Time was, and not that long ago either, when Olympic dressage was one of those sports that mostly got the reaction: Why? A search on “dressage is like watching paint dry” gets over 10 million results. The near-universal reaction has been that it’s bo-RING.
And then came 2021 and the Pandemic Olympics and the most unexpected people have concluded that, hey, dressage is cool. It’s horses doing these extreme dance moves. It’s like, wild. In a highly controlled dancey sort of way.
When Snoop Dogg thinks you’re cool, you have arrived.
But what is this thing really? It’s tricks, right?
Well. Actually. No. It’s all things horses do on their own, when they’re happy or excited or feeling full of themselves. The real trick is to persuade them to do it on command and in rhythm and balance and harmony. To dance with a human partner, either through a series of prescribed movements in prescribed order (known as tests) or through a series of movements determined by the level the horse is at, choreographed to music (known as freestyle). It’s a fair bit like figure skating, and a good bit like gymnastics.
The tests are the paint-drying portion. To aficionados of the sport, the extreme fine points of each horse in each test are the thing of great fascination and minute examination. To the rest of the world, it’s the same thing over. And over. And Over. And. Over.
It’s the freestyle that gets to be fun. For a long time, the judges wanted classical music, tight restraint, nothing too out there, i.e., modern or popular. In recent years however, that’s opened up. And that’s when dressage started to become cool. Non-experts can appreciate a routine set to Beyoncé. When it’s a horse doing it, with a rider in top hat and tails, it’s almost like cognitive dissonance, but in a good way.
I remember when the powers that be in dressage talked about how to keep the sport from sinking into oblivion. There was no freestyle at that time, just the tests: at Olympic level, kind of like figure skating, with short and long form. Every horse did the exact same routine in the exact same order, with suitably abstruse scoring (and plenty of favoritism for certain stars and certain national teams).
Adding the freestyle was as much a marketing decision as anything else. Open it up, set it to music, let the movements flow in whatever order worked best for the horse and rider. Letting the routines be set to popular music was a no-brainer, though of course it took a while, because stodgy ancient sport in a top hat.
So here we are. Dressage is cool. And I’m there for it.
What’s really interesting to me as a longtime and recovering dressage rider is that instead of ruining the technical basis of the sport-and-art, this shift has if anything sent horses and riders back to the roots. There was a too-long period of fashions and fads that added up to what we called “crank-and-jam,” forcing horses into a set configuration or frame and breaking down far too many, sometimes fatally. It was fast, it was forceful, it took over the top of the sport. And it was a ruddy disaster for the horses.
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Meanwhile there was another kind of training that had been there all along, as in centuries’ worth. Slower, more gradual, less coercive. Done right, it resulted in horses that were still performing to a high level in their twenties and even thirties, instead of retiring just shy of breakdown around age 16 or 17. It asked a lot of riders, asked them to be patient, to be quiet with their signals (called aids—leg, hand, seat in the saddle), to focus on relaxation first and let everything follow from that.
It’s hard to be that patient in a high-dollar sport. It’s so much cheaper to just ram them along and get them out there and winning as early as possible, instead of taking five to ten years to get anywhere. And yet, that’s what’s been happening more and more, with more and more riders and teams choosing that route instead of the more forceful one.
And oh yes, it really does that that long to build a horse up to Olympic level. It’s very demanding, very precise, very exacting; it takes thousands of hours of practice and years of conditioning. The horse has to be at the peak of fitness, to be totally focused on the rider, to be trained with the utmost of precision.
And that’s not even talking about the rider. Riding a top horse is like flying a fighter jet. The controls are that complex, and the horse is that responsive. He’s also, at that level, probably very big, with very big, bouncy, powerful movement that the rider has to sit to without boinging right out of the saddle, while executing complex and precise commands with as little push and pull as possible. A lot of what’s going on up there is as subtle as the release of a breath or the lift of a seatbone. The rider has to have tremendous core strength and flexibility, and be extremely well balanced and extremely sensitive to every slightest movement of the horse.
