If you show the USDF levels in dressage, you are hopefully aware that there is a little section at the top of your test entitled Purpose of the Level. The FEI tests do not have them and neither do the eventing tests.
I blissfully ignored this section of the test for most of my dressage career, thinking that obviously if I could get through most of the test, I was ready for it (sounds plausible, right?). As I showed Rico through the first several years, I scored in the low 70s at Training, the high 60s at First, the mid 60s at Second, the low 60s at Third, and when I reached Fourth, I was barely scraping a 60%. Obviously I was irritated about that.
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| Rico at Prix St George after Tracey |
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| Rico at Fourth level before Tracey |
It wasn't until I started riding with Tracey (well, actually a trainer before her touched on it but I couldn't take regular lessons with her on Rico, boo) years later that I realized what had been going wrong. As I progressed through each of the USDF levels, I worked on the movements and ignored the way my horse was going. Sure he was round and did the movements when I asked, but that can only get you so far, as demonstrated by my nice downward slope in scores over the years. I wasn't expecting to maintain mid 70s his whole career, but as I ramped him back up, it became apparent that we were capable of solid 65s in the FEI levels.
Looking at the purpose of the levels now has given me a nice idea of WHY I failed to earn the scores I wanted at the middle levels of dressage. So I figured I'd post something about it.
*I am not a judge. I have not had judge training. This is my own interpretation of the purpose of the levels based on my own experiences.
Purpose of the Levels
Introductory: To introduce the rider and/or horse to the sport of dressage. To show understanding of riding the horse forward with a steady tempo into an elastic contact with independent, steady hands and a correctly balanced seat. To show proper geometry of figures in the arena with correct bend (corners and circles)
Training: To confirm that the horse demonstrates correct basics, is supple and moves freely forward in a clear rhythm with a steady tempo, accepting contact with the bit.
First: To confirm that the horse demonstrates correct basics, and in addition to the requirements of Training Level, has developed the thrust to achieve improved balance and throughness and maintains a more consistent contact with the bit.
Second: To confirm that the horse demonstrates correct basics, and having achieved the thrust required in First Level, now accepts more weight on the hindquarters (collection); moves with an uphill tendency, especially in the medium gaits; and is reliably on the bit. A greater degree of straightness, bending, suppleness, throughness, balance, and self-carriage is required than at First Level.
Third: To confirm that the horse demonstrates correct basics, and having begun to develop an uphill balance at Second Level, now demonstrates increased engagement, especially in the extended gaits. Transitions between collected, medium, and extended gaits should be well defined and performed with engagement. The horse should be reliably on the bit and show a greater degree of straightness, bending, suppleness, throughness, balance, and self-carriage than at Second Level.
Fourth: To confirm that the horse demonstrates correct basics, and has developed sufficient suppleness, impulsion, and throughness to perform the Fourth Level tests which have a medium degree of difficulty. The horse remains reliably on the bit, showing a clear uphill balance and lightness as a result of improved engagement and collection. The movements are performed with greater straightness, energy, and cadence than at Third Level.
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Note that there is nothing in any level about amount of sass
required, Rico, put your tail down and quit being an asshold |
The Basics
As I look through all this, the first thing I noticed was that every single level mentions "correct basics" and of course that needs to be defined. What are the basics? How are can they be correct or incorrect?
So I asked myself those questions and realized that I really had no
firm answer. To the internet! I asked the internet those questions and there was no clear cut answer either. So yet again I went back to the fabulous
judging glossary that always clears things up.
The Basics:
The basics form the correct foundation of the progressive training of the horse, independent of the execution of specific test movements. The basics include: pure rhythm with suitable tempo; relaxation/suppleness/elasticity/looseness; correct contact/connection; impulsion, straightness, and longitudinal balance suitable to the level and exercise - in other words, all the criteria of the Pyramid of Training/Training Scale.
Correctness of the basics is indicated by the preservation and/or improvement in:
- the purity and quality of the gaits and paces
- the gymnastic ability and physique of the horse
- the horse's attitude and rideability
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| Nooootttt quite (as we careen to the left) |
I do like that they say that impulsion, straightness, and longitudinal balance (uphill balance) should be suitable to the level of training. Meaning that a First level horse doesn't need to have the same kind of impulsion as a Fourth level horse does. BUT, a correct rhythm, tempo, relaxation, and contact should be present at all times regardless of level.
Notice briefly that the basics are not required, per say, at Introductory level. I find that interesting and reassuring. For a lot of horses (TC included), even getting to the point where the basics are correct is HARD and it's nice to be able to introduce the horse to the dressage ring, and expect to score okay, without having to have perfectly correct basics.
A Greater Degree
Another thing I noticed is that the purpose of the levels tends to be basically this:
Having achieved all the stuff at the level above, the horse now does all of this same stuff to a greater degree of awesomeness than at the level below.
(come on USDF, you know you want to hire me to write these things)
This is where dressage judging gets tricky and why there are so many steps between being a dressage rider and being a dressage judge.
During judge training, the judges are taught what each level looks like. And actually you can watch the differences too by watching
On the Levels. Another video series I liked about the levels of dressage (and that is free- since OTL you pay an annual fee for access to the videos) were
these videos from the judging symposium in 2007. Steffen Peters and Janet Foy did an amazing job going over the differences between the levels and using riders to demonstrate what each level/movement looks like.
