Dressage
 The
Dressage phase of the Three Day Event tests the basic training
of the horse, which helps the horse to develop an improved posture
for carrying a rider and increases his obedience and calmness.
It also promotes self-carriage, with freer, elastic paces. These
attributes help to make the horse an easier and more accurate
ride during the Cross Country and Show Jumping phases.
2005
FEI EVENING 4 STAR (****) DRESSAGE TEST B
The Key phrases used by the judges
in their critiques of the tests are: Regularity and Rhythm
of the Paces, Impulsion (i.e. energy), Acceptance of the Contact
(i.e. is the horse's mouth and head steady in response to
the aids), Engagement (i.e. do the hind legs appear to step
under the horse's body or trail out behind), Lightness of
the Forehand (i.e. the appearance of the horse carrying himself
and not leaning on the rider's hand) and Uniform Bend of the
horse's body on circles and during the lateral movements of
Shoulder-in and Half-Pass.
High marks are awarded for those
movements where the horse shows all these qualities. Judging
is a subjective art and not an easy tast as one rarely sees
perfection and often some good aspects have to be weighed
up against weaknesses.
The initiative and boldness of
the highly conditioned event horse often makes it difficult
in the atmosphere of the arena, to show all these attributes
consistently. But the winning combination will demonstrate
harmony between the rider and horse whilst the movements are
performed boldly but accurately showing some elements of brilliance.
The Dressage Test is divided into
movements for which the judges award a mark from 0 to 10. The
Judges marks are averaged and shown as a percentage, to keep
them in balance with the cross country and show jumping. The
marks are then converted to penalties and multiplied by 1.5.
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