What is Dressage?                                                                        Main
 

The word Dressage originates from the French word, dresser, which means to train. Today, the term Dressage is used to describe a type of training method and a competitive equestrian sport which strives for high levels of precision and harmony between horse and rider.

The object of Dressage is to progressively develop a horse's physical and mental ability to where the horse can remain calm, consistent, supple, attentive and keen to the aids of the rider. At the highest levels, communication between horse and rider becomes virtually invisible, creating the illusion that the horse and rider are performing 'as one'.

The United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) established six official levels of competition standardized throughout the United States: Training, First, Second, Third, and Fourth. Training is the level of least difficulty and Fourth is the level having more difficulty. The International Equestrian Federation (FEI) established four additional levels of competition which are standardized throughout the world: Prix St. George, Intermediare I, Intermediare II and Grand Prix, with Grand Prix being the highest level of all Dressage Competition.

Each level has appropriately, pre-choreographed 'tests' which competitors perform, individually, in front of a highly qualified judge. As each movement of the test is executed, it is numerically rated from 0 to 10, 10 being the highest possible score for any given movement. All the scores are then added, assigned a percentage rating and compared to other competitors scores in the same test and level.

The Dressage Arena

There are two sizes of arenas: small and standard. The small arena is 20 meters by 40 meters, and is used for the lower levels of dressage and 3-day eventing dressage. The standard arena is 20 meters by 60 meters, and is used for upper-level tests.

Dressage arenas have a lettering system around their outside in the order (clockwise) A-K-E-H-C-M-B-F (small arena) and
A-K-V-E-S-H-C-M-R-B-P-F (standard arena). At the start of the test, the horse enters at A. There is always a judge sitting at C (although for upper-level competition, there is generally more than one judge at a second or third place around the arena, and in some competitions there can be 5 judges located around the arena). The invisible letter X is always in the center of the dressage arena.

The dressage arena also has a centerline (from A to C, going trough X in the middle), as well as two quarter-lines (halfway between the centerline and long sides of each arena).       

                                                                                                            



Dressage Terminology        2007 USEF National Tests