these levels E-S or their equivalents in other countries, are the pre-FEI levels - with each Federation just nameing them differently.

In German E stands for "Einsteiger" (Entry level)
A stands for "Anfaenger" (Beginner level)
L stands for "Leicht" (Easy)
M stands for "Medium or Mittel" (Medium)
S stands for "Schwer" (Hard/difficult)

Carola,

Thanks for the info on the 'S' level in Germany! I was confused because in america, for example, the fifth levels is another name for the FEI levels.

I do happen to know that the English have a different system, as well as Poland because Poland is where I live.
The levels for Great Britain:

Preliminary
Novice
Elementary -----------> in order from beginning to advanced
Medium
Advanced
Then the FEI levels

I'm not sure what the exact equivalents are, but I believe Preliminary is equivalent to the American training, novice to the american first, elementary to second, etc.

The levels for Poland:

L
P
N -----------> also in order from beginning to advanced
C
CC

Even though I live in Poland, I'm even less sure as to what the equivalents are because of the language problem! still working on it, though!

Hi. Just a quick summary of the British levels!

Preliminary - basic walk, trot and canter, free-walk
Novice - rein-back, medium trot and canter
Elementary - simple changes, extended walk, leg-yield
Medium - half-pass in trot and canter, extended trot and cnater, half-pirouettes in walk
Advanced Medium - flying changes
Advanced - tempi changes (4s and 3s), half canter pirouettes
Prix St. Georges
Intermediaire 1
Intermediaire 2
Grand Prix