DRESSAGE BASICS.
BASICS BROUGHT TO LIFE
ABOVE: PRESENTED ONLINE IN 2020, THE BRITISH DRESSAGE NATIONAL CONVENTION GAVE RIDERS AN OPPORTUNITY TO WATCH THE BASICS IN ACTION.
INSPIRED BY THE BRITISH DRESSAGE NATIONAL CONVENTION, JANE KIDD REFLECTS ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THE BASICS AND HOW THE CONVENTION GAVE AN OUTSTANDING PRACTICAL DEMONSTRATION OF THESE KEY FACTORS IN DRESSAGE.
T
he happy athlete – that is our goal, but how do we get there? The technical requirements are clear but what is much more di cult to grasp are the basics. Judges, trainers and riders have had the training scale drilled into them, that it is rhythm, suppleness, contact, impulsion, straightness that we must keep foremost in our minds.
THE FEI DIRECTIVES
THE SCALES OF TRAINING
The FEI describe this training scale as: ‘the most important guideline for trainers, riders and judges’, and ‘a systematic physical education of a horse, a gymnasticising program to develop the horse’s natural physical and mental aptitudes’, and ‘developed over the centuries as a method to train horses harmoniously and to keep the horses sound’.
The scales of training are recognised generally and more and more people can list them, but this is only the start. Until it is much more than a list they are di cult to achieve. It is easier to understand what it is to make a square halt or shoulder in at an angle of 30degrees etc, but it is the way that these movements are done, the realisation of the basics for the level that is the essence. What is more, when the basics are in place it is much easier to achieve the technical requirements.
THE THEORY • Rhythm: the paces are regular and in an appropriate consistent tempo • Suppleness: muscles and joints are flexible to both directions • Contact: horse works forward with acceptance into a steady elastic feel from the mouth • Impulsion: power being generated in the hindquarters passes through the horse’s body to be controlled by the rider’s hand • Straightness: the horse remains straight on lines that are direct or curved • Collection: the transfer of the balance to increase the weight on the hindquarters as the strides shorten and lift.
RIGHT: A BALANCED RIDER WHO CAN GIVE CLEAR AIDS HELPS THE HORSE TO DEVELOP THE BASICS.
40 // Issue 1 2021 // BRITISH DRESSAGE
