The Arena
Arena Basics
The circled point is known as X.
It is the brightest dot and has a small dark dot in the middle.
This is the dead center of the arena and is super important to understanding the rest of the arena as a whole.
The main arena letters are:
A, C, B, & E
These letters on the midline and centerline.
K, F, H, & M
Are the letters on the dye lines.
V, R, P, & S
Are secondary letters.
Two dark lines go through both middles of the arenas, these are known as the midline and centerline.
Although they both go through the middle of the arena, they have separate names to differentiate the two.
These lines are used for markers and cuts.
These lines are the main lines that run across the arena horizontally.
Known as the:
1/8 line (trot line)
1/4 line
1/2 line
3/4 line (wide tier)
These lines work on both sides of the arena and are like using the arena letters, just on the short sides.
Dye Lines
When you dye, you cut across the arena diagonally.
When you do so you always want to make sure you do a legal dye.
LEGAL vs. ILLEGAL DYES
Whenever you do a dye, it should make a Z shape across the arena and reverse your direction.
Within TRR we like to say that you should be going to a corner, and then from a corner. This means there are never any tight or angular turns, and that everything follows a nice and linear path.
An illegal dye takes very weird and sharp turns where ou go into the dye the 'wrong way' and then end in a sharp turn.
Diagonally across the arena
'From a corner, to a corner'
When in the arena, you will notice a dotted pattern.
These dots signify the different numbers of lines within the arena.
You can always do your cuts, combs, and other functions based on just the arena letters, but the meter line systems will bring a more in-depth understanding to your dressage.
Arena Lines (vertical)
You will notice there are two sets of each line. The lines are labeled 1 through 5 and can refer to parts of the arena in more detail. If you are trotting towards B/E, you are below B/E; if you are trotting away from B/E, you are above B/E.
The term for calling this would be like so 'cut above B1' or 'Cut below E5'.
These will be most handy for routine work and more complex shapes and cuts.
You will not need numbered lines on the short sides of the arena as you have the secondary arena lines.
Slant Lines
The 45-degree lines cut diagonally across the arena.
These can go left, right, back, or forward.
There are specific tips for slants and recognition, listed on another page, but for the most part, slants are quite simple, except when you are at slant math.
Always remember that a slant + a slant equals straight.
Arena Quadrants
The arena is broken into 'quadrants'.
These breaks are like pizza slices and help divide the arena.
When building a routine, you want to make sure you have moves and shapes in every single part of the arena, for the most unique and interesting routine.
All quadrants are divided between dye or mid lines.
Basic Arena PAtterns
The lines going down the arena hit through the bright dots.
The bright dots are the main lines we use going through the arena, but it is also important to recognize the spacing in between.
The spacings can be hard to see from above, but on the ground are super visible.
You will see the whole arena is a pattern of pebbles, dots and spacings.
You will see that there are 2 pebble lines in between each dotted line.
Those pebble lines represent the 1/4th between dots.
And the tiny dark dots going down the middle between the two dotted lines represent the middle, so 1/2.
These spacers are not exacts, but rather important markers to understand.
Feel free to watch our comprehensive course on the arena.
There are so many tips and tricks when it comes to visualizing the arena.
These are just some of the basics.
Coming up with your own tips, tricks, and sayings is what will help you the most in the long run.
You can also take a look at our resources page to print some flash cards, or even build your own dressage binder.
At the end of the day, this si for your own personal growth, so make it fun, and enjoyable in anyway you see fit.
Meter Points
Each dotted line is 1 meter away from itself, anything in between can be represented as a fraction, percent, or decimal of the meter.
Take the pebble tracks for example.
That would be .25 meters.
1 meter is about 3 feet, so you can think of them as being only somewhat distanced apart.
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This can be applied to any point in the arena, except circles, which take on the size they would naturally be (in real riding, the circle sizes stated ae about proportional to the SSO arena.
Learning the arena meters, pebble tracks, and lines will most definitely take some time, but why not start now?
TRR hosts weekly open lessons, and anyone is more than encouraged to come.
Star Stable dressage is on of those things where there is no one way to do things, and that's what the minimalistic method tries to highlight.