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EVALUATING DRESSAGE HORSES
Evaluating the dressage
prospect (as a riding horse)
by J. Ashton Moore
Evaluating a horse as a potential
dressage horse involves two main
issues - movement and conformation.
Both have to be addressed in terms of
age and development. Conformation
needs to be looked at in terms of training
issues and predisposition to
unsoundness. Movement needs to be
evaluated in each gait in terms of
Purity, Quality, and Correctness, as
well as Strength. And there are other
issues that a knowledgeable horseman
notes (sometimes unconsciously) -
attitude, athleticism, nimbleness and
mobility and adjustability of balance.
Our evaluation process depends on
a number of factors:
• Age of the horse
• Stage of training, if any - the training
may be an issue of handleability, not
just under saddle
• How we can see the horse - free in
its own environment, free in an unfamiliar
environment, on the longe,
under saddle, the conditions, etc.
• What we might know about the
antecedents, if anything
A buyer may have some advantages
over a judge. The buyer can ask
to see more, can ask to see the horse in
a different environment, can look
again later. A judge has to take what is
presented at the moment. It is one of
the least enjoyable aspects of judging
horses in competition - to have the
feeling that the horse is much better
than what it is showing at the moment,
but we have to judge what we see (and
sometimes we see almost no walk or
trot with foals, for example).
When we evaluate a horse (or a
dressage performance, for that matter)
we need to start with a clear idea of
what to look AT and what to look FOR
- selectively.
Glossary
Communication and perception
about evaluating horses are dealt with
by having a common language, understood
in the same way by all users and
listeners. This is a big problem in the
horse world, especially in dressage. It
is for this reason that I originally wrote
the Glossary of Dressage Judges’
Terms for the USDF. Ian Tattersal,
curator at the American Museum of
Natural History, said that language
forms thought, rather than the obverse
(which was a commonly accepted idea
until recently).
Terms relative to conformation are
generally clearer and understood in
more standard fashion than is the case
with terms that address movement -
goose rumped, short pelvis, sicklehocked,
over at the knees, steep shoulder,
etc. So I am going to address,
mainly, terms that apply (and are misapplied)
to movement.
Here are some terms that are often
misperceived or unclear. Some of the
terms are addressed as ‘invented definitions’
- they are not always straight
out of the dictionary, but rather have
‘connotations’ or ‘nuances’ or ‘special
definitions’ for dressage application.
• Correctness - the straightness of the
trajectory (not winging in or out, or
unlevel range of motion)
• Purity, Rhythm, Regularity - this
includes soundness and the appropriate
sequential and temporal issues. It
is the correct sequence and timing of
footfalls and phases within a gait.
• Quality - this is the most confusing
aspect of movement evaluation,
because the terminology is muddled,
and the understanding of biomechanics
is sometimes confused, but it
includes the following:
-Suppleness: range of motion of the
limbs determined by the configuration
of the joints, and by the
length of the muscles, tendons, and
ligaments. It is an innate physical
quality, which may or may not be
demonstrated at any given
moment, depending on the horse’s
current mechanical mode (posture,
tension, etc.). It cannot be changed
on short notice, and can only be
changed to a small degree over
time. A horse can be Supple, even
with limited Elasticity (sprawling
sloppy free movement).
Suppleness has more to do with
plasticity than elasticity.
-Elasticity: simplistically, this is
‘recoil’ and/or ‘springiness’. A
horse can be Elastic, even with
limited Suppleness. Elasticity can
be active (mechanical mode -
functioning of the musculature) or
passive (energy and tension automatically
stored and released within
the joints, by the tendons). Do
not confuse (useful) elasticity with
tight “sproinging’ up and down - it
requires compression of the joints
of the haunches and a fair amount
of ‘ground time’.
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