About Show Jumping and Dressage

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Article courtesy of www.worldcuplasvegas.com

What is Show Jumping ?
Show jumping is easy to understand. The challenge is simple and straightforward; jump a course of approximately 15 obstacles up to five feet in height and six feet in width with no penalties. Penalties or faults are incurred if a horse knocks down, refuses to jump or falls at an obstacle or jump. Each course has a "time allowed." In addition to jumping faults, penalties can also accumulate if riders fail to complete the course at a certain speed or "within the time allowed." Riders and horses must negotiate the course at the correct angle, height, and speed to clear the fences without incurring faults. Riders must also be mindful of the ever-ticking clock. The rider who races too fast may grow careless and knock down a fence; an overly cautious rider may incur time faults. The starting order of lineup is determined by a draw before the event so that each rider has an equal chance of attaining a favorable position. Riders near the end of the starting order have the advantage of seeing how the first riders complete the course.

Walking the Course
Riders preview the course by walking it on foot prior to the beginning of the competition. This is the only chance the rider has to study the course "up close and personal." Each rider knows the length of his horse's stride, and walks the course accordingly, pacing off the distance between fences and determining how best to adjust the horse's strides. Riders also take note of the different types of fences offered, their relationship to one another, the footing and any other potential problem areas. They also try to find where a tighter line can save vital time when jumping against the clock.

CONTINUE TO SCORING AND DRESSAGE Scoring
All jumper classes are subject to the same scoring systems. Horse and rider must take the course in a designated sequence. All obstacles are numbered. Each rider's goal is to cover the course with no faults within the allotted time period. Style is not considered and doesn't affect the scoring in jumper competition. The first time a refusal occurs, the penalty is three faults; six faults are given for the second, and the third constitutes elimination. A penalty of four faults is incurred each time a fence is knocked down and the penalty for the horse touching the water at a water jump is also four faults.Penalties can also be incurred for exceeding the time allowed to complete the course. The winner is the horse and rider combination with the fewest jumping and time penalties.Frequently, several horses complete the course without penalty and advance to a jump-off over a shortened course. In the jump-off, the same scoring rules apply, except that in the case of equal faults, the horse with the fastest time will be declared the winner.

What is Dressage?
The word dressage sounds like "massage" and comes from the French word dresser, to train. To the untrained eye it looks easy, but like many equestrian sports, it serves the needs of a diverse range of horse lovers. It's an Olympic equestrian sport; yet a basic training discipline for the backyard horse.

Dressage teaches a horse to be obedient, willing, supple and responsive. The horse freely submits to the rider's lightest "aids" or body signals, while remaining balanced and energetic. The object of dressage is the harmonious development of the horse in both mind and body, and every horse, regardless of its type or use, can benefit from this training.

CONTINUE TO DRESSAGE JUDGING

Dressage principles are a logical, step-by-step progression from simple to increasingly complex movements. More and more is asked of the horse as it becomes mentally and physically ready to respond to these demands.

The graceful movements performed in competition may look effortless, but are the result of years of training. The aids should be virtually imperceptible. A squeeze of the calf, a closing of the fingers, a shifting of the rider's weight in the saddle should be all that is necessary to tell the horse what is required.

Dressage requires the horse and rider to combine the strength and agility of gymnastics with the elegance and beauty of ballet. The result is truly the best blend of sport and art. The highlight of a dressage competition is the Musical Freestyle in which the rider creates and choreographs to music an original ride of compulsory figures and movements.

The Arena
A standard arena measures 20 meters by 60 meters (about 65.8 feet x 197.5 feet). Some of the lower level tests may use a small 20 meters by 40 meters arena as does the musical Quadrille (4 riders in a choreographed ride).

Judging the Tests
The tests for each level are written so that there is a way to consistently measure performance. The judges are looking for accuracy of the transitions (changes of gait), obedience, suppleness of the horse, quality of the gaits, and the rider's use of aids.

All movements and certain transitions from one gait to another are numbered on the judge's sheet. They are marked from 0 to 10, 0 being the lowest mark (virtually nothing of the movement performed) and 10 (excellent) the highest. A flawless performance of each movement is seldom achieved. Judges are always excited as they (rarely) give a 10!

Following the test, the rider's individual movement scores are added up and a final score is calculated as a percentage of the possible score that the rider could achieve for that particular test. The highest percentage wins the class.

CONTINUE TO MORE ABOUT DRESSAGE

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.