Article 10 — The program

COMPOSITION — NO PATTERN IS IMPOSED. The competitor freely chooses the movements shown and where to place them. The choice of gaits is free; there is no obligation to use all three. There is no requirement of symmetry.

REQUIRED ELEMENTS — A competition may include one or more required elements, announced with the competition. A required element must appear in the program, but the competitor remains free to place it where they wish and to blend it into the choreography as they see fit.

This format does not bring back the dressage test: it imposes neither pattern, nor order, nor placing. It only ensures that pairs in the same category are compared against the same demand. It also shows each rider what remains to be worked on: a horse gifted for the piaffe but unable to place close-sequence changes shows itself to be incomplete.

FORMAT OF THE COMPETITION — Each competition is announced as being to free music or to imposed music (article 11), with or without required elements.

LENGTH — from 3 minutes to 4 min 30 maximum.

Time is counted from the horse's first movement to its last. The music does not enter the count: an entrance over a few notes, a fade-out or a silence at the end penalise no one.

The length is entirely in the competitor's hands. The music may be shortened (article 11), and nothing obliges anyone to use it to the end. Overrunning is therefore never an accident in the arena: it is a choice made before mounting. It is sanctioned as such (article 17).

USE OF THE ARENA — The program spreads over the whole surface and varies its lines. The central space is preferred over the edges. The main elements are performed in different places in the arena.

IN HARMONY WITH THE MUSIC — The program unfolds in keeping with the music and the chosen theme. The horse must work in time with it. IT MUST DANCE. The rhythm of the music must suit the horse's gaits, and its phrases must be as readable as possible.

THE PAIR — The whole program is performed mounted. The rider may not leave the saddle for more than 5 seconds, and may under no circumstances part from the horse. A passage on foot, a dismount or a sequence on the ground belongs to vaulting or to equestrian display, not to Artistic Dressage.

The rider may use dance movements — arms or legs — on the move as well as at the halt, if the choreography allows.

BEGINNING AND END — The salute and the campo, being static, may only be used at the beginning or the end of the program, so as not to interrupt the dance.

FORBIDDEN — It is forbidden to sit or to lie the horse down.

These two movements are set aside for distinct reasons, and neither of them is technical.

A horse lying down gives the image of a sick horse, a beaten horse — or worse. Artistic Dressage means to be festive: it shows a horse that dances, never a horse on the ground.

A sitting horse is a simple, comic movement, which tends to show a lack of respect for the horse. It belongs to display, not to a discipline that judges the beauty of movement.