DRESSAGE
Kim Goodyear is Chef
d’Équipe for the Canadian
Equestrian Team – Dressage and Chair of Dressage
Canada’s High Performance Committee. She has been a
competitor, owner and manager for twenty years. “We
(the CET Dressage) were eighth at the last World
Equestrian Games and ninth at the Olympics,” she
said. I’m pretty excited about the team. Our horses
did very well in Florida this (past) winter. We have
a young team of horses; four are under the age of
twelve. Some we are only looking at for the 2008
Olympics, so this will be great experience for them
and their human athletes. They can’t move up in the
world rankings without it. This is a very solid
team.”
Kim said she expected that
“England could be our main competition,” closest in
the standings.
Karen Robinson, through her
company Applause Dressage, choreographs dressage
freestyles and sets them to music. Her clients range
from juniors and adult amateurs to international
grand prix competitors, and she designs over 150
freestyles annually. She is also a riding coach,
competitor and freelance writer.
“Freestyles were introduced at
this level at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, although
the first World Cup Freestyle competition was held
in 1986,” she said. “The Freestyle is becoming more
influential in medal winning (now).” Freestyles are
also a crowd favourite.
WHAT'S THE PLAN?
Kim said that the team left for Europe in early July
to train with Norbert van Laak. Ashley Holzer
qualified two horses for WEG and a decision as to
which one will compete must be made prior to the
start of the dressage competition at the Games.
Karen pointed out that “only medal winning teams are
automatically qualified for the next Olympics
(2008).” This puts some pressure on team members as
their alternate opportunity to qualify would come in
2007 at the Pan American Games in Brazil. The
Canadians were fortunate to be able to bring their
younger horses, the ones aimed at the Pan Am Games,
with them to Europe.
Who goes last in the order for the Canadians is
usually determined by which horse/rider combination
is expected to score the highest.
HOW IT'S SCORED
The term Dressage (pronounced like ‘massage’) is
derived from the French word ‘dresser’ which means
‘to train’. Horses are introduced to the basic
movements at the Training level and, over a period
of several years, move up through the program from
simple to the much more complex movements of the
Grand Prix level. As Karen said, “It should all look
effortless. The rider does not appear to be giving
cues. The horse has a flow and (in both the
‘compulsory’ tests and Freestyle) it should look
like the horse and rider are dancing together.”
An FEI Grand Prix test takes approximately six
minutes to ride. The test contains thirty-two
specified movements which must be performed from
memory. There will be five judges stationed at
designated points around the 20m x 60m (66’ x 197’)
rectangular, sand-based, competition arena. Each
judge will score each individual movement out of a
possible 10 marks. The score can range from ‘0’ (did
not perform the movement) to ‘10’, the highest
possible mark denoting excellence. They are looking
for accuracy, obedience, suppleness and the quality
of the gaits of the horse and the rider’s use of
aids (back, seat, legs, hands and spurs). There are
also four additional “Collective” marks to be
assigned by each judge: Paces, Impulsion, and Riders
Position and Seat. The most difficult movements,
such as pirouettes, flying changes and half passes,
and the Collective marks each carry a coefficient of
2 – in other words they’re worth double marks –
which can have a significant effect on the final
score.
For each horse and rider’s test, the marks of the
five judges are added together and averaged to
determine a final score, expressed as a percentage.
DETERMINING THE FEI WORLD TEAM DRESSAGE CHAMPIONSHIP
Individual Team member’s scores
(percentages) are converted to points. The best
three scores per Team will determine the Team’s
points, and the Team with the highest number of
points will be declared the FEI World Team Dressage
Champions. FEI Medals will be awarded for 1st
to 3rd place and the
€
40,000 prize money will be apportioned among the top
six teams.
As individuals, the top eight will
share in prize money of
€20,000.
DETERMINING THE FEI WORLD INDIVIDUAL DRESSAGE
CHAMPIONSHIP
The 30 best rider/horse combinations
from the Grand Prix test will return to perform the
Grand Prix Special test. Longer (36 movements
performed from memory) and even more complex than
the Grand Prix test, the Special will challenge the
very best. The top 12 will share in
€
40,000 prize money. All competitors perform the same
test.
The top 15 rider/horse combinations from the Special
competition (up to a maximum of three competitors
per country) will then return to perform the Grand
Prix Freestyle. Set to music, this portion is the
most appealing to spectators and will be the final
determining factor for the Individual Championship.
There are 16 movements that must be included, but as
Karen said, the choreography will be created to
enhance each individual horse’s strengths and music
chosen to compliment the horse’s natural movement.
In addition to scoring the performance of the
required movements, the more difficult of which
carry a coefficient of 2, the judges will also
assign Artistic scores for: Rhythm, energy and
elasticity (flexibility) of the horse; Harmony
between rider and horse; Choreography, use of the
arena (space) and inventiveness; Degree of
difficulty and calculated risks; and (choice and
suitability of) music and interpretation of the
music. These Artistic marks carry a coefficient of
4, i.e. each aspect is worth 4 times the score or
points, heavily influencing the final outcome.
Again, all of the judges scores for each horse /
rider combination will be added and averaged to
determine the final score and consequently placings.
FEI Medals will be awarded for 1st
to 3rd placing and all participants will
share in the
€
60,000 price money.
For further information, please
see
www.dressagecanada.org.
For details on the official
rules governing this competition, please see
www.horsesport.org/ “Rules & Regulations”.
