A Series of articles by LIZ COE
- From the Judge at C
Riding is a partnership. The horse lends you his strength, speed and grace, which are greater
than yours. For your part you give him your guidance, intelligence and understanding, which are greater than his. Together you can achieve a richness that alone neither can." ~ Lucy Rees
My name is Liz and in this series of articles I would like to take you on a journey from what is the
meaning of “dressage” through the training scale and what characteristics of the horse’s way of
going the judge is looking for in each movement. What does that 5-6 or 8 mean? I will discuss
different phrases such as contact and how it is different from “on the bit”. I will try to highlight what
judges comments on your tests actually mean in plain English. Finally, we will provide a section for
your voice where you can write in with questions that you may have.
So let us begin.
What is Dressage? It is a French term which is roughly translated into the word “training”.
Its fundamental purpose is to develop, through standardized progressive training methods, the
horse's natural athletic ability and willingness to perform, thereby maximizing its potential as a
riding horse and increases the usable life of the horse plus makes the horse a pleasure to ride.
The very spectacular caprioles and airs above ground that is seen by thousands at the Spanish
Riding School had its roots in a very practical application: the horses were trained to leap and kick
out this way in battle to free the horse and rider of foot soldiers surrounding them. These horses
responded to weight and leg signals from the rider, leaving both hands free to wield weapons of
war. So the better trained the horse was in response to the rider’s aid, the better the chance of
survival for its rider.
Dressage is also occasionally referred to as "Horse Ballet". Early European aristocrats displayed
their horses' training in equestrian parades and displays, but in modern dressage, the successful
training of the horse from preliminary level to Grand Prix is demonstrated through the performance
of "dressage tests", which is a set of prescribed movements ridden within a 60 x 20 metre arena.
Judges evaluate each movement on the basis of an objective standard appropriate to the level of
the test and assign each movement a score from zero to ten - zero being "not executed" and 10
being "excellent" (notice I do NOT say perfect!). A competitor achieving all 6s (which means 60%
overall) should be considering moving on to the next level.
At the peak of a dressage horse's gymnastic development, it can smoothly respond to a skilled
rider's minimal almost invisible aids and perform the requested movement while remaining
balanced, energetic but relaxed and appearing effortless. When you see a lovely test where the
horse appears to be performing the test on their own – you are seeing excellent training.
This is the ultimate goal of modern dressage; however most of us when starting our dressage
career often begin with a test that may look a little more like the one below.
Take heart this is only the beginning of your partnership. Remember don’t be afraid of mistakes –
every single mistake is a perfect training opportunity you can use to develop towards your goal.
Before we go on there are vital points to remember!!!
1. I am assuming that you ride these wonderful creatures and compete at the competitions
because you enjoy riding and love the sport, so remember you are NOT competing for sheep
stations it is meant to be fun!
2. The horse will not go any better at a competition than in your home paddock, in fact my old
coach used to say that you lose approximately 10% in marks when you compete compared to
what you can achieve at home, and she was right! So if the movement is not amazing at home do
not expect it to be amazing at your competition
3. When all goes well the rider deserves the credit and rightly so.
4. When there are problems the rider must then bear the responsibility as well. Don’t lose your
temper at the horse. Your horse, while munching his breakfast hay, does NOT think "I don’t really
want to do my novice and elementary tests today so I am going to be very naughty just to make
my owner cranky."
5. Some days the test does not go as planned, and whether you are new to the sport or a former
Olympian you need to think that today, in this test, the aids were not quite effective and my horse
has not really listened to me. The problem could be something as simple as not getting there
early enough to warm up correctly or too much warm up and the horse becomes tired, so you
make plans on how you will train a little differently for a better result.
THE TRAINING SCALE
This month let’s talk about the basic framework that all dressage training is founded on, the Training
Scale. It originated in Germany and has been taken on with much success globally. These concepts,
which have been well tested over the years, of the way the horse travels are the building blocks to
develop the ideal horse and rider team and is considered the clearest and most comprehensive way
of expressing the basics of dressage.
The Training Scale is a gymnastic plan to guide riders to develop the horse’s natural, physical and
mental capacities in a systematic way. The goal is to obtain a trusting partnership between the horse
and rider, with the rider communicating in a respectful manner on an obedient, supple and
comfortable horse that will stay sound longer. Unfortunately as this method does depend on patience
from the trainer/rider, some try using quick fix fads, to skip over the basics in order to get on with the
movements. These may provide a sense of victory in the short term but it is usually not sustainable
and progress cannot be made as vital components of horse (and often the rider’s) education are
missing. In the words of Franz Mairinger from the Spanish Riding School who trained Australia’s first
Gold Medal winning eventing team “when we train horses we must make haste ...slowly”.
Below is the official version of the training scale that shows these phases from the start point of
Rhythm to the Nirvana of collection and throughness. Throughness is where the horse is relaxed and
happy to allow the rider’s aids through it’s whole body without tightening of it’s muscles or resistance
with complete understanding to produce an active, athletic, beautiful way of going that is a pleasure
to watch and bliss to be sitting on.
Some people can at times find the above chart a little complex and so I offer you an accepted
alternative image of it. I personally like the idea of building blocks in the shape of a pyramid because
you have a visual image of how important the base is in order to achieve the top of the pyramid of
collection and throughness. Visually it is easy to see that the first step towards your goal- on which
the whole pyramid is built on, and will topple and fall without it ..... is Rhythm. Until the horse works
with Rhythm, it will be difficult to make him Supple, and until Supple, the Contact will be spasmodic
and until the Contact is true, soft and still, Impulsion will be elusive. Then straightness cannot be
maintained to allow the aids to flow through the horse to develop collection.
The levels are, from the base up are: (the English word is the closest interpretation to the German
word)
1. Rhythm (TAKT)
2. Suppleness/relaxation (LOSGELASSENHEIT)
3.Contact (ANLEHNUNG)
4. Impulsion (SCHWUNG)
5. Straightness (GERADERICHTEN)
6. Collection (VERSAMMLUNG)
As I said earlier they are all interlinked and cannot be used in isolation from one another. You cannot
think as a rider “well today I am going to work on the impulsion” and forget that what is vital to support
the horse so he can show impulsion is to have him working rhythmically, with his back relaxed and a
soft contact. Next month we talk about the different levels and what each means.