Dressage at Bromont International CDE, 2025

I have not competed at Bromont International CDE in many years. This year we decided to attend based on how many good things we heard from our friends who attended last year. We were not disappointed!

The drive up to Quebec from Eastern New England is much easier than battling our way through Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. On a nice day, the ride through Franconia Notch is always a treat, and the roads outside of Massachusetts are in much better shape than just about any part of I95.

After we breezed through the boarder crossing from the US to Canada, we were on location in Bromont, Quebec in short order. The grounds of the Bromont Olympic Equestrian Park are really beautiful!

Dressage

While we were enjoying more reasonable temperatures than what was happening in the U.S. at the time, it was still hot and muggy on dressage day. When the sun was out, you could break a sweat just watching work happen. So when I saw cloud cover headed our way just before our test, I was relieved that we’d get a respite from the heat.

As we entered our final warmup before the test, a light rain began to fall. By the time we made our way up the center line, the rain became more steady, and it grew heavier throughout the dressage test. At one point I could hear the judges shouting to their scribes over the noise of the rain on their shelters.

Despite the conditions, Loretta was a trooper!

A Glimpse Into Judging

Whenever I can, I get video of my dressage test to review after a competition. An important part of that review is watching the test with score sheets in hand. This process is instrumental in evaluating what went well, and what needs improvement. In this case, the entire 4 day competition was live streamed & recorded on YouTube.

With the permission of the organizer, I’ve made an edit that includes the movements of the test, along with each judge’s score. At the beginning of each movement, the annotation shows the movement as written on the test. As we near the end of each movement, the scores of the judges from each position around the ring are shown.

Take a look at the video, and see how your marks compare to the judges as the test unfolds. Use the comment section below to ask your questions about the test, or share how close your scores were to the judges scores!