Dressage Cheat Sheet

The key takeaways for beginners – class progression, reading the arena letters and the three lessons behind every dressage test.

Kit for the arena

Item	Priority	Tip
Dressage saddle	High	Deeper seat, longer stirrups than a jumping or eventing saddle – built for a stretched leg.
Whip & spurs	Regulated	Whip max. 120 cm, spurs max. 4.5 cm in competition – fixed limits, not up for debate.
Boots/wraps	Banned	Forbidden in the arena so judges see the leg movement unfiltered – allowed in the warm-up only.
Curb bit	Later	Only once your horse goes reliably through on the snaffle – it refines, it never repairs.

Reading the arena

The small arena first: 20×40 m for classes E/A: A and C on the short sides, E and B on the long sides – your first markers.
The invisible centre line: D, G and X sit invisibly between A and C – at X you halt and salute.
The judge sits at C: From there they judge straightness and symmetry on the centre line.
Precise at the letters: Start and finish circles, serpentines and changes of rein exactly there – not roughly.

The 3 golden dressage rules

Factor 1: The seat line carries every lesson

Concept: Without the ear–shoulder–hip–heel line, you block every half-halt and transition before it can work. Tip: Check while halted: if you slump into a chair seat with feet ahead of the girth, fix the line first – only then ride the next lesson.

Factor 2: Shoulder-in is the mother of all lateral movements

Concept: Drilling travers or renvers before shoulder-in is solid means riding bend without control over the hindquarters. Tip: Let the forehand step away from the wall, hindquarters stay on the line, horse stays bent around your inside leg – in walk first, then trot.

Factor 3: Collection is load, not slowness

Concept: Collection means more load on the hindquarters, not less pace – just slowing down confuses the two and blocks the horse. Tip: Use the half-halt: a brief impulse from seat, leg and rein, immediately followed by yielding – it rebalances before every new demand.

Competition & scoring

Topic	In short
Score scale	0 to 10 with half-marks like 6.5 – a 6 is solid basic work, not a poor result.
Collective marks	Overall marks for gaits, impulsion and submission often outweigh a single movement.
Three-judge system	From class L, three judges score in parallel – that makes it fairer.

Safety & seat health

Dressage has fewer falls: No obstacles, no jumping risk – but its own pattern of chronic load in the seat.
Sitting trot can reinforce asymmetry: In studies, more dressage experience was linked to more, not less, pelvic asymmetry – habit, not automatic improvement.
Rising trot as a correction: Deliberately switching between sitting and rising trot measurably lowers asymmetric load for over half of riders.
Video beats feel: Regular video analysis of your own seat plus core and mobility work actively counter these patterns.

Pro tip: Don't measure suppleness by how you feel, measure it on the horse: a swinging tail, chewing and snorting are visible signs that feed into almost every judge's score. Film your sessions and watch for them on purpose.