Dressage Rider in the Arena coloring page

About this coloring page

This dressage rider brings to mind a sport often called horse ballet. In dressage, horse and rider perform a set of precise, graceful movements, and judges score how smoothly and willingly the horse responds to signals so subtle they are nearly invisible.

The roots of dressage go back a long way. The ancient Greek writer Xenophon wrote about training horses with patience and gentle hands, and centuries later European riding academies refined exercises to prepare horses for royalty and cavalry. Today dressage is an Olympic sport, and riders work up through levels from training level to Grand Prix.

Some of its best-known moves include the piaffe, a rhythmic trot in place; the passage, a slow, springy trot that looks almost like floating; and flying changes, where the horse switches its lead leg mid-canter, sometimes every single stride so it seems to skip. In freestyle tests, riders perform their own routine set to music.

A dressage horse needs years of steady training to build strength, balance and suppleness. The rider needs excellent posture too, because legs, seat and hands are how the rider talks to the horse.

• dressage
• rider
• horses
• equestrian
• sports