───● Fundamentals ●───
#1 Rule ━ Always go on go (you should look ahead on your screen).
#2 Rule ━ While in split or comb moves, always ride one horse ahead of your lead/partner to stay aligned!
#3 Rule ━ Always ride the outer lines of the arena.
(Riding on the outside dots will ensure an even arena!)
4 Basic Gaits in Dressage
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
A “gait” is a horse's way of moving/the speed they move in.
Walk ━ The first gait, one tab up from a halt.
Trot ━ The second gait, two tabs up from a halt.
Canter ━ The third gait, three tabs up from a halt.
Extended Canter ━ The fourth gait, four tabs up from a halt.
Halting
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
Halting is essential for bringing your riders to a stop. Here's how to make it look nice.
Halt Set ━ When a rider calls a "halt set", all riders in the line will begin to walk. On "go" the line lead stops, and everyone else will walk forward and stop NTT to the rider in front of them.
Halt Rule ━ It's always better to stop earlier than you think you should, adjusting forward. You should never stop inside of the person in front of you, if you have to back up it will ripple affect everyone behind you and not look great.
Arena Notes
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Arena Points ━ Activated by the rake at the entrance of the RA, the arena points provide accurate riding and meter measurements.
Mid Letters ━ All letters that mark the middle of an arena wall (A, B, C, E).
Corner Letters ━ All letters that are just inside of the corners of the arena (F, M, H, K).
Slant Lines ━ 45° lines on the arena floor used for slant moves, you can use the arena points to visualize slants or the pebbled lines on the ground.
Corners
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
Square Corner ━ A true 90 degree corner for which you hold down your arrow key, then release it when straight. (Also known as a L corner)
Round Corner ━ Turn a corner by tapping your arrow key, then stop tapping when straight. (Also known as a J corner)
Line Labels
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
Primary Labels ━ In every line, label yourself from the front of the line as an “odd” numbered rider or an “even” numbered rider in that line. If your line splits, relabel yourself within the new line (new primary labels). Odds ride odd moves in the direction called, while even’s will go in the opposite direction.
Secondary Labels ━ Label the line in numbered pairs (1, 1, 2, 2 etc). If the command “secondary” is added to a move, pairs labeled 1 will ride the move in the direction called, while pairs labeled 2 will ride the move in the opposite direction.
Directions
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
Default Left ━ Left is the assumed direction in Dressage. If your commander does not specify a direction for a move, always go left! When passing another rider or line, pass left boot to left boot.
In/Out Directions ━ When riding in split lines, the word “in” means to towards the other line, while “out” means away from the other line.
Moves & Cues
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
Cut Mid ━Cut the arena at the nearest mid letter (A, B, C, or E).
Cut on Go ━ On go, lead will cut 90 degrees and travel straight across the arena.
Dye ━ Ride from corner to corner of the arena.
Curl ━ On go, hold your arrow key in the gait (speed) you are currently in to complete a full circle.
Gait Curl - Curl in the gait asked, but return to the gait you were originally in after your curl.
Pick Curl - Curl in the gait asked and continue forward in the gait you curled.
Curl Over ━ All riders do half of a curl on go, without adjusting to the original track. This reverses the line order and direction.
Belt ━ On go (for a set) or at the wall, the leader will curl over in the direction asked, all others follow the leader.
Stem ━ When a rider is told to stem, they will curl over out of line and then curl over back onto the end of the line. Riders do this one at a time.
Comb ━ All riders cut across the arena on go. You will appear one horse ahead of everyone else on your screen (comb alignment).
Angle ━ On go, lead will cut 45 degrees and travel at a slant across the arena with riders following in-line.
Slant ━ On go, all riders slant in the direction said, aligning with the slanted lines on the ground. You will appear side by side with the rider in front (slant alignment).
Cut Back ━ From a slant or comb, all riders cut back towards their lead to be in their original line order.
Halt Set ━ All riders walk on “set”, leader stops on “go” . All other riders walk up to be NTT.
X ━ On "go", everyone will press X to halt instantly.
Hard Stop ━ All riders stop on go by pressing down the arrow key as quickly as possible.
Pivot ━ ¼, ½, ¾, or full (360). Turn your horse the amount asked from a halt.
Rear ━ Wait for a step back, then press X (back key, X).
