| WHAT IS DRESSAGE? The word dressage comes from the French verb "dresser" which means
"to train" in English. The word has several connotations; some
are correct, others are not. Dressage is sometimes thought to mean a
system of circus tricks where the horses prance and dance and stand on their hind legs.
Circuses do present an act called "dressage" and circus riding does
have a slight affiliation with the modern sport, but circus riding is indeed
very distant from the discipline that has become almost a craze amongst
equestrians in North America, and which draws large crowds and media attention.
Here is another wrong notion: that dressage is a kind of equine ballet,
practiced mainly by the Spanish Riding School with its "airs above the
ground" and its "high school" movements. Another
misconception is that dressage, in the civilian world, is done by fearful snobs
who have millions of dollars and who are afraid to jump. Dressage horses,
you may hear, are too crazy or too weak in the legs to jump, so they suit their
riders well. Five minutes at a dressage show will reveal the fallacy in
that one!
Dressage riders are as brave and as "middle income" as anyone else.
At a dressage show, you may well see millionaires and horses that cost
$100,000; you are just as likely to see a high school teacher or a farmer's wife
riding a horse that was found in a field or rescued from the meat factory, and,
because of the training the horses have received, you might not be able to tell
the difference. It is true that when talented horses and riders compete, you
will see a kind of beauty and poise that reminds you of topnotch figure skating
or gymnastics and there may be moments when you think, "This has become
art, it is like a ballet." As one dressage judge says, "You can
hear the angels singing." But the sport of dressage has a far wider
range than just angels singing and it has little to do with people who are
afraid to jump. In the modern world, dressage has two correct meanings: 1)
The basic schooling of every riding horse. Under the guise of "flat
work", it is what hunter/jumper trainers do with their horses when they are
not schooling over fences. 2) A type of rapidly growing
competition, open to virtually every kind and size of horse and any age of
rider. THE TRAINING AID Dressage is a program of suppling, balancing,
and obedience work that prepares a horse for future pleasure riding or
competition, Western or English. One of the most popular horse sports,
"combined training", includes a dressage test as part of the
competition format. The schooling rules that compose this program of dressage
training have been developed over the past 400 years. The first written
treatise on horse training was done by Xenophon, almost 2000 years ago.
But our modern methods come from the Baroque era, from the great military and
royal riding schools of the 16th century. Though methods and approaches
differ somewhat according to individual instructions and national backgrounds,
all modern dressage training has one thing in common: it develops only the
horse's natural way of moving, and it respects his natural equine patterns of
behaviour. Its' goal is to make the horse pleasant to rider, so the
schooling aims at developing the horse physically, relaxing him mentally, and
giving him the power to respond instantly to light signals of the rider's hands,
body position and legs. In dressage training, the natural movements a horse
can make on his own, free in the pasture, are repeated as exercises. These
range from simple patterns and circles at the walk, trot, and canter to
movements in extreme collection, such as the piaffe (which is actually part of
the showing-off pattern of the stallion). The idea is to gradually enable the
horse to carry more of his own and h is rider's weight over his hindquarters
than over his forehand. This mobilizing and strengthening of the
hindquarters (which provide the motive power as if the horse had real wheel
drive) results in a lightening of the forehand and a horse that is much easier
to steer and to stop. It is a matter of physics: the horse's immense
strength becomes more available to him as he uses himself more efficiently.
Because of the obedience required in the exercises, this strength is also
instantly available to the rider. There is a physical change in the horse,
too! He becomes more beautiful. In fact, if the horse does not
become more like our ideal of classical horse beauty during training, then there
is something wrong with the training! The outline of the horse changes,
becoming higher in front. There is increased power, beauty and elevation
in his action. Just as the body of a gymnast or dancer comes closer to our
ideal of the human figure, so the body of a correctly trained horse looks more
like an equestrian painting or statue. People are often surprise to think of
the horse as an "athlete", with training problems and demands similar
to those of human competitors. But why not? Books and movies
notwithstanding, every horse is not Pegasus in the pasture any more than we are
Greek gods at our desks in the office. THE SPORT - THE ART Dressage
is one of the three Olympic equestrian disciplines. Like all sports in
which Canada takes part, it is organized on many levels, viz. local, provincial,
regional and national, before the goal of international excellence is
attained. The overall grass roots body for dressage in Canada is CADORA
(Canadian Dressage Owners' and Riders' Association). There are many
shows held under its auspices, via the affiliated provincial and local dressage
groups. Shows follow strict regulations published by Equine Canada
(formerly the Canadian Equestrian Federation), and participants can qualify for
numerous championships and awards. In competition, horses perform tests,
distributed by Equine Canada. These tests have increasing levels of
difficulty, reflect the movements used in schooling and so, assess the horse's
correct progress towards the goals of suppleness, balance and obedience.
Tests range from basic levels (within the reach of every horse and rider) to the
difficult demands of tests at the international level. In the basic
levels, you will see hunters, eventers, and pleasure horses, as well as horses
destined for dressage competition as an end in itself. In the more
advanced levels, you will see equine specialists (and dedicated riders), all
athletes of the highest degree. Another popular form of dressage competition,
which is included in most shows, is the musical kur (freestyle) ride, composed
of one, two or more horses performing to music. Many have expressed the
opinion that in the kur rides, the sport of dressage comes closest to the art of
ballet. In Canada and other countries, dressage classes within breed specialty
shows are becoming very popular. Arab, Morgan and Quarter Horse shows are
already offering such classes. These horses also compete well in open
dressage competition. For further information about dressage tests and shows,
please refer to "A Guide to
Dressage Tests" and "How
to Watch a Dressage Show". |
