Dressage Etiquette & Expectations
Respecting your Commander and Peers
Commanders work extremely hard to provide clear and engaging lessons, so showing them the utmost respect should just be basic expectation.
Staying on mute during active points in the lesson is super important. Unless you are asking a question, or have been asked to speak, you should always be muted. Talking over, or correcting your commanders is rude and disruptive.
Keeping side conversations to a minimum is also an important way to show your commander that you are paying attention. If something funny is mentioned, of course, you can laugh, or comment, but make sure you keep typing specifically to a minimum.
If you are playing music, or some quiet podcast in the background, make sure that you can still clearly hear the instructions.
Also wearing headphones helps if you aren't completely alone.
Making sure the environment is safe for everyone. Mistakes and mess-ups are more than okay. You don't learn without making mistakes, so when people mess up, be kind, and just politely continue trot forward, or finish the move (If they go the wrong way for a wave, focus on yourself).
Focus on yourself. Dressage is for your own personal learning. During odd/even moves try to only focus on your assigned part, the commander rides out of line for a reason; the reason being so they can manage the line.
Communicating with your commander
Being able to effectively communicate with your commander is how you convey your understanding of moves, concepts, and ideas is crucial to your success.
COMMON COMMUNICATION PHRASES
Y = Yes
N = No
R = Repeat
/ = Understood
. = Confused/ need clarification
You may be wondering why the symbols are abbreviations/shortenings.
This is because typing during dressage is highly discouraged for a number of reasons, including;
- Typing can make you veer
- It can distract you from the content being taught
- Can make you lose control of your keys
- Ruin your timing
Keeping the communication to symbols and short letters is the most effective way to ride, and to understand your riders in line.
How to chat
In general, you shouldn't be typing during dressage, however, when you need to communicate with your commander you should be typing by hitting the RETURN KEY.
The return key is the short cut to open the chat window, so instead of moving your cursor to the other side of the screen, you can simply just hit the return key and then type in your symbol or letter.
Being able to effectively communicate with your commander is how you convey your understand of moves, conecepts, and ideas is crucial to your success.
Your commander should always have the chat window open.
Say Chat for Teams
Club chat for clubs
Questions
Say you have already typed a . in the chat, and now you have to ask your question. Depending on the complexity of the question you will step out of line and type your question (or unmute, case dependent). Once your commander has read your question they will respond and you can hop back into the line.
You can also always ask your commander to demonstrate the move or concept.
Arena Expectations
Despite your rank, you should always show up on the proper horse (maxed and happy) with the club/ team outfit.
Just because you are the owner doesn't give you a pass to break your own rules/expectations.
Always show up 5 minutes early.
When you enter the arena, you should always turn on your dots.
From here you should go line up with your horse's butt against the by B letter on the long side.
Your commander will then count you off into line by level and happiness.
While waiting for the rest of your line to be put together, keep talking to a minimum.
Defaults
The default direction of our method is left. If a direction isn't called, you need to go left.
This rule applies to odd and evens as well...
ODDS LEFT
EVENS RIGHT
If the commander makes a mistake, you can always default to the said directions.
Another default is participating actively in your lessons and clubs/teams.
Dressage is for you, and your personal growth, so if you don't enjoy it, don't do it.
It is unfair to those who want to ride actively, compete, and learn if you aren't being a respectful and polite member.