#1 Rule ━ Always go on go (you should look ahead on your screen).
#2 Rule ━ While in split or comb moves, always ride one horse ahead of your lead/partner to stay aligned!
#3 Rule ━ Always ride the outer lines of the arena.
(Riding on the outside dots will ensure an even arena!)
4 Basic Gaits in Dressage
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
A “gait” is a horse's way of moving/the speed they move in.
Walk ━ The first gait, one tab up from a halt.
Trot ━ The second gait, two tabs up from a halt.
Canter ━ The third gait, three tabs up from a halt.
Extended Canter ━ The fourth gait, four tabs up from a halt.
Halting
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
Halting is essential for bringing your riders to a stop. Here's how to make it look nice.
Halt Set ━ When a rider calls a "halt set", all riders in the line will begin to walk. On "go" the line lead stops, and everyone else will walk forward and stop NTT to the rider in front of them.
Halt Rule ━ It's always better to stop earlier than you think you should, adjusting forward. You should never stop inside of the person in front of you, if you have to back up it will ripple affect everyone behind you and not look great.
Arena Notes
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
Arena Points ━ Activated by the rake at the entrance of the RA, the arena points provide accurate riding and meter measurements.
Mid Letters ━ All letters that mark the middle of an arena wall (A, B, C, E).
Corner Letters ━ All letters that are just inside of the corners of the arena (F, M, H, K).
Slant Lines ━ 45° lines on the arena floor used for slant moves, you can use the arena points to visualize slants or the pebbled lines on the ground.
Corners
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
Square Corner ━ A true 90 degree corner for which you hold down your arrow key, then release it when straight. (Also known as a L corner)
Round Corner ━ Turn a corner by tapping your arrow key, then stop tapping when straight. (Also known as a J corner)
Line Labels
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
Primary Labels ━ In every line, label yourself from the front of the line as an “odd” numbered rider or an “even” numbered rider in that line. If your line splits, relabel yourself within the new line (new primary labels). Odds ride odd moves in the direction called, while even’s will go in the opposite direction.
Secondary Labels ━ Label the line in numbered pairs (1, 1, 2, 2 etc). If the command “secondary” is added to a move, pairs labeled 1 will ride the move in the direction called, while pairs labeled 2 will ride the move in the opposite direction.
Directions
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
Default Left ━ Left is the assumed direction in Dressage. If your commander does not specify a direction for a move, always go left! When passing another rider or line, pass left boot to left boot.
In/Out Directions ━ When riding in split lines, the word “in” means to towards the other line, while “out” means away from the other line.
Moves & Cues
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
Cut Mid ━Cut the arena at the nearest mid letter (A, B, C, or E).
Cut on Go ━ On go, lead will cut 90 degrees and travel straight across the arena.
Dye ━ Ride from corner to corner of the arena.
Curl ━ On go, hold your arrow key in the gait (speed) you are currently in to complete a full circle.
Gait Curl - Curl in the gait asked, but return to the gait you were originally in after your curl.
Pick Curl - Curl in the gait asked and continue forward in the gait you curled.
Curl Over ━ All riders do half of a curl on go, without adjusting to the original track. This reverses the line order and direction.
Belt ━ On go (for a set) or at the wall, the leader will curl over in the direction asked, all others follow the leader.
Stem ━ When a rider is told to stem, they will curl over out of line and then curl over back onto the end of the line. Riders do this one at a time.
Comb ━ All riders cut across the arena on go. You will appear one horse ahead of everyone else on your screen (comb alignment).
Angle ━ On go, lead will cut 45 degrees and travel at a slant across the arena with riders following in-line.
Slant ━ On go, all riders slant in the direction said, aligning with the slanted lines on the ground. You will appear side by side with the rider in front (slant alignment).
Cut Back ━ From a slant or comb, all riders cut back towards their lead to be in their original line order.
Halt Set ━ All riders walk on “set”, leader stops on “go” . All other riders walk up to be NTT.
X ━ On "go", everyone will press X to halt instantly.
Hard Stop ━ All riders stop on go by pressing down the arrow key as quickly as possible.
Pivot ━ ¼, ½, ¾, or full (360). Turn your horse the amount asked from a halt.
Rear ━ Wait for a step back, then press X (back key, X).
