A Short Introduction - Dressage

A Short Introduction - Dressage

By:


Dressage, a French term meaning "training", teaches a horse to be obedient, willing, supple and responsive It is regularly described as similar to a ballet for horses. This may be due to the fact that ballet requires the same skills, agility and strength as does dressage.

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 dressage the horse and rider need to be totally together to produce the perfect team. All levels of dressage improves balance, litheness, and tractability, this in turn assists in the horse achieving the upgraded execution of everyday tasks.

Dressage dates back to the horsemanship seen in ancient Greece, and the work done by Xenophon. Dressage became noticed in Western Europe as a very useful training of horses in the renaissance period. 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.

Dressage as a very formal event and normally this is recognised by tack being black or sometimes very dark brown. A special saddle is needed for dressage riding, it is an English-style saddle developed solely for dressage use. It has been developed with a plumb and large saddle flap, the leg of the rider is echoed by the length and the slight curve at the knee.

Dressage is practised in many countries and an element of competitiveness is satisfied with competitions being held in many of the countries. The biggest addition to dressage competitions was its entry into the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, this galvanised the levels of training and hence riding. With eventing and jumping, dressage now takes it place at the Olympics.

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. The letters designate where movements are to be executed; the letters also assist the rider in judging specific distances, such as the size of a circle. At the peak of a dressage horse's gymnastic development, it can smoothly respond to a skilled rider's minimal aids by performing the requested movement while remaining relaxed and appearing effortless.

Competitive dressage concentrates on including the following, the piaffe, the passage, the half-pass, the extended trot, the pirouette, and tempi changes. 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 highlight of a dressage competition is the Musical Freestyle in which the rider creates and choreographs to music an original ride of compulsory figures and movements. The tests within dressage are not designed to catch out the horse; dressage training should be aligned to improve the horse in all aspects, at one with nature, and the tests are opportunities to display the quality of agility, awareness and strength he has found in the training.

This article is written to encourage further study on dressage and it is a wide and varied subject that can not be properly covered in such a short space.

About the Author:
Linda Crabtree has years of experience writing great and well-written articles on competitive dressage these can be found at http://myhorsenews.com



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


Tags: , , , , , ,

|

Loading...
Related....
Videos...

Recent Pets Articles

Comments

Still can't find what you are looking for? Search for it!

Loading

Site Navigation:

Copyright 2005-2011 ArticleSnatch, LLC - All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy | Terms of Service.