By Jennifer Klitzke

Schooling dressage shows are a terrific way to get feedback from a dressage professional as to where you and your horse are at with balance, rhythm, connection, engagement, relaxation, harmony,  accuracy of the required movements, gait quality, and your balanced riding position and effective use and timing of your leg, seat, and rein aids. The score sheets provide terrific feedback from a trained dressage professional to confirm what is going well, what needs to improve, and when you and your horse are ready to move up a level.

Where to Show Gaited Dressage

After a 16-year break from competitive dressage, I never imagined that I’d return to the dressage arena on a horse that didn’t trot!

In 2007, I purchased Gift of Freedom, a just turning three-year-old Tennessee walking horse filly with 20 rides on her. I knew nothing about gaited horses. All I knew is that I wanted SMOOTH and out of default dressage became our method of communication. I wasn’t sure if dressage and gaited horses went together‒we would just have to give it a try.

Then in 2010, I learned of a schooling dressage show in my area, so I contacted the show manager and asked if I could ride my gaited horse using the National Walking Horse Association tests which are patterned after the United States Dressage Federation tests with flat walk and running walk replacing trot.

Thankfully the show manager and judge accommodated us. I received the feedback I was seeking to know where we were at in our training.

Since 2010 I’ve ridden 60 dressage tests at traditional schooling dressage shows. These low key, beginner-friendly shows are a terrific way to get feedback from a trained dressage professional as to where we are at with balance, rhythm, connection, engagement, relaxation, harmony, accuracy of the required movements, gait quality, and my riding position and effective use and timing of leg, seat, and rein aids.

The judge makes comments to a scribe during my test that are written on a score sheet. This feedback is so helpful to confirm what is established in our training, areas we still need to work on, and when we are ready to move to the next level of training.

If showing dressage with your naturally gaited horse is something you’d like to try, below are a few ways to get it started in your area.

Where to show gaited dressage in your area:

1. Take dressage lessons

If you’re lucky enough to live by a gaited dressage instructor, start taking regular lessons. If not, join a local dressage club to connect with dressage riders and start taking lessons with an open-minded dressage instructor who will teach you a balanced riding position and effective use and timing of your leg, seat, and rein aids as you learn how to direct your gaited horse into relaxation, balance, rhythm, connection, engagement, straightness, and collection in your horse’s easy gait. A dressage instructor can help you connect with local schooling shows.

2. Find traditional schooling dressage shows in your area through a local dressage club

Contact the show manager in advance and ask if you can enter your naturally gaited horse using FOSH, NWHA, or Western gaited dressage tests. Then mail the tests with your entry so that the judge can get familiar with the tests before the show. (I have found that the NWHA tests have been easier to accommodate for traditional dressage schooling shows since they are patterned after the USDF test that the judges are already familiar with.)

3. Find a gaited horse show and volunteer to help coordinate dressage classes

Ask a gaited breed show manager if they would be open to offering gaited dressage classes and then get a few friends to help you organize it.

Details include setting up the dressage ring with letters and ropes or chains and a judge table with two chairs, hiring an “r” judge, finding volunteers to scribe, be the ring steward, organize the order of ride times in advance, informing the riders of their times, completing the score sheets after each test is ridden, and post the percentages for all to see.

4. Organize a schooling dressage show in your area

Organize a show that is open to gaited, western dressage, and traditional dressage riders. If you have a riding facility, this can be a money-making opportunity for you and a way to reach new boarders and students.

5. Submit your video to virtual schooling shows

Here’s an exciting collaboration between Friends of Sound Horses (FOSH) and North American Western Dressage (NAWD) which allows for inclusive competition with other naturally gaited horse and rider teams worldwide without ever leaving your backyard!

In 2013, FOSH introduced a Gaited Dressage program for live showing where you submit copies of your tests at the end of the year for awards. In addition to the Traditional live show category, FOSH has expanded the Gaited Dressage program to include a “Virtual” category using the NAWD Virtual Schooling Show “Gaits Wide Open” platform.  The FOSH Gaited Dressage rules apply to both the Traditional and Virtual categories. Each category will be awarded separately, yet you may choose to participate in both.

The FOSH Virtual Schooling Show “Gaits Wide Open” category is open to Western (and English) gaited dressage using any of the tests included in the FOSH Independent Judges Association Manual for Gaited Dressage (pdf). All Virtual Gaited Dressage tests will be judged by licensed IJA dressage judges.

For more information about the FOSH Gaited Dressage Program, visit Friends of Sound Horses Gaited Dressage Program.

For more information about the NAWD Virtual Schooling Shows, visit North American Western Association Virtual Schooling Shows.

I long for the day when I’m not the only gaited dressage entry riding among the trotting horses in my area. My hope is that this longing will soon be satisfied as gaited dressage grows in popularity.

Do you show your naturally gaited horse in dressage? If so, I’d love to hear from you. Please reach out and share your story by sending me a message.Or stay connected by subscribing to the Naturally Gaited youtube channel and joining our community on facebook.com/naturallygaited.