Overview Information - Dressage

Dressage, from the French for training, pronounced to rhyme with massage, educates horses in being keen, biddable, agile and alive. It is regularly described as similar to a ballet for horses. Perhaps, this is so because dressage asks the same, flexibility, smoothness and vitality of horse and rider as does ballet of its performers.

At its best dressage is a sport of beauty and is only possible when there is a true partnership with the horse and rider. In fact dressage can be seen as the "ultimate team sport", with horse and rider competing together in harmony. Dressage, from beginner to master, betters stability, flexibility, and pliancy this ensures the horse can perform standard requirements to a higher level.

Dressage dates back to the horsemanship seen in ancient Greece, and the work done by Xenophon. It was first recognized as an important equestrian pursuit during the Renaissance in Western Europe. The major European equestrian masters of the renaissance produced an ordered training plan that remains basically unchanged since and classical dressage is thought to be the fundamental of modern dressage.

Tack used in dressage is mainly black, with dark brown figuring from time to time, reflecting the seriousness. A special saddle is needed for dressage riding, it is an English-style saddle developed solely for dressage use. The dressage saddle is specifically shaped with a flap, both long and straight, that fits with the leg of the rider, a large block at the knee where there is a minor bend.

Despite this dressage is very much a competitive sport; there are hundreds if not thousands of small dressage competitions are being held all over the world. The biggest addition to dressage competitions was its entry into the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, this galvanised the levels of training and hence riding. The Olympics nowadays has three classes of riding with dressage, eventing and jumping.

The dressage arena measures 60 meters by 20 meters and has letters set out at various points. The letters are A-K-V-E-S-H-C-M-R-B-P-F. Certain movements are to take place in the vicinity of specific letters. The ability of a dressage horse to readily react to the rider's guidance and execute complicated movements gracefully and elegantly will show the horse at the peak of development.

Movements such as the piaffe, passage, half-pass, pirouette, and tempi changes are what is required to succeed in competitive dressage. This differs from the movements completed in classic dressage, specifically with respect to the aires above ground that horses no matter how well trained struggle to perfect. The highpoint of any dressage competition is when the rider develops a routine to music that includes certain pre-determined movements and figures; this is called the Musical Freestyle. The requirements within dressage exclude "tricks" to be learned by rote; the point of training in dressage is for the horse to develop both in body and mind, at one with the natural development, and these tests are "pointers" to exhibit the achievement of stability, endurance and attentiveness his training has allowed him to reach.

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Source: http://www.postarticles.com/Article/Overview-Information---Dressage/90846