What is Dressage Horse Back Riding?

Dressage is a French word that means training. And to be a top dressage rider takes years of training and hours of practice, A horse and rider must move as one, with just a gentle pressure with knees or reins as communication. Dressage is sometimes referred to as ballet on horseback and rightfully so.

There is no quick way to learn Dressage, either for rider or horse. Dressage is learned in a logical, step-by-step progression from simple to increasingly complex movements and takes a tremendous amount of patience on the part of both horse and rider. A finely tuned team is just simply poetry in motion.

Here is what you will see if you ever have the privilege of going to a dressage competition.

There are two sections in the competition, like in ice skating. There are the compulsory exercises and then the free style which is performed to music which is choreographed specifically for the team and must contain certain movements.

This is what to look for in a competition.

Extensions: An extension is usually done when a horse is trotting. When a horse trots, he most diagonal legs at the same time, that is right front and left rear, then left front and right rear. When a horse is asked to do an extension, he lengthens his stride and should look like he is effortlessly moving around the arena

*Lateral movements When doing a lateral, the horse goes forward first and then, when commanded to switches to a lateral or sideways movement. The switch must be effortless and smooth, almost imperceptible.

Pirouettes The horse is commanded to turn in a circle while at cantor. The cantor gait is a three-step gait and the fastest one used in dressage. The horse steps like this The Right-Lead Canter: 1st beat left hind leg, 2nd beat right hind / left fore, 3rd beat right fore leg. The Left-Lead Canter 1st beat right hind leg, 2nd beat left hind / right fore 3rd beat left fore leg. Think of the complexity of the canter combined with moving in a tight circle and you will understand the high degree of difficulty involved in this movement.

Flying Changes. In order to perform this movement correctly, the horse must by highly trained. The horse canters around the area and must change from a right lead to a left lead effortlessly. The change must be smooth without breaking stride.
Piaffe This is one of the hardest movements Think of it as a person jogging in place, only with four legs instead of two. And in-between the movements the horse must be suspended in air, in other words all legs off the ground. Try jogging in place and keep both feet of the ground for a second in between steps. It is not as easy as it sounds. .

Passage: This is a slow trot, or a collected trot meaning the rider has to control the trot with the use of the reins to controlled the speed. The horse must go in a perfectly straight line.

If you watch the Olympics, you will see dressage at the top level, but if there are horse clubs in your area, check them out and see if there are any competitions. Now that you have a little knowledge of the sport, you will be able to enjoy it more. See if you can pick the winner.