Para dressage at the Paralympics and World Championships.

The five grades

The Aachen 2026 organisers' information sheet (January 2026, which says it is based on the current FEI rules) places riders in five grades, Grade 1 the most impaired and Grade 5 the least. USPEA, the US para-equestrian association, states that grades reflect physical impairment, not riding skill, and that riders within a grade are judged on their riding.

Results pages often write the grades as Roman numerals, Grade I to Grade V, and we keep each source's style below. A USPEA page summarised in search results says the older labels Ia, Ib, II, III and IV were renumbered as Grades 1 to 5 in 2017 without changing anyone's classification; we have not read it directly. An older account, summarised from Horses Daily in search results, said Grade III riders could canter only in the freestyle, which differs from the infosheet's walk and trot for Grade 3. Classification and scoring are explained on para dressage.

How the championships began

The British Dressage timeline records the first para dressage World Championship in Sweden in 1987, Paralympic status from Atlanta 1996, and para dressage becoming an official FEI discipline in 2006. At the Paralympics there are 11 medal events: an individual test and a freestyle in each of the five grades, plus a mixed team event (Paralympic.org, Paris 2024 results).

Tokyo 2020 Paralympics (held in 2021)

All from Paralympic.org, whose feature on the Games noted that every individual freestyle gold medallist scored above 80%. The team event on 30 August 2021 went to Great Britain on 229.905 (Lee Pearson and Breezer, Natasha Baker and Keystone Dawn Chorus, Sophie Wells and Don Cara M), ahead of the Netherlands on 229.249 and the USA on 224.352 (the FEI release as carried by Eventing Nation; Paralympic.org). Pearson's Grade II win was reported in FEI coverage, as summarised in search results, as his 12th Paralympic gold; we have not confirmed that count.

Paris 2024 Paralympics (Versailles)

All from Paralympic.org, with the Hart score also given by US Equestrian on the Pony Club blog. The team event on 6 September 2024 went to the USA on 235.567 (Rebecca Hart, Roxanne Trunnell, Fiona Howard), ahead of the Netherlands on 232.850 (Sanne Voets, Rixt van der Horst, Demi Haerkens) and Germany on 223.751 (Regine Mispelkamp, Heidemarie Dresing, Anna-Lena Niehues) (Paralympic.org). An FEI release, seen only in a search summary, said this was the first Paralympic para dressage team title for a nation other than Great Britain; we could not read the release.

2022 World Championships, Herning

Paralympic.org (15 August 2022) reported that Denmark topped the medal table. The team title went to the Netherlands on 230.225 (Sanne Voets, Demi Haerkens, Lotte Krijnsen, Frank Hosmar), ahead of Denmark on 229.751 and the USA on 225.355. Katrine Kristensen (Grade II) and Tobias Thorning Joergensen (Grade III) each won individual and freestyle gold, and Rihards Snikus (Latvia) and King of the Dance won Grade I individual gold. The Grade IV and V individual results were not covered by our research.

2026 World Championships, Aachen (finished)

Individual medals were awarded from 19 August, the team title on Saturday 22 August and the freestyles on 23 August 2026.

Individual results from Eurodressage (19 and 21 August 2026). A US Equestrian release title, seen in search, said Shoemaker's 78.889% broke the Grade IV world record for that test; the release itself refused our request.

Team (22 August): gold USA, with Kate Shoemaker (Vianne), Fiona Howard (Diamond Dunes), Marie Vonderheyden (Fan Tastico H) and Rebecca Hart (Floratina); silver Germany 229.875; bronze Netherlands 227.639 (Aachen 2026 organiser; Eurodressage, 23 August 2026). The US score is given two ways: 236.135 by both the organiser and Eurodressage, and 236.235 in one search summary. We use 236.135.

Freestyles (23 August), from Horse Sport, which headlined triple gold for the USA:

• Grade I: Marie Vonderheyden (USA), 80.540%
• Grade II: Fiona Howard (USA) and Diamond Dunes, 81.866%
• Grade III: Rixt van der Horst (NED), 83.120%
• Grade IV: Kate Shoemaker (USA) and Vianne, 83.305%
• Grade V: Lena Malmstrom (SWE) and Fabulous Fidelie, 79.675%, ahead of Regine Mispelkamp on 78.185% and Britney de Jong on 77.440%

Horse Sport's report does not label the Grade I and Grade V freestyles in so many words; the Aachen 2026 organiser's report of 23 August places Vonderheyden's freestyle gold in Grade I and Malmstrom's in Grade V.

Los Angeles 2028 Paralympics

Para dressage is expected at the LA28 Paralympics, but its schedule had not been published as of November 2025 (Horse Sport). We have not checked for an update since.