Another thing to do is to go watch a lot of rides and look at scores to get a good idea of what each level looks like. I also try to exclusively ride with judges who have reliably taken horses/riders to the level that I want to ride at. This way they've seen the level from both the judge's booth and ringside with their own students. I like a trainer who 100% is certain what my level looks like and how to get me there. But that was
another post.
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| Because dressage is so fun to watch... zzz |
The analytical side of me feels like there should be a better description of how much is MORE, but I can't figure out a way of doing that without quantifying how much hock flexion there should be in collection and that this increases by 20% between the jump from Third to Fourth. Or that the horse's forehand and haunches should be perfectly balanced at Training, but at First the forehand should be 1" above the haunches, at Second, 2", at Third... you catch my drift, until at Grand Prix you're basically just having horses walk around on their hind legs the whole time.
But the problem with being so analytical is that all horses are different. A 65% at Second level looks different when you're on a small mover vs a big mover, or a naturally uphill horse vs a naturally downhill horse. Add the rider's tendencies, the level of tension in either of them, the soundness (mental and physical) of the horse (or rider), and all sorts of other things and you're basically screwed if you want to make a cookie cutter shape of a horse at each level.
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This amount of hock flexion is good for a pirouette at I1, but
14% more is required at I2 |
There are so many reasons why we can't quantify dressage, and I think that is both the beauty and the frustration of the sport. And the reason why our judges are so well educated.
Progression
Another thing I find interesting about the purpose of the levels is how the horse develops over the course of the levels. Here are a couple of things I noticed, please add to them!
Forward
I also found it interesting how forward develops throughout the levels. Let's define forward first because I think the judging glossary does a good job explaining what I wanted to point out.
Forward: Moving or tending to move toward the direction in which the horse is facing (in contrast to sideways, backward, or standing still); it does not indicate
how he gets there. References to specifics such as impulsion, energy, freedom, reach, length of stride, into the contact, responsiveness to the leg,
and tempo more accurately express how the horse should proceed in a forward direction.
At Introductory, the word forward is mentioned, but it is not qualified by anything else. There is no mention of free forward movement, which comes in at Training. Not until First level do we see thrust, which is propulsion from the hind legs to create forward energy.
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He is forward but not free (retraction in the neck) and I'm lucky
that he has natural impulsion (but unlucky because there is not
much engagement) |
So as the horse progresses, forward is the most important thing, regardless of how you get it. Then you must develop free (glossary mentions "lack of constriction") forward movement where the horse moves willingly forward without constriction/holding them back. THEN you change the mechanic of the energy, where you start to ask the horse to propel themselves forward from the hind end. While a Training level horse can get away with being forward by simply being a little quick or maybe pulling from the forehand a bit, a First level horse must have correct impulsion.
On the Bit
At Introductory, an elastic contact is required. There is no mention of being on the aids or on the bit, although obviously the horse will not be dinged for being on the bit. By Training level the horse is required to accept contact with the bit. There isn't a notion of being steady or reliably on the bit, but of course it'd be hard to score exceptionally well without that. In comparison to Introductory, Training requires acceptance rather than just demonstration that the rider can establish an elastic contact. So while Introductory seems to focus on the rider, Training also starts to require more of the horse.
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| Elastic contact, maybe. Acceptance of the bit? Nope. |
At First, consistency is introduced, and I would think that this means that a Training level horse who is a little unsteady may not be dinged as much as an unsteady First level horse. At Second and Third level, reliability on the bit is required. This means to me that you'll be nailed for any moment of unsteadiness. Reliably on the bit to me also means reliability between movements and in transitions. While a First level horse may get a little hollow coming into a leg yield but recover- a Second level horse would be dinged more for getting hollow coming into a shoulder-in even if they recover.
This is not to say that a rider will lose points for having a super steady round horse at Introductory. I think that the purpose of the levels really describes what is expected, what is sufficient. Meaning a 60%. If you went into Training with an unsteady horse, I think it'd be hard to score all that much higher than low to mid 60s unless you have some really spectacular movements.
Overall
Overall I find the purpose of the levels to be pretty helpful. Especially when looking forward with TC's training. I think that at home he's starting to leave Introductory and school Training, but at shows he still doesn't meet the Training level requirements of being supple (due to tension), accepting contact with the bit (he does go round and I guess technically accepts contact at the walk/trot but the canter is where we are lacking), or being freely forward (he does GO forward but he is not moving forward without restriction due to the tension he carries in new places- I have to hold him back a lot of the time).
I'm curious to see how TC progresses now that I'm more educated. I got Rico when he was a little further along (and had been to a lot of combined driving shows so didn't have the nervousness that TC has in new places) but I was 18 years old and had only shown through First. I was impatient and undereducated for a horse like him, which led to me making some major mistakes with him. Everyone told me you always ruin your first Grand Prix horse! Now I really believe it.
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| Luckily I had awesome trainers to help fix him later |
With TC I'm focusing more on the basics, getting him really rideable before attempting to do any rated shows or throw any movements on him. Much of our rides are focusing on getting the connection solid, the response to my aids immediate, and all the little boring things like perfecting the change of direction and working on an even push off from both hind legs into a transition. I'm sure with my next project, I'll be even more diligent.