On top of all of that, it’s two living beings working together in a very high-level form of dance. There are plenty of riders who treat their horses like sports equipment, but plenty more whose horses mean as much to them as Ginger did to Fred. I was charmed and delighted to stop by the facebook page of the individual gold medalist, Jessica von Bredow-Werndl. She’s German and young, and her page is full of her loving on her horse Dalera. She adores the horse, and she’s so proud of all the people who helped her get to where she is. What’s most telling to me that one of them is her longtime teacher, who is an Oberbereiter, a Chief Rider of the Spanish Riding School of Vienna.
Twenty or thirty years ago, that would not have been thinkable. Vienna is the ultimate manifestation of old school, as in, sixteenth century. It’s a fossil, we were told back then, totally out of date, using these chunky little antique horses with precious little movement, and damn, they took forever to train.
And now here we are, with a student of one of the most classical of all classical riders, trained the old way in the new dressage world. She’s not the only one, either. One of the US team, Sabine Schut-Kery, first came to my attention in the Nineties when she was head trainer at Proud Meadows in Texas, performing with teams of Friesians (aka Ladyhawke horses) and Lipizzans (aka the Fat White Ponies of Vienna). She’s as classical as they make ’em, even more so than viral dance master Steffen Peters, and she helped bring home a historic silver medal for the US team.
It’s good news for the sport that dressage is cool. It’s good news for the horses that classical dressage is also cool. It’s much easier on them without sacrificing the quality of the work. It keeps them sounder longer, and it keeps them happier. That’s where those viral dance routines are coming from. Happy horse with quieter, more sensitive rider. I hope it stays in fashion for many years to come.
Judith Tarr is a lifelong horse person. She supports her habit by writing works of fantasy and science fiction as well as historical novels, many of which have been published as ebooks. She’s written a primer for writers who want to write about horses: Writing Horses: The Fine Art of Getting It Right. She lives near Tucson, Arizona with a herd of Lipizzans, a clowder of cats, and a blue-eyed dog.
Maybe I misunderstood the article, but the tests you describe seem more like figure skating’s Compulsory figures, which were dropped from competition in 1990.
@1 I did have that thought after I posted the article, yes. Thanks for pointing to it. What I was short-cutting from was the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Special tests. One’s long and one’s shorter. But everybody rides the same test, step for step, which is definitely like the Compulsory Figures.
I was thinking of those blasted slow-mo in real time figure eights on skates, myself. I’m glad the horses and the riders aren’t forced to that anymore. More people watching a sport is often a good thing. Keeping the horses safe is even better.
I missed most of the dressage because it was at my busiest time of day, but I caught some of the jumping. I know spit little about either, but horse eye candy makes me happy, and there was lots of that.
One of the horses on the Belgium jumping team looked like a Lippizaner in coloring. Are they trained for jumping?
Bet they didn’t know horses could dance!
Dressage has always been one of the sports that I follow, Olympics and otherwise, because I have a close friend who is heavily involved in it. This year, however, I made a conscious decision not to watch any Olympics because I’m still in a cold fury at the IOC for holding them at all, in the midst of a raging pandemic. Yes, I only hurt myself by not watching something that I normally enjoy, but I’m just too offended at what I see as blind stupidity and greed.
Rambo: Last Blood (actually kind of a vile movie) opens with, of all things, John Rambo doing something that looks to me like dressage?
RAMBO LAST BLOOD (HORSE SCENE) 4K (1080p) – YouTube
One of the things I love about the Olympics is seeing the obscure sports. The ones not even on Ocho. Running, swimming and diving are great, but get me some Race Walking, Downhill Biking, or (in winter) Curling. I was very happy when I tuned in at work on break and found Dressage (Jumping).
I did not know any of this about the history of dressage. I hope it pops up on TV more.
@3 The Belgian horses were probably grey Warmbloods. Lipizzans can jump but it’s not something they’re known for. You’ll see them in dressage or driving more than in the jumping arena.
@5 I felt pretty much the same way. Didn’t watch anything but a few clips and highlights.
@6 Stallone is doing reining, which is its own event. I did see it in the Olympics once–maybe as a demo sport?–but it doesn’t seem to have stayed on the roster. It’s entertaining to watch, with all those fast runs and all those spins.
