Article 5 — The levels

The level is set by the horse's degree of schooling, not by the rider's level.

A LEVEL IS NOT DEFINED BY A REQUIRED NUMBER OF MOVEMENTS. No movement is compulsory: the choreography decides which ones are shown. The descriptions below state what the horse must be ABLE to perform, not what it must display.

1 — AMATEUR HORSE The horse is schooled to Low School level: lateral work, jambettes, Spanish walk, single flying changes. Whip and spurs allowed.

2 — PRO INTER HORSE The horse is schooled to High School level: piaffe, passage, close-sequence flying changes, pirouettes, together with movements drawn from other riding traditions — spins from western riding, jumped pirouettes, vaquera pirouettes from Spanish riding. The trainer's difficulty is to combine every aid so that the horse does not confuse them and can perform them through all the transitions, so as to dance. Whip and spurs allowed.

3 — PRO HORSE The same degree of schooling as the Pro Inter, but the horse dances without a whip. Only spurs are allowed.

Moving from Pro Inter to Pro is not a matter of adding movements: it is the completion of the schooling. The whip marks a horse whose schooling is not finished. Doing without it is a step few pairs take.

4 — PRO LIBRE HORSE The horse is schooled to High School level and beyond. Without a whip.

This level is defined less by the horse's movements than by the freedom given back to the rider. At the other levels the rider keeps the reins in hand and a dressage posture. In Pro Libre, the rider's body enters the choreography: arm movements, reins at the belt, riding without permanent contact.

Such freedom is only possible on a horse whose schooling is complete enough that one can stop holding it. The pair becomes one — this is the myth of the centaur, and it is the highest level of Artistic Dressage.

The Federation's logo comes from a movement at this level.