What are dressage tests?
Tests are a series of movements with a designed level of difficulty used to evaluate the training of the horse (not the skill of the rider). Tests are published, changing every few years. In the U.S., there are about two dozen tests of increasing difficulty created by our national federation, the American Horse Shows Association (AHSA); above that, there are tests created by the international governing body on equestrian competition, the FEI (Federation Equestrian Internationale). There are some tests also created by the U.S. Dressage Federation – the Introductory tests, for example. The tests are asking questions about the degree of achievement of the goals of a horse’s training – suppleness, balance, roundness, softness, etc. As the difficulty increases, circles become smaller, movements more difficult, and the flow from movement to movement more challenging.
