How and where did dressage originate? A dressage judge and historian explains.
By Sue Kolstad with Amber Heintzberger
Kentucky-based dressage professional and US Equestrian ‘S’ dressage judge Sue Kolstad is a dressage historian, as well. A talented artist to boot, Kolstad painted this depiction of the roots and branches of our sport, which she entitled History Tree of European Dressage, to accompany a presentation she gave at the Hoosier Horse Fair in Indiana in the late 1990s. Prompted recently by some fellow dressage enthusiasts and USDF members who remembered the presentation and Kolstad’s knowledge, we asked her to share her artwork and to adapt her presentation for this article.
Time Line Overview
Human history was written on the backs of horses, and the kingdom of the horse is linked to many human kingdoms. The earliest records of people’s relationship with the horse date as far back as 2155 BC, although we have only fragments of records prior to about 400 BC. But we do know that the horse was both ridden and used as a draft animal throughout history.
The horse first appeared in legends and mythology interrelated with divinity. “God himself appeared on horseback,” states the Zend Avesta, the primary collection of sacred texts of Zoroastrianism, one of the world’s oldest monotheistic religions.
According to early legends as described in Hans-Heinrich Isenbart’s book The Kingdom of the Horse, the horse was thought to have been tamed by Hindus in modern-day India and Nepal, with the horse first appearing as a working partner in Persia (now Iran). The Quran (Koran) states that the Creator transformed a handful of the South Wind into the horse, declaring: “Thou shalt fly without wings and conquer without sword.”
In historical records, horses are first mentioned as military assets and as sacrificial animals, but they soon became far more valuable in combat than in religious rites. Warriors quickly realized that they were far swifter and more powerful when mounted. A rider on horseback literally towered over an enemy on foot, and a charging steed was in itself a formidable sight. It wasn’t long before horsemen learned to harness their mounts’ natural movements as a form of weaponry and military maneuvers—the original displays and use of the gymnastic movements that we now call dressage.
From their ancient military roots, as depicted in the History Tree, the on-command postures, leaps, and other stylized equestrian movements later acquired status as a pastime of the nobility. Riders showed off their equestrian prowess with displays of training and horsemanship that were considered a form of art, not sport. Equestrian pursuits were popular in France, a global hub of art and culture, and much of the terminology is French in origin—including the word dressage, which is a French term for training or schooling. Others include haute école (“high school,” referring to the “airs above the ground” and other classical movements as practiced today by such institutions as the Spanish Riding School of Vienna) and such movement names as travers (haunches-in) and renvers (haunches-out), which are still used today in dressage training and in the dressage tests.
Eventually classical horsemanship’s military roots melded with its artistic principles to give rise to dressage as a competitive sport. Dressage was one of three phases of the Military, as eventing competition was originally called—a triathlon-like test of a cavalry mount’s obedience, agility on the flat and over fences, jumping prowess, strength, and stamina. The Military, as well as stand-alone dressage and jumping competition, became part of the Olympic program as of the 1912 Games. (For decades, only military officers were permitted to ride in Olympic equestrian competition.)
As a result of this blending, modern dressage is considered to be both an Olympic sport and a systematic, logical progression of training that lays the foundation for training horses for many types of functional performances. In other words, dressage as we know it today is a combination of wartime maneuvers and art.
I’ve depicted this evolution in my history tree. At the roots and base of the tree are the beginning of people’s recorded history with the horse, starting with 400 BC. The tree’s trunk and branches symbolize the progressive development of our relationship with the horse, along with the primary countries and schools where the art of dressage was developed. Now let’s take a ride through dressage history as I explain five major equestrian milestones in more detail.
Ancient Greece
Around 400 BC, the Greek warrior, philosopher, and historian Xenophon wrote the first known book on horsemanship, The Art of Horsemanship. Many of the principles he laid down remain true today—which demonstrates that although many things about horsemanship have changed with the times, the fundamental principles of training horses have not.
The ancient Greeks did not have saddles, so people rode either bareback or on what we would call saddle cloths. Their horses were small and agile. Some of their bits and bridles were crude by modern standards—but even then, many of our modern forms existed.
Xenophon taught his soldiers and horses fine horsemanship skills for battle. To ensure control over their mounts, he insisted that riders have full command of their horses’ haunches—which is considered the fundamental of classical equestrianism.
War games and sporting events, such as throwing the javelin from horseback and hunting, were also popular at this time. Flat racing and chariot racing were among the most popular sports.
Knights and Chargers
Moving up the history tree, we take a big jump from ancient Greece to the 11th century, the Medieval period. During this time, horses and styles of riding changed drastically; and large, heavy breeds of horses were needed to carry heavily armored warriors.
