Dressage comes from the French word “Dresser” which means, “to train”. In nature the horse can be seen doing all the movements required in dressage training. The only difference being that these movements are more contained, and the rider is seemingly more in control than he would be on a horse that did them spontaneously. The horse is doing precisely what the rider tells him to do. Today, the Spanish riding school in Vienna, Austria effortlessly demonstrates one of the most difficult controlled movements in dressage, the levade (a controlled rear). * This movement in particular is used in 17th Century portraiture of European baroque aristocracy. Courtiers were keenly aware of the contemporary development in dressage as a renaissance of the ancient art of riding, as put forth by Xenophon (born ca. 430bc). In his treatise “The Art of Horsemanship”, Xenophon displays that the Greeks were the first to refine the art of dressage, which declined in Rome and was effectively lost in medieval times.

Horse Performing a levade at the Spanish Riding School

At the Spanish Riding School - Horse doing a capriole in hand

The horse has been used in war through the ages and depending on the need, dressage was used to train it, as in the light framed and agile Greek horse, which enabled his scantly armored cavalryman to carry out rapid thrusts and parries. By contrast, the heavily built medieval horse was expected to carry a heavy load of armor and was trained to run in a straight line. After the introduction of firearms and crossbows, something subtler was once again needed. Using dressage, the horse was trained to rear up so that its head and neck would shield his rider from assailants (levade); to rear up and jump forward on its hind legs to plough through ranks of foot soldiers (courbette); to leap up from a rearing position, kick out behind and land on all fours to clear a space in the tight quarters of a battlefield (capriole). These are a few of the highly refined and difficult movements performed by Baroque cavalry and by various schools of riding (Haute Ecole) which focused on dressage as a great performing art of the 17th & 18th Centuries.

Reliefs of horse and rider at the Parthenon in Greece

Horse performing Pirouette

Various famous texts and treatises on equitation come from Haute Ecole riding which provide the framework for classical dressage today. The Spanish riding school in Vienna, Austria gives us a link to the past and a look at what it might have been like at a riding academy during the times of Pluvinel. This master of equitation wrote arguably the most influential treatise on dressage in history: “L’Instruction de roy en l’exercise de monter a cheval” published multiple times in the 1620s. Pluvinel, like Xenophon, made use of a system of rewards and sparing use of whip and spurs to achieve an enduring, harmonious and elegant partnership between horse and rider. Sixty plates were made by Crispijn de Passe the Younger in Paris under Pluvinel’s instruction which were later used to illustrate the treatise. Subsequent to Pluvinel, there have been other great masters who submitted treatises of their own (for concise list of authors classicaldressage.com).

Lecon au Roy Louis XIII par M de Pluvinel (Dressage lesson given to young prince Louis XIII by Pluvinel)

Pluvinel instructs at court once again

Today the hub of dressage is still in Europe although the sport is rapidly making a worldwide impact. Dressage has evolved from a method to train horses used in war to a beautiful competitive sport. The best horse and rider teams across the world can compete against each other at the Olympics and World Championships. There are many other levels of competition catering to a horse or rider’s experience, which are an excellent test of how the training at home has been going.

The legendary dressage horse - Rembrandt - ridden by Nicole Uphof

Farbenfroh during dressage test

Farbenfroh taking a victory gallop

Although there is an abundance of literature about the training of dressage horses, this sport in the end must be taught by feel, from Master to Student. Even the best riders in the world will have a good pair of eyes on the ground to guide them. Dressage is extremely difficult and time consuming to learn. It is therefore not surprising that only a few true masters exist at one time (most of them are to be found in Germany). Dressage is an intoxicating form of communication between horse and rider. Even a person who knows nothing of horses can see the harmony, beauty and power in the performance of a true team. Pluvinel was the first to choreograph dressage to music for the French courts and today this is fast becoming the most popular part of dressage competition for the watching public.