Equestrian Lessons

Today, I'm going to explain some horsey type lingo that much of the general public are unaware of. Equestrianism is the art of riding a horse. the first thing to know is that there are many different disciplines within the equestrian sport. To begin with, there are two styles: English, and Western. Why isn't it English and, say, Swedish? Or Western and Northern? I don't know..but I do know the sport has been around for hundreds of years. Western is the style most people imagine when I mention riding horses. Cowboys, lassos, spiky spurs, galloping across plains..you get the picture. I can't stand western riding. Don't get me wrong, it's great for many people. But for my personal enjoyment, I stick with English. Now, within English type riding, there are many facets as well. Showjumping, XC, dressage, eventing, racing, and hunter/jumper, to name a few. I've always loved the thrill of jumping, but for now I'll stick to talking mainly about the sport I'm competitive in: Dressage. 
Dressage is dancing, sort of ballet on horseback. the word is of French origin, (though it was the Germans who were credited with the classical method of training). Most simply translated, dressage means "training." It would take much too long to go into the history here, so I will just say that watching dressage is to see horse and rider as one entity, the horse seemingly reading the rider's mind and literally dancing a choreographed test around the ring. 
There are 9 levels in dressage. We start at the most basic of all, Training Level, and those who excel the most make it up eventually to Grand Prix, in which we see the most complex and difficult moves a horse can perform.  It takes decades of blood, sweat and tears to reach Grand Prix level. 

pirouette/Grand Prix

I'm currently at the beginning of my dressage career, so I'm still learning fundamentals. But more about that later!