Day 1 riders set the stage at The Event

Just saying the word out loud makes eyes start to roll.

Even in a place where horsey people gather from around the world to be around each other and compete at some of their sport’s highest levels, dressage, the first phase of the equestrian triathlon, conjures up some combination of ambivalence, anxiety or downright derision.

Sarah Broussard, organizer of The Event at Rebecca Farm and a former competitor in eventing, which consists of cross-country, show jumping and dressage, loves the adrenaline rush that comes from her sport.

“And then there’s dressage,” she sighed on Thursday at Rebecca Farm.

Asking about what, exactly, is happening at a dressage competition isn’t, at least initially, a lot more inspiring.

“Prepare to be confused,” Sue Baxter, president of the three-person Ground Jury that serves as the judges for dressage and other two phases of eventing, said.

To dismiss dressage, however, is to do at a rider and spectator’s own peril, because the test of unity between horse and rider can lay bare deficiencies that could crush a pair’s chances at success in the more high-flying portions of the competition.

The Event opened Thursday with the dressage phase of the competition among the lower classes. The top classes — CCI2*, CIC3* and CCI3* — will compete in dressage today.

“The dressage is really a series of movements that challenge the horse’s flexibility, it’s balance, it’s training,” Baxter said. “It’s like in any sport, it almost looks easy if it’s done well.”

What dressage looks like is a little different depending on the level but consists mainly of horses moving in three different ways — walking, trotting and cantering. The horses are judged on their paces, their impulsion (what Baxter described as the horse’s “energy” when moving forward) and their submission to their rider. The riders are likewise judged on their effectiveness and position.

Broussard tried to explain it more simply.

“Dressage really shows obedience and a great communication — the ability for the rider to communicate very subtly,” she said. “That’s the thing about dressage, it’s supposed to look flawless, just like figure skating. You watch these skaters go around and it’s like they levitate up off the ground and that’s the idea with dressage.

“It shows harmony,” she continued. “That’s a good word. Harmony between the horse and rider.”

As odd as it might look to the layperson — dressage looks, essentially, like horses walking, at varying speeds, in circles — those who master dressage have a major leg up on their competition in the final two phases. Successful dressage riders are firmly in command of horses that are extremely balanced, disciplined and athletic.

“You have to be able to move forward in rhythm and longer strides but not quicker, and we’re teaching them to do that on the flat (ground),” Baxter said.

“That ability to encapsulate the energy or force without tension … if they stay relaxed in (dressage) as you’re asking them to go forward and come together, they’ve got more of a chance of being like that in the cross-country and then the whole thing is easier for them with a little bit of balance.”

Dressage is also the first phase of a three-day eventing competition, and it isn’t chosen as a horse and rider’s first test on accident.

“These horses are extremely fit and want to get out in cross-country and gallop,” Broussard said. “Now you’re asking them to go in the ring and really listen, have a walk. Sometimes the walk is the hardest gait of all of them because sometimes these horses want to run.”

Broussard, who said she competed in eventing because of the endorphin-inducing high of cross-country and show jumping, had her share of struggles in dressage, by far the most low-key phase.

“I will be perfectly honest, when I competed I got the most nervous for dressage,” she said. “You’re on stage, you’re really on stage in front of this judge.

“Every single step of the horse counts.”

Results from the dressage and all other competitions during The Event at Rebecca Farm are available online at www.eventingscores.com.