EXCUSE me! Of course die Lippanzanerein are noted for dressage, as in the Spanish Riding School, haute ecole! The “dressage” at the Olympics are what’s left before one goes into the full battle movements for which these horses were bred! Rather as if one took the preliminaries for ars militaire in the Asiatic combat forms and assumed that was the end and goal instead of establishing the foundation for the final result. What is the point of noting that two of the best were trained by Oberbereiterein if not that THEY do the real dressage? Capriole, you keep referring to your own preferred breed as “little white ponies” and I think it is insulting. A horse does not have to be big to be good. It is merely the fashion right now to have those big tanks out there, but as I noted to you in another context elsewhere, Saddlebreds can do it better than most of the European “warm” bloods; “dancing” horses were and are Lippanzaners.
@9 I have owned and bred Lipizzans since 1992. I have fought many battles and taken many scars. There are layers and layers of nuance to the history and practice of dressage. I am talking here about the competitive version, taking it in its own context and honoring the best of what it has to offer. I’ve had plenty to say about my beloved Imperial Whites both on this site and elsewhere.
:)
I competed a musical freestyle for the first time this summer with my Lipizzan. Creating a freestyle was both a fun and challenging project. I can see why those at the upper levels have it professionally done! Finding the music to suit my horse’s gaits was probably the biggest challenge. Ideally you are matching the music not only to the footfalls of the gait, but also to your horse’s ‘stage presence’. When you find the right music, you’ll know. It just fits. You also have to be mindful of adjusting your choreography to work with the musical phrasing. Our canter music ended up being ‘The Stripper’. Everybody absolutely loved it, including the judges.
@11 That’s awesome. Freestyle is an amazing art form. I’d have loved to see your guy doing his.
@capriole Ask and you shall receive. :-) Enjoy!
Second Level Musical Freestyle
I can’t find the clip, but there’s a scene in The Newsroom where a fictional Mitt Romney campaign worker bitterly complains about all the mockery about Romney’s “dancing horse”. How do we know Reagan’s horse didn’t dance, she says.
@13 Oh, she’s lovely! That’s a nice ride to watch.
I remember your article in the USLF News about Working Equitation, too. I kind of curled up and blew away in the pandemic, but WE was one of the things I was thinking about before the world went haywire. I’m hoping to emerge soon and try some new things.
@14 Ann Romney is a serious dressage rider. The comments about her horse are pretty typical of the way people used to talk about dressage. Now, suddenly, it’s cool.
Any comments on what the modern pentathlon horses go through? After the dreadful behaviour of that coach. I felt so sorry for Saint Boy.
@16 unfortunately, it’s likely to cause the idiots that run pentathlon to do away with the random draw of a horse. I appreciate the modern pentathlon because it still almost represents what a cavalry trooper behind enemy lines would face in the 1800’s. But they’ve already gutted the shooting with their toy light pistols and the plans for the next Olympics are to ruin it even more. A soldier on foot who found a horse isn’t going to know that horse in advance – the rider must be able to get on and get the horse to accept him or her in that 20 minutes just as an escaping soldier would have in the past.
Perhaps we can get the IOC to rename the event as the Post-Modern Pentathlon?
(Don’t mind my snark, I do regret the changes to MP though and it makes me miss my tank the way some of you would miss a horse. )
@17
And the idea of simulating a late 19th century soldier in a mordern professional sports event is important why?
The random draw of the horses obviously is very bad for the animals as it puts them under a lot of stress and raises the chances for injuries and it also turns the competition into a travesty – athletes are randomly knocked out by drawing a horse that is, on this day, in these circumstances, unfit for riding. This is completely pointless.
I would find the Idea of a really modern combined sports competition on an olympic level very appealing – but there would be neither riding nor shooting in any sensible setup for that.
I don’t even know how I found this link but I think every nerve in my skin fired while I was watching Valegro’s last dance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDKWnCNpmQA
Folks, getting on an unfamiliar horse and riding it well is basic horsemanship. It’s how college horseback riding teams compete (which I did). Having pentathletes ride their own horses would be expensive and fail to prove horsemanship.
I could rant all day about what happened in Tokyo, and won’t. Just wanted to share that the horse isn’t the problem, for those less familiar.
@19, I have no idea what those moves are called but I can see Valegrovis doing all kinds of fancy steps.
Did you see the news clip about the racehorse, a filly, who bucked off her rider and took off, racing down a local road to the shock and awe of motorists?