Home / Equestrian sports / Classical dressage (haute école)
Traditional and historic
Classical dressage, or haute école, is an old art in which a horse is trained for years to perform the hardest movements, including the airs above the ground. It is kept alive by a few famous schools, the best known being the Spanish Riding School in Vienna.
| Group | Traditional and historic |
|---|---|
| Also called | haute ecole, high school riding, classical riding, Spanish Riding School |
| Olympic | no |
| Where it is popular | The four best-known schools are the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, the Cadre Noir in Saumur, France, the Royal Andalusian School in Spain and the Portuguese School of Equestrian Art. |
This is a performance art rather than a competition. In Vienna the programme includes young stallions, high school movements, pas de deux, work in hand, the airs above the ground (levade, courbette, capriole) and the school quadrille. Training takes years: in Vienna, bringing a young stallion up to high school level usually takes 4 to 6 years. Riders first spend up to three years on the lunge without stirrups or reins.
The Vienna school uses only Lipizzaners bred at the Piber stud in Austria. Other schools use Andalusian and Lusitano horses, and in France the airs above the ground are performed by Selle Francais horses.
Horses work in classical saddles and bridles. Riders perform in historic uniform; the French school, the Cadre Noir ("Black Corps"), is named after its black uniforms.
The highlights are the regular performances in the Winter Riding School of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna and the Cadre Noir displays in Saumur.
Children and adults start with ordinary riding and dressage at a riding club, with plenty of seat work on the lunge. Classical riding itself is taught by trainers who follow the baroque riding tradition.
Hobby horse dressage is a simple version of the same idea: the rider shows clean, precise movements in a set test. What is hobby horsing →
The Spanish Riding School was first mentioned in 1565, making it the oldest institution of its kind in the world. In 2015 its classical horsemanship was added to UNESCO's list of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org, ich.unesco.org, en.wikipedia.org, ru.wikipedia.org