Dressage Today

14/01/2026

🐴 🗨️Dressage Today Caption Contest!🗨️🐴 We asked for your best captions for this photo of a very patient horse standing guard while his rider visits the Porta-Potty during a show.

⁣Check out these fun responses from our amazing DT community!⁣

“Why are you nervous? I’m the one everyone is looking at!”
~ Nancy O.

"If I have to walk and p**p during the test so can you. I am giving you a solid 10 for hypocrisy Mom."
~ Erin E.

“Mum, please just come out! We’ll go again and I promise not to ditch you this time.”
~Audrey F.

“Not now Mum! We need to be entering at A in 30 seconds!”
~ Harriet F.

“Halt at Wee.”
~ Sara S.

“Just waiting for the right time to spook!”
~ Beth A.

“Why is my rider hiding in the box?”
~ Jason H.

“You could have used the corner of my stall.”
~ Michelle D.

Thank you all for giving us a laugh! 😃🐴

13/01/2026

🐴 “Wendy was really on fire yesterday. I’m happy that today she was so much more focused. We only started a little bit tense in the canter. I think we need a few more competitions in a row to get where we want to be. The piaffe, passage and canter pirouettes were fantastic today. Her little sneeze in the one-tempis caused a mistake, but today I got my two-tempis right.” 🐴
~Isabell Werth (GER) after winning the FEI Dressage World Cup™ qualifier in Basel, Switzerland with Wendy de Fontaine

After a fiery start to the weekend, Isabell Werth and Wendy de Fontaine won the Grand Prix Freestyle at Longines CHI Classics Basel. Click the link below to find out which FEI Dressage World Cup™ qualifiers Werth is targeting next. ⬇️

Isabell Werth won her first FEI Dressage World Cup™ qualifier of the season, while Charlotta Rogerson impressed at home.

12/01/2026

🐴"When a horse yields to the connection, it isn’t because a rider seesaws the bit or is rough with the connection. Instead, the rider is very patient and encourages the horse to relax his neck into a rounder frame. With the horse being on the bit, that rounder frame relaxes the muscle structure throughout his whole topline."🐴
~ Australian dressage trainer Brett Parbery during a dressage training session at Boyd Martin's 2025 Windurra Camp

Parbery breaks down three of the most basic concepts in dressage—control of the posture, control of the line and control of the pace—and explains why developing these skills is also useful for other disciplines. Click on the link below for his insights.

Australian dressage trainer Brett Parbery explains how dressage principles can be used for other disciplines.

12/01/2026

The horses know.​
The barn knows.​
Soon, you will too.​
Something exciting is coming, and it’s worth the wait.

12/01/2026

🐴❤️ “Since I started riding, I’ve been coming to this show and always hoped that one day I could do Friday Night Stars because it’s the epitome of amazing dressage freestyles in Florida. So, on that last centerline, I was just thinking, ‘Whoa, this is me doing this with the Indian Rock. I can’t believe it.’ It’s weird having a childhood dream come true in real time; this whole show has been surreal.” 🐴❤️
~Christian Simonson on winning the IDA Development FEI World Cup™ Grand Prix Freestyle at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival

Christian Simonson and Indian Rock wowed the judges and the crowd with a personal-best score of 81.445% for the FEI World Cup Finals qualifier win during the first week of the AGDF. Click the link below to read more of how the competition unfolded. ⬇️

Rising star Christian Simonson rode Indian Rock to a career high score to win the FEI World Cup™ Grand Prix Freestyle.

11/01/2026

🐴 Did You Know?🐴 The equine eye has the ability to create its own internal sun visor!

Iris cysts (often called corpora nigra) develop on the colored portion of the horse's eye, appearing as rounded structures along the margin of the pupil. While they're painless, slow growing and generally aren't a problem, they can become large enough to interfere with a horse’s vision, resulting in spooky behavior or headshaking.

But research from the Netherlands found that diode lasers (semiconductor devices that emit beams able to cut through soft tissue) can safely treat these cysts.

📸 Alana Harrison

10/01/2026

🐴 DT Barn Hacks!🐴 Use tennis balls on cross-ties to reduce noise and prevent injury.

We've all done it. You're in a rush to get to your lesson or turn your horse out, you unclip the cross-ties too quickly, and they smack against the nearby stalls, startling your horse and other people and horses in the barn. (Not to mention—if a cross-tie accidentally hit a horse or human in the face, it could cause serious harm.)

Create "quiet" cross-ties by attaching tennis balls to the clips. Simply (but carefully!) cut a slit on either side of two tennis balls, feed a double-ended snap through the slits and attach the snaps to your cross-ties.

09/01/2026

🐴"With regard to accuracy, remember that a volte or circle that is too big avoids the difficulty of the exercise, and so there should be a larger deduction for this inaccuracy. A circle or volte that is too small actually makes the exercise more difficult. Neither can be a 10."🐴
~ Janet Foy, on how to ride and judge circles, voltes and serpentines

Many dressage exercises are circles or voltes of varying sizes or exercises with partial circles connected by straight lines or changes of direction and learning how to ride them accurately will carry over to your other movements. Click on the link below for Janet Foy's advice on how to perfect your dressage horse's circles, voltes and serpentines.

Janet Foy explains correct ex*****on of circles, voltes and serpentines with tips for both dressage riders and judges.

08/01/2026

🐴 🎤NEW Dressage Today Podcast: Jenny Johnson and Sara Weiss from The Dressage Foundation🐴🎤

In this episode of the DT Podcast, Aviva and Stephany talk with Jenny Johnson and Sara Weiss about The Dressage Foundation and the various grants the non-profit organization offers to support dressage riders of all ages and levels in the U.S.

Plus, in the "Ask the L" segment, Aviva talks about the 2x coefficient in dressage tests.

Click on the link below to listen! Jenny and Sara’s enthusiasm for helping dressage riders of all levels is contagious, and you just might find a grant that's right for you!

Aviva and Stephany talk with Jenny Johnson and Sara Weiss about The Dressage Foundation and the various grants the non-profit organization offers to support dressage riders of all ages and levels in the U.S.

07/01/2026

🐴"In dressage, the halt is the only movement without movement. Asking a horse to stand still contradicts his natural flight instinct. Although he needs to remain 'forward-thinking'—ready to respond immediately to your aids—he also needs to be relaxed and quiet in his body."🐴
~ Volker Brommann, on how to improve your dressage horse's halt

In Part 1 of this two-part series, FEI trainer Volker Brommann breaks down the four stages of performing a quality halt and explains how you can improve your halts by using a foundation of trust, understanding and patience with your horse.

Click on the link below to learn how you can develop better halts with your dressage horse!

In Part 1 of this two-part series, FEI trainer Volker Brommann breaks down the four stages of performing a quality halt and explains how you can improve your halts by using a foundation of trust, understanding and patience with your horse.

06/01/2026

The clock is ticking. The anticipation is building. And we're almost ready for you to find out what it is. Keep your leg on, we're almost there.