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Performances - The Programme

• Young stallions
• Steps and movements of the classical school
• Pas de deux
• Work in hand
• On the long rein
• Schools above the ground
• Schoolquadrille

Presenting a stallion at one of the performances of the Spanish Riding School is the result of years of hard work. The horses are trained and developed in accordance with their strengths and natural affinity for movement.

The Three Fundamental Gaits:

• Walk
  The horse moves each leg separately in a four-beat stride.
  
• Trot
  The horse's diagonals trade off in short succession, creating a short suspension phase and giving the trot a two-beat rhythm.
  
• Canter
  The horse pushes off with the outer hind leg, and then travels across his weight-bearing left diagonal, rolling onto his right lead leg. This is followed by a short suspension phase, giving the canter a three-beat rhythm.

Advanced Dressage Manoeuvres:

• Piaffe
  The horse shifts its weight from one diagonal to the other. The horse's hindquarters are clearly lowered and bear the full weight of the horse, leaving the legs to cushion the movement of a collected trot in place or advancing by one hoof width.
  
• Passage
  A cadenced, high-stepping trot. When performing the passage, also called the Spanish kick, the horse advances forward by pushing off from one diagonal to the other. However, the horse holds its raised diagonal higher and longer in a suspended position than when trotting.
  
• Canter Pirouette
  The horse jumps in a collected canter on its hind legs in six to eight leaps around as small a circle as possible. The old masters called it in German "auf Tellers Größe tummeln", or "circling on the size of a plate".
  
• Leg Yield
  This is a dressage movement that is ridden laterally and forwards in a two-beat stride in which the horse is turned slightly to keep its forehand slightly in advance of its hindquarters.

Schools above the ground:

Of the various leaping movements that exist, the Spanish Riding School demonstrates the levade, the capriole and the courbette (also called the courvet) which are performed during shows both as work-in-hand and with a rider.

• Levade
  The horse is raised to stand on its hindquarters with the forehand at an angle of about 35 degrees off the ground. The horse holds this position for several seconds.
  
• Capriole
  The horse jumps with all four legs almost simultaneously into the air and kicks out with its hind legs to a nearly horizontal position with its forelegs drawn in.
  
• Courbette
  The horse performs several leaps on its hindquarters in the levade position with its forelegs drawn in.

Pas de deux:

Two riders perform all of the exercises of the haute école in mirror image.

On the Long Rein:

The rider walks behind the horse and directs its movements by using light rein or voice cues. The horses must be especially well-trained to perform this exercise.

The Schoolquadrille:

Eight riders perform a quadrille reminiscent of the "equestrian ballet" of Imperial times. Strict choreography and particularly precise execution give this exercise a very high degree of difficulty.