About Dressage

There is nothing mystical about dressage - each and every one of you is practicing it every time you ride your horse or pony. Circles, turns, and transitions are all elements of dressage.

Dressage, at it’s lower levels, is basic training for horse and rider. At it’s higher levels, it is art. Dressage builds flexibility, obedience and gymnastic ability in the horse…very important for later jumping as well as for Dressage competition. In the days when wars were fought on horseback, those qualities could mean the difference between life and death for the mounted soldier.

A dressage test is simply a pattern of movements that is ridden in a specific order. Each movement is judged and awarded a score.

A very popular feature of dressage competitions is the Kur or Freestyle. In the Kur, horse and rider perform the required movements to music, in a pattern choreographed to fit both horse’s best features and the music. The horses often seem to enjoy performing Kurs, coming to life and really sparkling as if they were dancing. (From CPC Website)

The Regional Dressage competition is open to all pony clubbers in good standing, and is an excellent event to attend for those who aren’t jumping yet.

Westover has done many drill teams in the past, with teams ranging from 4 to 8 members and with horses ranging from 13HH to 17HH.

At the 2008 National Dressage Championships, the Westover 2007 drill team sent in their video placed as Champion of the starter drill team division.

At the 2011 National Dressage Championships, Westover provided 3 horses, as it was held in our region, as well as 1 groom. Our groom placed reserve champion out of 24 grooms from across Canada.