Flip through the channels on your television any weekend, you are almost guaranteed to see some kind of equestrian sport. Be it racing, show jumping or even a rodeo, it will be there. But have you ever seen one dressage competition?

I doubt it. Why? and what is dressage?

I've described it as "ballet on horseback" - but that doesn't do it justice. Dressage is the basic training that every horse receives before it can be a show jumper, or a cross country speed demon or even a trail horse. It is yielding to leg pressure, also bending and flexion exercises. But it's so much more!

In advanced Dressage, the rider and the horse are to be 'one' with each other. Each movement should be subtle and the cues should be invisible. Even with advanced movements such as the 'piaffe' and the 'pirouette'.

Whoa. Did I blow your mind there? What is a piaffe? A piaffe is an advanced movement in which the horse is collected ('rounded off') and given cues to trot. So what's the difference between the collected trot and the piaffe? Easy. As the horse is trotting, it is giving the impression of staying in one spot. According to the Animated Guide to Dressage, "... the horse is to give the impression of remaining on the spot, and should proceed slightly forward during the piaffe." The website also says that there is also "extreme amount of flexion in the joints of his hind legs and the marked lowering of the croup."

The pirouette is a little bit harder to explain. The horse is ridden at a canter (a controlled, collected canter) and then the cues are given. As a spectator, you will see, that the horse is standing in almost the same spot, but he is traveling in a tight circle - either to the left or the right.

Both of these advanced movements are quite difficult to learn and require months, if not years, to perfect and when you have the perfect mount, it can be an easier process. So what is the "perfect" dressage mount? That's simple too. Any horse can do dressage! However, not every horse is cut out to do the advanced movements. In the lower levels you can sometimes see Thoroughbreds or Arabians, or even Quarter Horses practicing dressage - but in the higher levels, it's more or less the finely bred Warmbloods that take the cake. Some have a large bone structure, like Gifted, and some are more refined, like Willie the Great. But it is up to you to become one with your horse.

There is no other feeling that can describe the beauty of feeling a responsive horse underneath you. A horse that knows your every move so well, that you don't even have to work hard to show him off. And that, my friend is the beauty of this sport. It's will always make me wonder why some don't want to see this beautiful and refined sport.

Dressage Movements (things you'll encounter or hear in this sport):
Leg Yielding
Extended Trot
Half Pass
Piaffe (Canter) Pirouette
Passage
Tempo and Tempi Changes (Flying Lead Changes, single and double)
20 meter circles
15 meter circles
10 meter circles
Serpentines
Half Turns and S Turns

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All Information was obtained by Animated Guide to Dressage. For more information go to Animated Guide to Dressage