The Horse Library Set

THE HORSE LIBRARY DRESSAGE HORSE BREEDS OF THE WORLD HORSE CARE AND HEALTH THE HORSE IN HARNESS THE HORSE IN WAR JUMPING THOROUGHBRED RACING WESTERN RIDING THE HORSE LIBRARY DRESSAGE BETTY BOLTÉ CHELSEA HOUSE PUBLISHERS PHILADELPHIA Frontis: JoAnne Gelarden rides Montana Native in the dressage competition at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event. CHELSEA HOUSE PUBLISHERS EDITOR IN CHIEF Sally Cheney ASSOCIATE EDITOR IN CHIEF Kim Shinners PRODUCTION MANAGER Pamela Loos ART DIRECTOR Sara Davis STAFF FOR DRESSAGE EDITOR Sally Cheney ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR Takeshi Takahashi SERIES DESIGNER Keith Trego CHESTNUT PRODUCTIONS AND CHOPTANK SYNDICATE, INC. EDITORIAL AND PICTURE RESEARCH Mary Hull and Norman Macht LAYOUT AND PRODUCTION Lisa Hochstein ©2002 by Chelsea House Publishers, a subsidiary of Haights Cross Communications. All rights reserved. Printed and bound in the United States of America. http://www.chelseahouse.com First Printing 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Applied For. Horse Library SET: 0-7910-6650-9 Dressage: 0-7910-6656-8 THE HORSE LIBRARY TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 2 3 4 5 THE HISTORY OF DRESSAGE 7 PREPARING TO LEARN DRESSAGE 19 DRESSAGE HORSES 33 COMPETITIVE DRESSAGE 41 OLYMPIC DREAMS 53 CHRONOLOGY 60 GLOSSARY 61 FURTHER READING 62 INDEX 63 5 Sir Duba, one of the traveling Lipizzan stallions who perform all over the world, practices his capriole before a performance. The brand on his left flank serves as identification. 1 THE HORSE LIBRARY THE HISTORY OF DRESSAGE Y ou might think that dressage is a new way of teaching a horse. Actually, the noted Greek historian and general, Xenophon, created the art of dressage in Greece in 400 B.C. According to Xenophon, “If the rider is not in harmony with the nature of the animal, then it will perform as a burden with no display of pleasure.” Dressage training increases the horse’s ability and desire to perform for the rider. Because dressage is excellent training for any equestrian discipline, it has grown in popularity. The classical form of dressage we use today was developed in the royal courts of Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. 7 8 THE HORSE LIBRARY DRESSAGE Dressage is French for “training” and it is a way to teach the horse and rider to communicate and cooperate. The United States Dressage Federation (USDF) says “requiring the power and precision of gymnastics, and the grace and subtlety of ballet, dressage challenges mental preparation as well as physical prowess.” Today more than ever the emphasis in horse training is shifting to the discipline of dressage. This is because dressage makes sure the horse and rider are working together to accomplish a harmony. Dressage is an art in which the horse and rider become “two hearts with one mind.” Dressage works to improve the horse’s build and suppleness. It also improves the natural gaits of walk, trot and Dressage Is For Everybody Lucy Walker won a U.S. Dressage Federation bronze medal on her horse Jazzy. But that didn’t stop her from taking Jazzy on a cattle drive. One Saturday, Walker visited Bob V