Maribeth Dunlap Dressage

USDF Glossary of Judging Terms

(This is not the complete list; only those terms most related to the horse score in vaulting are listed here.)

Acceptance - Lack of evasion, resistance, or protest; acquiescence. Used in reference to the horse's unresistant willingness to allow the maintenance of a steady contact, the application of aids, and/or the placement of the rider's weight.

Activity Energy, vigor, liveliness - referring especially to that of the hindlegs.

Alignment - The lining up of the horse's body parts from tail to poll.

Balance -  Relative distribution of the weight of horse and rider upon the fore and hind legs (longitudinal balance) and the left and right legs (lateral balance). The horse is in good balance when the weight is distributed evenly left and right, and sufficiently toward the rear legs that it can easily manage the task at hand. Loss of balance means the sudden increase of weight onto the forehand and/or to one side.

Beat -

1. A footfall within a gait. A hoof, or pair of hooves virtually simultanosly striking the ground. By this definition the walk has four beats, the trot has two, and the canter three.

2. The emphasized beat (as in music). By this definition the walk has two beats, the trot has two and the canter has one beat.

Behind the Vertical  - The head position in which the horse's nostril falls behind the imaginary vertical line dropped from the horse's eye (i.e., toward the chest). The horse may or may not be behind the bit.

Bend  - The laterally arced position in which the horse's body appears to form an even curve from poll to tail.  Examples of faulty bend are: bending only in the neck, only at the base of the neck, or bent the wrong direction.

Cadence  - The marked accentuation of the rhythm and (musical) beat that is a result of a steady and suitable tempo harmonizing with a springy impulsion.

Carriage - The posture of the horse, most easily evaluated when the horse's profile or outline.

Connection  - State in which there is no blockage, break, or slack in the circuit that joins horse and rider into a single harmonious unit. The unrestricted flow of energy and influence from and through the rider to and throughout the horse, and back to the rider. See throughness.

Constrained  - Forced or compelled against the will, resulting in undue sustained muscular contraction. E.g., the horse may be constrained to bend, or flex, or to move forward at speed.

Constricted - Limited by constraint, restraint, or sustained muscular contraction. Held together, forcefully shortened, or physically tight.

Correctness  - The straightness of the action of the limbs (e.g., faults would be winging, paddling, ringing hocks). Not the same as Purity. Dressage judges deal with Correctness only indirectly; that is, to the degree that it affects the purity or quality of the gait. Breeding class judges address Correctness directly.

Cross-Canter - The horse canters on one lead in front and the other lead behind. Same as Disunited. Disunited Same as Cross-Canter.

Elasticity - The ability or tendency to stretch and contract the musculature smoothly, giving the impression of "stretchiness" or "springiness".

Engagement -  Increased flexion of the joints of the hind legs, during its weight-bearing phase. This causes a relative lowering of the quarters/raising of the forehand, thus shifting more of the task of loading-bearing to the hindquarters. A prerequisite for upward thrust/impulsion. Engagement is not flexion of the hocks or "hock action" in which the joints of the hind legs are markedly flexed while the leg is in the air. Nor is engagement merely the length of the step of the hind leg forward toward the horse's girth - that is reach of the hind leg.

Evasion - Avoidance of the difficulty, correctness, or purpose of the movement, often without active resistance or disobedience (e.g., tilting head, open mouth, broken neckline, etc.). Bit evasions are means of avoiding correct contact with the bit.

Flexion  - Articulation of a joint so that the angle between the bones is decreased. Lateral and longitudinal flexion are commonly referred to as flexion "at the poll".

Impulsion - Thrust. Releasing of the energy stored by engagement. In dressage, impulsion is associated with a phase of suspension such as exists in trot and canter, but does not exist in walk. Therefore, impulsion is not applicable to the walk. [Note: It may be enlightening to compare the original French with the later English translation of the FEI score sheets under "Impulsion." The English translation of the French reads, "the desire to move forward," whereas what the French actually says is, "the desire to carry himself forward" ("Le desire de se porter en avant").]

Obedience - Willingness to perform the movement, transition, or figure asked by the rider. May demonstrate resistance or evasion, yet still be obedient (e.g., the horse may perform a series of flying changes without mistakes and in the right place, but is behind the bit, tilted in the head with mouth open and tail swishing, reluctant to cover enough ground, etc., thus he obediently performs the task, but not necessarily submissively, supplely, etc.).

On the Aids - Well-connected, on the bit, in front of the leg, and responsive.

Pace  -

1. The variation within the gait; e.g., collected, working, lengthened, medium, extended. The variation in meters per minute occurs ideally because of the change in stride length, with no change in tempo. [NOTE: The FEI Rules for Dressage are at this time without any specific term for what in English (per Webster) is correctly called "pace." Further, the FEI translation of the French l'allure was "pace," rather than the more exact English translation of "gait".]

2. A gait in which the lateral pairs of legs move in unison (also called "amble") - not a dressage gait.

Poll - The highest point of the horse's skull (the occipital crest). In common dressage usage, "flexion at the poll" refers to the longitudinal or lateral flexion of the joint immediately behind the poll.

Purity - Correctness of the order and timing of the footfalls of the gaits.

Quality - The quality of a gait refers to its freedom/amplitude, elasticity, fluency, etc. Not the same as Purity or Correctness.

Resistance - Physical opposition by the horse against the rider. Not synonymous with disobedience nor with Evasion. Can be momentary or pervasive.

Rhythm  - The characteristic sequence of footfalls and phases of a given gait. For purposes of dressage, the only correct rhythms are those of the pure walk, pure trot, and pure canter (not those of amble, pace, rack, etc.). [NOTE: Rhythm is sometimes used mistakenly to mean tempo; this usage is not consistent with the correct English definition of "rhythm" (per Webster), nor with its normal usage in the music world.]

Scope - Amplitude (reach and roundness) of movement.

Self-Carriage - State in which the horse carries itself without taking support or balancing on the rider's hand.

Straightness -  

1. Parallelism to required line of travel (e.g. haunches neither left nor right of centerline)

2. Alignment of body parts appropriate to the task at hand (e.g. not a popped shoulder or twisted neck).

3. Directness of line of travel (e.g. not weaving).

Submission  - Compliance. Throughness and Obedience. The yielding of the horse's will to that of the rider, as revealed by a constant attention, willingness, and confidence in the attitude of the horse, as well as by the harmony and ease displayed in the correct execution of the movements, including correct bend, acceptance of and obedience to the rider's aids, and a balance appropriate to the task at hand.

Suppleness  - Pliability; ability to smoothly adjust the carriage (longitudinally) and the position or bend (laterally), without impairment of the flow of movement, or of the balance.

Suspension - The moment or phase of the trot or canter in which the horse has no feet on the ground.

Tempo -  Beats per minute, as would be determined by a metronome. [NOTE: Some Europeans use the term "tempo" to refer to what in English is more correctly called Pace.]

Throughness  - The supple, elastic, unblocked, connected state of the horse's musculature that permits an unrestricted flow of energy from back to front and front to back, which allows the aids/influences to freely go through to all parts of the horse (e.g., the rein aids go through and reach and influence the hind legs). Synonymous with the German term "Durchlaessigkeit," or "throughlettingness." See Connection.