Classical dressage

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Classical dressage evolved from cavalry movements trained for the battlefield, and has since developed into competitive dressage seen today. Classical riding is the art of riding with, rather than against the horse, in harmony.

Correct classical riding only occurs when the rider has a good seat, correct and well-balanced body position, moves with the horse's motion, and gives and times the aids correctly.

[edit] A History of Classical Dressage

The first work written on what is considered to be classical dressage was Xenophon's On Horsemanship. It is believed that Xenophon introduced they deep seat, long legs and forward moving seat to riding, as well as emphasizing training the horse through kindness and reward.

1400-1500's: The end of brute force and the beginning of artistry in riding. Development of indoor riding. 1600-1700's: The Renaissance gives rise to a new and enlightened approach to riding as a part of the general cultivation of the arts. 1700-1800's: Indoor school riding becomes a sophisticated art. Gueriniere, Eisenberg, Andrade and Marialva write treatises on thechnique and theory.

The horse was highly developed in its training with many years spent perfecting an ideal mount.

The horses were trained for a number of airs or schools above the ground movements that enabled their riders to escape if surrounded, or to fight more easily. These included movements such as levade, capriole, courbette, ballotade. Movements still seen today in dressage include the piaffe, passage, and half-pass.

Today the only remaining large schools of classical dressage are the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, and the French school in Saumur. There are a number of classically based trainers of classical dressage who endeavor to keep the art alive.

[edit] Classical Dressage vs. Competitive Dressage

Modern dressage evolved from the classical school, although it is seen in a slightly different form than its ancestor. Competitive dressage is an international sport ranging from beginner levels to the Olympics. Unlike classical dressage, competitive dressage does not require the aires above ground, which most horses can not perform well even with correct training, due to physical limitations. Instead, competitive dressage focuses on movements such as the piaffe, passage, half-pass, extended trot, pirouette, and tempi changes.

In theory, competitive dressage should follow the same principles as classical dressage. However, there has been criticism by some riders for the trend, especially at the lower levels, for "quick fixes" and incorrect training that makes the horse appear correct, but that is in fact neglecting the basics. These short-cuts usually catch up to the rider as they move up the levels and need to be correct to perform certain movements.

It is also believed by some that competitive dressage does not reward the most correctly trained horse and rider, especially at the lower levels. For example, a classically trained horse would not be asked to hold his head near-vertical when he first began training, and this would be penalized at the lower levels of competitive dressage, marked down because the horse is not considered to be correctly on the bit. Because of the penalizations at the lower levels, combined with the extra time--and therefore, money--it takes to train the horse classically, many riders try to produce a horse that looks the way a judge wants it to look, even if it is not correct for the animal's level of training.

Due to these practices, many riders that train their horses classically do not compete.