Musical Rides
The Musical Kür or Freestyle is a ride that is choreographed for the horse and contains required movements while being artistically pleasing and technically correct.

Pas de Deux is an artistic program created by two riders to present their horses to their best advantage in an artistic, musical context. Mirror image, point-counter-point and in-line movements can be used.

The Quadrille tests are designed for teams of four horses and riders with or without music, depending on the test.

The Movements
Horses and riders are judged on how well they perform certain movements in tests that match each horse's level of training. These are:

• Extensions: The horse will lengthen his stride for the rider on demand. This movement is most exciting at the trot. When done correctly, the horse seems to float across the arena.
  
• Lateral movements: The horse will show its suppleness by going forward first and either moving sideways or moving parts of its body sideways for its rider.
  
• Pirouettes: In this dramatic upper level movement, the horse will turn in place at a canter.
  
• Flying Changes: The most highly trained horses will appear to "skip" across the arena at a canter switching the leading front and hind hooves.
  
• Piaffe: This is a highly cadenced trot-in-place. The horse will spring lightly from one diagonal pair of legs to the other with an even rhythm and a definable moment of suspension. It is the highest degree of competitive collection demanded of the horse.
  
• Passage: The horse appears to float, springing from one diagonal to the other while maintaining its body in a perfectly straight line. In effect this movement is a collected trot in slow motion.

Watching Dressage
The key to enjoying dressage is to watch the rides and try to see how they differ and why one person's score is better than another's. It takes many years of training and great concentration of both the horse and rider to perform well in a test. You should expect to see calm, obedient, smooth rides where the horse's ears are forward or turned towards the rider, and clearly "listening" to the rider's instructions, although no actual words will be spoken during a test. The horse should look happy.

For more information on the sport of dressage, please reference the United States Dressage Federation Web site: www.usdf.org.