I scribe a lot (as well as ride) and I’ll tell you one of the biggest giveaways that people could score in but don’t is the free walk. A really good one is super rare and the judges get excited when it happens. If your horse doesn’t naturally stretch (like mine) teach them to. Make it a trick. Install a button that says “when I do this take the bit and pull it out of my hands. “ make sure the nose goes out as it goes down and they at least attempt to march.
I had to teach my horse this starting at a standstill and go from there. Now it’s almost a gimme score for us (unless something super interesting happens during it 
).
Anyway, that’s my tip!
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I need to do this. Excellent idea!
Free walk = On The Buckle!!! Shorten your reins correctly and don’t creep your hands up - Lendon Gray says that’s cheating. 
And if you’re worried about your horse anticipating and jigging when you pick up the contact, practice just going from free walk to medium walk, or free walk to medium walk to halt - just vary it so it makes them harder to guess what gait is next.
I haven’t read the thread so apologies if these were already mentioned. Really memorize your test so you can ride the movement without worrying about remembering what’s next. I spend my walk warmup at home doing the test at a walk. I say out loud at each transition point what it is (“Trot at A”) so my brain associates the gait with the letter. That way, it’s really stuck in my brain!
Be as accurate as you can. If you don’t have a dressage ring to practice in at home, use small cones to mark each letter. Nothing drives a judge more nuts than circles that are too big or misshapen. 
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I do this too. Its so much easier to practice your geometric accuracy and also it just really helps me remember the tests. When you REALLY know your test, you can really think about the best ways to squeeze out the points rather than where you’re going next.
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Also - know your movements and where one movement ends and another begins. For example, if you have a canter transition and a canter circle that are separate movements, you should know that so if you blow the transition and get the wrong lead, you know where you can fix it before the next movement begins.
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Whenever I’m running through tests in my head, when I get to serpentines/circles, I don’t just say “20 m circle at A”, but instead imagine the whole circle and at each quarter make note of where I’m supposed to be. For example, “20 m circle at A… touch rail 4 meters past F … touch centerline 2 meters past L … touch rail 4 meters before K” etc. That way, even if I completely botch the first quarter of the circle, I know exactly where I need to be to fix it quickly rather than try to do the math on the fly before hitting the next checkpoint.
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I recommend using tangon (I know I spelled it wrong lol) points, they really helped me improve my geometry and I saw improvement on my geometry scores in my dressage tests.
I need to start doing this because I just rode a 3 loop serpentine that was 3 rectangles 
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Can you explain more about what this means? I struggle with geometry in life in general, not only in dressage 
Basically you create 4 points on the circle, and you go on the point for 1 stride and then you make your way to the next point of the circle. It makes your circles more accurate, to make them in dressage tests you’ll have to go to the arena before hand and see where your points will be. I hope this helps!!
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Is the word you’re looking for maybe tangents?
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Polish the basics.
Thank you for explaining – I did learn to ride circles this way, but never knew it had a special name 
Yessss, I know I spelled it wrong and when I tried to find the correct spelling I couldn’t!!! Thank you!
Haha, I just learned them with my new trainer and it has helped me a lot. My circles used to be so messy and just wrong, and now they are somewhat better then before lol.
Changing out of the dressage saddle I was riding in that felt like I was riding on a rail to my close contact jump saddle. I drop the stirrups to an appropriate length and use a dressage pad so I look at least like I’m trying. It dropped my score 5 points immediately.
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What test are you riding? And what breed of horse?
What movements did you get the 5.5s on?
Are you submissive through all your transitions?
Are you doing 7/8 quality work for your coefficiemt scores?
Are you on an off breed? Then you gotta haul a through that lateral work withoit getting ober tempo’d
Is there a general lack of relaxation that is affecting your collectives?
Is it smooth and supple and fluid like watching a dance or can you tell you are shifting gears between movements?
Is it dead quiet and rhythmic?
Honestly, you need to have relaxation and submission otherwise your scores are pretty much starting at 5. Having ridden many many wonderful event horses who’s lack of said submission was wonderful on cross country, and now getting the opportunity to ride some dressage horses, and go to dressage shows and watch a LOT of tests, its not gaits, so much as a natural fluidity and agreeability to the work that helps you get a great score.
However, if you are riding the xc beast your best bet in the sand box is to make your test 1000% accurate. Even the dragons can come down the centerline straight and get an 8 or even 9. Accurate geometry - on a diagonal, leave late/arrive early. If you mis-time your transition if it’s early it means you misjudged your timing, if it’s late it looks even less submissive.
Smile, which makes you relaxed. and wear a nice outfit with a sparkling clean horse. That overall impression does matter.
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Not that name however. A tangent is a straight line that intersects with the circumference but does not cross it…
If you divide a circle into four equal arcs, each arc is a ‘quarter circle’ or 'QUADRANT.
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Yep! If you are truly riding the “tangents” you’re not going to score very well on your circle, as you would not have any bend! 
Still - whatever you call it, if it helps, it helps
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