Every man who had to perform a service at arms was known as a knight. Knights used heavy lances and saddles with high pommels to protect them in front. To joust successfully in battle or in sporting competition, a knight needed a firm seat, courage, and the ability to ride his charger straight at the enemy and the skill to pull him up short and turn around and charge again.
(Here, as throughout history, we encounter horses behaving contrary to their nature in the service of humans. Is this a slave doing his master’s bidding, or is there a connection between human and horse that transcends the horse’s natural impulses and creates a partnership? The horse may be a constant servant, but he is no slave.)
The first fighting games of the knights, known as tournaments, were probably mock battles. Even as games, jousting matches often ended in bloodshed or death. As sport and exhibition, jousting is alive and well today, and can be found at Renaissance fairs and in other settings. Modern jousting lances have blunt, rounded heads for safety.
Going for Baroque
Now we move up the history tree into the Renaissance period, which encompassed the 15th through 17th centuries.
The enlightenment of the Renaissance and the Elizabethan Age brought refinement and a greater humanitarianism to the art of riding. Methods of training horses, which had become cruel and brutal, evolved back to kinder and more humane, as in the days of Xenophon.
It was with the invention of firearms that cavalry warfare began requiring agile mounts that were capable of defensive and offensive maneuvers. The exercises, which are cultivated and refined adaptations of movements and leaps that some horses perform naturally while at liberty, required extreme collection and strength; and the mounts were what are now called Baroque horses—compact, with powerful hindquarters that enable them to collect well under themselves. Today, these include the Iberian breeds, such as the Lipizzan and the Lusitano, the latter of which later also became popular as a bullfighting mount.
Here are some examples of the highly sophisticated equestrian battle maneuvers that were developed during this time. A highly trained horse (generally a stallion, chosen for his strength) could rescue his rider from a desperate situation in battle by means of a capriole, which at the same time would repulse the opponent with a blow of his hind hooves. In the levade, the horse used his own body to protect his rider from enemy fire and also literally raised the man above the fray for better sight lines. A pirouette enabled a rider to maneuver nimbly.
Anyone who is familiar with the Spanish Riding School of Vienna and its white Lipizzan stallions will recognize these haute école exercises. The Spanish Riding School and other famous riding schools emerged during this period, and today these equestrian institutions strive to keep classical horsemanship and the “airs above the ground” and other advanced exercises alive.
Naturally, many great masters of horsemanship also emerged during this period; and dressage took on a dual role, as both an equestrian warfare technique and an art practiced for its own sake. Exhibitions of equestrian skill became common as dressage displays became entertainment in all the fashionable courts of this period, especially in Italy, England, France, and Spain.
The Cavalry Rides In
Every period in the history of riding encompasses the military. In the 19th and 20th centuries, military schools incorporated dressage into the education of cavalry officers, some of whom became the horsemanship masters of their day, training scores of enlisted men at cavalry schools. The Thoroughbred and crossbred Thoroughbred types, rather than Baroque breeds, became the most desirable cavalry mounts because of their speed, stamina, and agility, including jumping prowess. Cavalry mounts had to be highly maneuverable, able to travel long distances over uneven terrain, and capable of navigating fences, ditches, streams, and other natural obstacles they encountered along the way.
Many of the movements that we use in dressage competition today are Renaissance-era battle maneuvers transformed into equestrian art. Cavalries of the time did not do airs above the ground, but cavalry mounts were schooled in such as movements as shoulder-in, half-pass, flying changes, canter pirouettes, and extended and collected gaits.
This era also ushered in the beginning of what we recognize as modern equestrian competition. The 1912 Olympic Games at Stockholm featured Military (eventing), jumping, and dressage competition—all, of course, for military officers only.
In the 1950s, after World War II, the cavalry became mechanized and there was no longer a need for horses and riders in the army. The era of the military horse was over, and horseback riding became primarily a leisure pastime and a sport. Olympic equestrian competition subsequently was opened to civilians, and the former cavalry masters assumed important roles in educating civilian riders, as well as in judging equestrian events.
The Horse in Sport
The sport of dressage as we know it today blends its military and courtly roots. It is now up to us to preserve the age-old art of dressage that has been passed down through the centuries.
When we watch dressage as spectators, we should be delighted with the beauty of harmony between horse and rider. The horse must enjoy his work for the rider to have joy. He is our heritage, and it is our privilege to let him carry us in our quest to preserve that which we have learned from the past as we journey into the future as partners.
As Xenophon wrote:
“And none will tire of looking at him as long as he will display himself in his splendor.”
