Art vs. Tricks

It's a silly thing to get peeved about.... The TV news announcer had no knowledge of horses, or about the training of horses. She was interviewing a man whose Friesian horse performs dressage and tricks while in driving reins. Tonight and tomorrow night at the National Western Stock Show, An Evening of Dancing Horses will be presented; a show "packed full of formal dressage, freestyle reining, drill elements and plenty more equestrian disciplines. Plus, it's all choreographed to the music of the Denver Brass." The trainer told the interviewer that his horse would do the piaffe, a dressage movement, and would also rear on command, a trick. The Friesian, Saber, reared on command, and then was asked to piaffe; he did both and the interviewer, as well as the folks back at the station, enthused over how easily a horse performs "tricks." - That is what set me off. -
You can teach most creatures to do a trick. Make sure the critter understands what you're asking it to do, teach a command word or movement, practice, practice, practice, and give treats and praise for correct responses. That works well for a rear from a horse, a bow (taking a knee), or teaching a horse to nod or shake it's head.
Dressage, on the other hand, is an art form. It actually came about from the act of war, in which horses had to be extremely responsive to their riders to save their riders and themselves. Most high school dressage, or haute ecole, was taken directly from war training for the old-type destreriers, the horses that were trained for battle and to act as a battle weapon themselves. A top-level dressage horse has, literally, spent thousands of hours training to learn the precise movements that are required for his/her role. The rider has spent the same amount of time, or more, working with other horses, viewing film, reviewing their own work, etc. Dressage riding and training are not for the usual weekend cowboys who want to just saddle up and get away from it all on horseback. - And every horse that is well-trained has a large amount of dressage in it's learning background. - Any good horse will round it's neck and back for a trained rider. A well-trained and sound horse will move sinuously between the rider's hands and legs, looking as if the pair of them are a single entity. Watching the Lippizaners at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna is the ultimate in high school dressage. The horses parade, dance, and perform their "Airs Above the Ground" - the classic war movements. It is breath taking. And, having spent 20+ years riding dressage, practicing and working hard to perfect things that are imperceptible to the untrained eye, I guess that hearing an unknowing announcer call a dressage movement a "trick" just hit me the wrong way this morning. It's silly, I know. But there is a difference!