Free Rein

Color Me Traditional

The dressage-competition attire rules will soon allow a wide range of colors. Our columnist is a traditionalist, bus she recognizes that the change is a necessary one.

By Jean Kraus

In many people’s opinion, the narrow parameters of the traditional black-and-white dressage competition attire are stultifying for our sport. Spectators see the same tests repeated horse after horse, with all the riders looking alike.

The monochromatic color palette, which has been carried over from the twentieth century, is not what will continue to work today.

There has been a call for change in the sport of dressage, from the Olympics on down. Olympic Games organizers warned that dressage had to do something to liven things up, or else the sport may become a relic of Olympic history and be removed from the Games. Some changes, such as how tests are scored, have already taken place. Is the current move toward more relaxed attire requirements the start of another such change?

On the national level in the US, US Equestrian has approved changes to the dressage-attire rule (DR 120), which will go into effect December 1, 2021. A much wider color palette will be permitted in USEFlicensed/USDF-recognized dressage competition. In coats and jackets, any single color will be permitted, and the fabric may have subtle pinstriping or be a check or tweed. (Many of you may remember or still use those splendid Irish tweed hack-

ing jackets!) Striped or multicolored coats will not be allowed, however, so no on the “circus tent” stripes or looking like a multiflavored popsicle.

“Tasteful and discreet” accents, such as a collar of a different hue, modest piping, or crystal decorations, are acceptable. But what is tasteful or discreet, you may ask? During the drafting of the new rules, a great deal of discussion occurred over how exactly to define “tasteful or discreet.” After all, one person’s ordinary is someone else’s outlandish.

In breeches and jodhpurs, dark and light colors will be allowed along with the traditional white/ cream/light-gray hues. Bright colors or patterns are not.

Riding boots can now be of coordinating color(s). This ostensibly means that a rider could legally compete in a white jacket, black breeches, and white boots. (When I say could, there is the real question

of, ‘OMG, would anyone actually want to do that?’ But that may be my traditionalist mindset speaking.)

It is understood that it may take some time to refine everyone’s understanding of the “broader, yet not all restrictions are off’ parameters of the new rules. Further guidelines that will help to clarify these changes and their limits are in the works.

Many in the sport anticipate that these changes will precipitate the development of two attire “camps” within the dressage community. Tra-

RAINBOW OF OPTIONS: Dressage-competition rider attire is poised to leapfrog from the longtime black-and-white “uniform” (left) to practically any color of coats, breeches, and even boots

ditionalists will continue to wear the black-and-white uniform or something similar, while Contemporaries will embrace the increased latitude. Which camp do you anticipate yourself following?

I, for one, have always considered the traditional dressage rider attire elegant in its consistent simplicity. But I recognize that there are many who feel that this sameness is mundane, boring, and in desperate need of something to liven up the look. Over the years, my technical-delegate (TD) peers and I have observed competitors’ growing desire to push the limits of acceptable colors and bling. I see this as riders wanting to add their own distinct style to their presentation. Now with the dressrule changes coming into effect, competitors will be able to demonstrate their individuality as never before.

USDF president Lisa Gorretta, who is also a dressage TD and cochair of the USEF Dressage Sport Committee, explains that “the rewriting of DR 120 is a small part of the overall efforts to reorganize and update the dressage rules. There is such a broad range of competitors in our sport, from young competitors to adult amateurs and professionals. The changes in DR 120 will allow all these diverse competitors to express their interest and desire to be trendy, as well as to accommodate the rider who wishes to maintain the traditional attire.”

What will competitors do with their newfound ability to be more expressive? We will have to wait and see how the opening of this door sorts itself out in the competition ring. Before you Contemporaries dive in and put together your new ensemble, be aware that, in the past, elimination for dress-code violations inside the competition ring (DR 124) was at the discretion of the judge at C—but when the dress-rule changes go into effect, enforcement will be mandatory. Judges tend not to want to be the fashion police, but it will be a requirement now. As a result, pushing the new parameters too far may not be the best approach to take.

For us Traditionalists, before we view these changes as dressage going off the deep end and the beginning of the end of our sport as we know it, let’s look back a few years to the introduction of freestyles in competition. There may be a parallel here.

In 1980, when freestyles became part of the competition roster, many dressage aficionados foretold that this would spell the sport’s eventual doom. Freestyles were too radical and too innovative, they said, and the riding of tests to music would make dressage too much like the circus. But the ruin they feared did not happen. Not only did freestyle prove popular with both riders and spectators, but in 1996 it was added to the Olympic dressage program. What was once considered a radical change actually succeeded in growing the sport. Will variety in dress also contribute to just such growth?

Change can be good as the impetus for progress, but change is also difficult for many people. There will be an adjustment period. Dressage officials will have a transition period to work through as competitors exercise their choices in attire colors. As we welcome this change to our sport, many of us are also experiencing some trepidation concerning how this will all evolve. I think that we will have very interesting times ahead!Meet the Columnist

Among her many credentials, Jean Kraus is an “R” US Equestrian dressage technical delegate and an FEI Level 3 dressage chief steward. She has officiated at numerous top competitions including the 2010 and 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games and three FEI World Cup Dressage Finals. She chairs the USDF Technical Delegates Committee and the US Equestrian Dressage Competitions Working Group, and she is a member of the USDF Licensed Officials Education Task Force and the US Equestrian Dressage Rules Working Group. She is a longtime professor of equestrian studies at William Woods University, Fulton, Missouri.