What is Working Dressage?

Working Dressage is the first of the four trials. The horse and rider perform a set sequence of movements on the flat from memory, with each movement marked by the judges. Five collective marks are then awarded for the ride as a whole.

The rider enters, halts and salutes before beginning the sequence.

It shares many movements and terms with classical dressage, but the test is designed within the requirements of Working Equitation.

I · What Makes It Working Dressage¶

Working Dressage assesses the horse's paces, balance, responsiveness, collection, submission and the rider's effectiveness before the competition moves into the obstacle trials.

Every transition, circle, collected movement and step of lateral work receives its own mark within the test.

Working Dressage uses collection within a test that repeatedly returns to more forward working paces. The horse collects where greater balance, agility or precision is required and then travels forward again. Those changes of balance and stride form part of the quality the judges assess.

II · The 20 × 40 Metre Arena¶

Working Dressage is ridden in an arena of twenty metres by forty. Classical dressage uses twenty by sixty.

Compared with a 20 × 60 metre dressage arena, the 20 × 40 metre rectangle gives the horse less distance between successive movements and transitions.

The arena is bounded by a barrier no more than half a metre high, with an entrance about two metres wide in the middle of one short side, facing the President of the Jury. Spectators stand at least five metres back.

III · How the Test Runs¶

The President of the Jury rings a bell. The rider has one minute to enter, and is disqualified for entering late or for starting before the bell.

The test starts as the rider enters the rectangle. The horse halts, and the rider salutes, helmeted riders with a slight nod and a sweep of the arm that does not hold the reins, and the timing begins from that salute.

The international senior test has to be completed within eight minutes, with the clock in full view of the competitor. Anything ridden after eight minutes scores zero. Portugal sets seven and a half minutes for Established Riders and no time limit for the categories whose protocol prescribes the exercises.

The sequence cannot be changed. The test ends with the final salute.

IV · The Movements¶

The international senior test carries twenty-two compulsory exercises, and they run from the walk to the canter.

At the walk. A straight line of at least ten metres. A full pirouette on each rein. Halt, rein-back of six to ten steps, and away at the walk. Half pass to the right and to the left, at least ten metres each.

At the trot. A three-loop serpentine. Two leg yields, one to each side. Medium trot. Halt, rein-back six steps, and immediately into canter on the right lead.

At the canter. Three circles to the right (twenty metres at extended canter, fifteen at medium, ten at collected) all beginning and ending at the same point. A flying change. The same three circles to the left. Two circles of no more than ten metres forming a figure of eight with a flying change. Half turns to each hand with a flying change between them. Changes of canter on three sides of the arena, extended on the long sides and collected on the short. An increase of speed and a halt, then away in canter.

The senior test also includes a serpentine of four loops with a flying change at every crossing of the centre line. Within a few strides, the horse has to change bend, straighten, change lead, rebalance and establish the new bend before the next crossing.

The test finishes down the centre line, with a halt, immobility and the salute.

V · The Music¶

Each competitor chooses music to accompany the sequence, and it is marked.

The music must be in harmony with the movements and the tempo, and it is scored under the artistic mark. The rider signals from outside the rectangle when it should begin.

If the music fails and there is no back-up, the rider may leave the arena with the permission of the judge at C and return during a scheduled break or at the end of the competition. They may restart from the beginning or resume from the point where the music stopped. Either way, the marks already given stand.

VI · How It Is Marked¶

Every exercise is marked from 0 to 10 as it is ridden, and half marks are allowed. No coefficient is attached to any exercise, so each counts the same. Internationally, the maximum is 270 points.

The five collective marks come at the end: Paces, Impulsion, Submission, Rider and Artistic.

Errors are penalised rather than fatal. Internationally, the first error costs five points, the second costs five more, and the third eliminates. In Portugal the dressage test costs two points for a first error, four for a second, and disqualifies on a third.

A rider may carry a crop, held upright in the free hand. Touching the horse with it brings disqualification.

Read next How the marks are built, in full

VII · Why the Flat Work Decides the Rest¶

The balance and responsiveness assessed in Working Dressage are used again in the obstacle trials.

A balanced turn is used again around the barrels, straightness is required on the bridge, and responsiveness to small aids is needed at the gate.

The same qualities therefore appear in more than one trial. A loss of balance that appears in an obstacle turn may also be visible in the flat work.

Read next Ease of Handling, where that training is put to work

VIII · The Test Shows What the Training Has Built¶

Working Dressage places horse and rider inside a defined test, but the movements are only the visible part of what the judge has in front of them.

A circle can be the correct size and still show a horse losing balance through the turn. A transition can happen at the correct marker while the rhythm changes through it. The movement tells the judge what happened. The quality carried through it starts to show how the horse has been trained.

That is why the College connects Working Dressage directly to the Structural Training Scale.

For College Members, Forward Tendency, Symmetrical Alignment, Four-Point Balance, Hindquarter Engagement, Forehand Elevation and Collection become a reference for reading what sits underneath the movement. The test gives those qualities somewhere visible to appear.

Branch One gives Members the movements, the trial and the standard they are looking at. The later study follows how that standard is developed in horse and rider and how it remains available as the partnership moves into the other trials.

Working Dressage therefore gives Members a controlled place to see what the training has actually produced.