Act 25: Dressage It Up

Though we all grew up riding and showing horses, my sister Chrissy is the only one of my family to still be actively involved with the animal and the sport. For the last 5 years she has been showing Dressage, which for those who don’t know is kind of the ‘fancy footwork’ of horsemanship. The tests contain a series of movements that showcase the horse’s gaits, such as collected walk, medium trot, extended trot, and extended canter as well as other movements such as pirouettes (like the ballet movement), zigzags, and lead changes.


For non-horsey people it might be hard to understand what it all entails but its tough stuff to do well, and Chrissy does it well. There are 8 levels of dressage show total: 4 lower (amateur) and 4 upper (professional). The highest level is Grand Prix. In the last 5 years Chrissy has trained and showed them all. It’s been a long journey, with her regularly riding 4 times per week. Now she’s thinking about hanging up her boots for a while and starting a family and her last show, at least for the near future, was this past weekend. So I went to see her perform!

Despite knowing the movements and being familiar with the sport due to her involvement, and seeing videos of most of her rides over the years, this was actually my first dressage show in person (I’ve seen several hunter/jumper shows though). And thus the first time I saw her ride in a show. Unfortunately the spring/fall show schedule doesn’t work well when I only fly to Georgia for the holidays.

All this made it extra special to see her ride now. And to make it even more special, I didn’t tell her I was coming so it was a surprise! I love surprises. My mom picked me up from the airport and took me to Chrissy’s hotel, where I popped out from behind a corner causing her to scream and practically jump off the bed. :-)

Riders generally show both Saturday and Sunday, one ride for each class they are competing in. Chrissy was competing in one class. She rode Saturday morning and had a decent ride, but Patrick (her horse) stumbled during one of the movements and it was hard to get a rhythm back after that. Though the score was a little disappointing for her, the rest of the day was great. She and I stayed at the show while the rest of the family went to do other things. We helped her teammates when they needed it and watched them compete, watched other shows, and spent some quality time with Patrick. I don’t get to spend much time alone with Chrissy anymore so it was a great afternoon of catching up on boys, family, work, hobbies, and everything else we could think of. That night the whole family sat in the lobby of the hotel playing card games and being generally a bit rowdy (as my family is known to do during card games).

On Sunday Chrissy & Patrick rode again and they were fantastic, got a great score, and ended with her grinning from ear to ear. It was a special moment and I’m glad I got to share it with her. Definitely made the plane ticket worth every penny. =)