What are the rules of dressage?

[slothprincess]

I'm going to a dressage day of the eventing at the olympics this summer (exciting!). Unfortunately I don't know much about the rules/team/what to look out for. I wondered if anyone could give me a quick run down of the important aspects so that I can get full enjoyment of the day!

Thank you!

We are going too :) I've only seen dressage that dd is in and that's all about riding in straight lines and proper circles and curves and making sure that the pony isn't dragging it's heels. Going to be interesting to see the proper stuff! ( don't tell dd I said that)

There's kind of 6 foundation building blocks
Rhythm, relaxation, contact,impulsion, straightness, collection. They say that one can't be achieved without the others. Basically all that in a dressage test, the horse has to be moving freely and rhythmically with impulsion from its hind legs and working into a contact. The test also has to be accurate, so movements done at the markers . It should flow really, best tests are where they make it look like a walk in the park

What day are you going - this will affect the type of dressage tests you are likely to see. There are also both individual and team competitions. Once we know the date we can advise you on what to watch and who to look out for.

I'm going on the 29th :)

Dd and I are going on 2nd August (think it's one of the team event days). Dd has only been riding for a few months and as far as she's concerned all horses are perfect! It'd be great to get some tips on what to look out for and then I can impress dd with my knowledge

Thank you lovely equestrian people!
I'm going on the 28th July

That will exciting - we're off the cross country on the Monday so hope our team have got off to a flyer in the dressage.

You won't be seeing top quality dressage like in the actual Grand Prix competition (Charlotte Dujardin is possibly our best medal hope in that) but at Olympic level you'll see some pretty competent performances especially from the Germans and French.

The British team is shown here:

www.equestrianteamgbr.co.uk/team.aspx?strTeam=olympic-disciplines-eventing

You'll note that Piggy French had to pull out and her horse was replaced by Nicola Wilson on Opposition Buzz - who many people thought was unlucky not to make the cut straight away anyway.

For many people it will be a question of them keeping the horse calm during what will be an electric atmosphere and just performing all the individual movements correctly will be an achievement.

Of course in modern Eventing - with so many accomplished cross country/showjumping combinations - the dressage score is key. The lower the score the better of course.

Riders like Mary King and William Fox-Pitt are on top of their game and should go well.

Not sure yet which riders you'll see on your day - they spread them over 2 days - but sure you'll have a great time. If you've any specific questions just ask.

Thank you Bunkin, that's really helpful. Enjoy the cross country and go team GB!

Re-reading what I wrote I may have confused you. In eventing the lowest scores win because they are in effect "penalties" for transgressions such as jumping faults, time faults etc.

In the dressage section the riders will try to get the highest marks possible for each individual movement but then that will be converted into a penalty value and that needs to be as low as possible going into the other two disciplines.