Levels and classes, as each body defines them.

Which level suits a given horse and rider is a question for a qualified coach. This page only explains what the levels are and how the rulebooks define them.

FEI event codes

International events carry a code that names the discipline. Wikipedia (secondary) and the FEI rules as reproduced by Equestrian Australia in 2026 give these:

Star levels

• Jumping: CSI and CSIO events have five star levels, 1* to 5*, with 5* the highest, set according to obstacle heights, technical challenge and other requirements (FEI Jumping Rules Art 200.4.1, 2026, as reproduced in Equestrian Australia's 2026 rules).
• Dressage: CDIs carry a star rating; British Dressage says British CDIs are three, four or five star.
• Eventing: levels run from CCI1*-Intro to five star, in long (CCI-L) and short (CCI-S) formats (FEI Eventing Rules 2026, Art 502). The eventing page explains the formats.

Minimum horse ages

The FEI rulebooks covered here tie levels to a minimum horse age. For age purposes, FEI Jumping Rules Art 202.1 (2026) gives horses born in the southern hemisphere an official birthday of 1 August and those born in the northern hemisphere 1 January, with one-year adjustments when they compete in the other hemisphere.

One source differs on the Olympic Games. The Olympic Federation of Ireland's introduction page says an Olympic horse must be at least seven years old; the FEI Jumping Rules, as reproduced by Equestrian Australia in 2026, set nine for jumping at the Olympic Games. The OFI figure is single-sourced and we could not check it against the FEI's Olympic regulations.

For 2026, HQ Magazine also reports new maximum heights in the FEI Jumping Rules' Annex II: 1.20 m for five-year-olds, 1.30 m for six-year-olds and 1.40 m for seven-year-olds, with five-year-old classes run under Table A not against the clock.

British Eventing

British Eventing publishes these national levels, with maximum heights for show jumping and cross country:

British Eventing's page writes the Advanced figures in centimetres, apparently a typing slip for metres. Its table also lists 1.30 m for CCI5*-L and Olympic or championship level, while the FEI's Annex A (2026) gives 1.20 m as the maximum fixed cross-country height at five star; the British figure may be a show jumping height, but we could not confirm that. A search summary of British Equestrian's eventing page says the levels up to BE100 are commonly called grassroots, and that BE90 was formerly Intro and BE100 Pre-Novice; that is unconfirmed.

US eventing

US Eventing (23 September 2025) says the 2026 USEF/USEA eventing dressage tests cover Starter, Beginner Novice, Novice, Training, Modified, Preliminary, Intermediate and Advanced, in use from 1 December 2025. The USEA holds title over the tests from Starter to Training, and US Equestrian over Modified to Advanced. Starter became a USEA-recognised level for the 2024 season, from 1 December 2023, with a maximum fixed cross-country height and show jumping height of 0.70 m (US Eventing, 26 September 2023). We found no official height table for the levels above Starter.

US dressage

A search summary of a USDF document says the US national dressage levels run Introductory, Training, First, Second, Third and Fourth, below the FEI levels from Prix St Georges to Grand Prix, that national tests are revised every four years, and that the 2023 tests took effect on 1 December 2022. We could not open the document, so that is unconfirmed, and we found no announcement of the next set of tests. The British and Australian dressage ladders are on the dressage page.

US hunters, jumpers and equitation

An Equisearch article from Practical Horseman (July 1999) describes the three: hunters are judged subjectively on the horse's style, movement and overall picture; jumpers are scored objectively on faults and time, with the fastest clear round winning; and equitation is judged subjectively on the rider. Wikipedia (secondary) says US Equestrian rates shows AA, A, B or C.

British Showjumping

Horse and Country (updated 26 September 2024) describes British Showjumping's membership types: Club, for club league classes from 60 to 100 cm; Just for Schools, for riding-school teams from 60 to 110 cm; and National (full) membership. Junior membership runs to the end of the year a rider turns 16, and Associate from 17 to 18. Horses move through graded classes according to the points they have won:

The Newcomers limit is inconsistent in the sources: Horse and Country's text says 325, while the same article's table, and an operator's guide to the grades, say 375.