Dressage - International Level

International Level

See also: Equestrian at the Summer Olympics

At the international level, dressage tests governed by the FEI are the Prix St. Georges, Intermediare I, Intermediare II, and Grand Prix. The dressage tests performed at the Olympic Games Dressage competition are Grand Prix. This level of test demands the most skill and concentration from both horse and rider.

Movements included in Grand Prix dressage tests are:

Piaffe

A calm, composed, elevated trot in place (although minimal movement forward is allowed and not penalized in competitions as it is the natural way of performing the movement)

Passage

A very collected trot, in which the horse has great elevation of stride and seems to pause between putting down its feet (it has a great amount of suspension in the stride). Described very well like a horse "trotting under water", it takes great strength and training to get a good passage.

Ideally in both the piaffe and the passage tempo should be exactly the same as in trot.

Extended gaits

Usually done at the trot and canter, the horse lengthens its stride to the maximum length through great forward thrust and reach. Grand Prix horses show amazing trot extensions. Though not as visually impressive, equally important is the extended walk, which shows that the horse can easily relax and stretch in the midst of the more collected movements.

Collected gaits (trot and canter)

A shortening of stride in which the horse brings its hindquarters more underneath himself and carries more weight on his hind end. The tempo does not change, the horse simply shortens and elevates his stride.

Flying changes in sequence

Informally called "tempi" at this level, The horse changes leads at the canter every stride (one tempi or "oneseys"), two strides (two tempi), or three strides (three tempi).

Pirouette

A 360 or 180 (depending on the level) degree turn in place, usually performed at the canter. In a Freestyle to music (kür) test, a turn of up to 720° is permissible for Grand Prix.

Half-pass

A movement where the horse goes on a diagonal, moving sideways and forward at the same time, while bent slightly in the direction of movement.

Tests ridden at the Olympic Games are scored by a panel of seven international judges. Each movement in each test receives a numeric score from 0 (lowest) to 10 (highest) and the resulting final score is then converted into a percentage, which is carried out to three decimal points. The higher the percentage, the higher the score.

Olympic team medals are won by the teams with the highest, second highest, and third highest total percentage from their best three rides in the Grand Prix test.

Once the team medals are determined, horses and riders compete for individual medals. The team competition serves as the first individual qualifier, in that the top 25 horse/rider combinations from the Grand Prix test move on to the next round. The second individual qualifier is the Grand Prix Special test, which consists of Grand Prix movements arranged in a different pattern. For those 25 riders, the scores from the Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Special are then combined and the resulting top 15 horse/rider combinations move on to the individual medal competition—the crowd-pleasing Grand Prix Freestyle to Music (Kür).

For their freestyles, riders and horses perform specially choreographed patterns to music. At this level, the freestyle tests may contain all the Grand Prix movements, as well as double canter pirouettes, pirouettes in piaffe, and half-pass in passage. For the freestyle, judges award technical marks for the various movements, as well as artistic marks. In the case of a tie, the ride with the higher artistic marks wins.