Dressage is a form of horse riding performed in exhibition and competition, as well as an art sometimes pursued solely for the sake of mastery. As an equestrian sport defined by the International Equestrian Federation, dressage is described as "the highest expression of horse training" where "horse and rider are expected to perform from memory a series of predetermined movements".
The Cadre Noir is a corps of écuyers, or instructors, at the French military riding academy École Nationale d'Équitation at Saumur in western France, founded in Versailles before transferring to Saumur in 1828. During the Second World War, the premises of the school were occupied by German forces and the remaining instructors and horses were moved temporarily to Fontainebleau. The school today also performs as an equestrian display team. Its name comes from the black uniforms that are still in use today. It is one of the "Big Four", the most prestigious classical riding academies in the world.
Theodora Elisabeth Gerarda "Anky" van Grunsven is a Dutch dressage champion who is the only rider to record three successive Olympic wins in the same event. Along with her Olympic successes, she has won numerous medals at the World Equestrian Games (WEG), and is the only rider to have competed at every WEG since they began in 1990. Between 1990 and 2006, she competed at the Games in dressage, but in 2010 she was named as part of the Dutch reining team, marking a major change in discipline.
Andreas Helgstrand is a Danish dressage rider. He won four consecutive Danish dressage championships, from 2005 through 2008. Helgstrand is banned from competition until 2025.
Yvonne Losos de Muñiz is an Olympic athlete and international Grand Prix dressage rider. Born in Nigeria to Canadian parents, she represents the Dominican Republic internationally. She belongs to the elite Dominican Olympic athlete program CRESO.
Adelinde Cornelissen is a Dutch dressage rider.
Laura Tomlinson MBE is a German-British dressage rider competing at Olympic level. As of 30 June 2012 the Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI) ranked her 3rd in the world riding Mistral Højris and 36th on Andretti H. In that year, Tomlinson, riding Mistral Højris under her maiden name of Laura Bechtolsheimer, won two medals in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London; gold for Great Britain in the team dressage with Carl Hester and Charlotte Dujardin, the first ever Olympic team gold in the discipline for her country, and bronze in the individual dressage behind gold medalist and compatriot Dujardin.
The 2011 European Dressage Championship was held from August 17 and August 21, 2011 in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Marji Armstrong is one of the pioneers of the classical philosophy of horsemanship in Australia. She has taught these classical principles to students around the world for the past two decades, both in person and via the internet, and now shares her thoughts and experience on Marji's Blog.
Elizabeth Ann Drummond-Hay, better known as Anneli Drummond-Hay, was a British eventer and show jumper who won the 1961 Burghley Horse Trials riding her horse Merely-a-Monarch.
Jessica von Bredow-Werndl is a German Olympic dressage rider.
Grete Ayache , born as Grete Püvi, is an Estonian dressage rider. Representing Estonia, she competed at the 2014 World Equestrian Games and at the 2011 European Dressage Championship. She placed 61st place in individual dressage at the 2011 Europeans held in Rotterdam.
Kelly Layne is an Australian Dressage rider and trainer. She planned on qualifying to represent her country at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. However, Layne was unable to compete in the final qualifying event due to an injury suffered by her horse, Udon P, forcing her to withdraw. While born in Australia, Layne is currently based in Wellington, Florida. Layne also helped found her own riding team, "Dream Team Dressage".
Catherine Durand-Henriquet is a French equestrian. She was twice selected for the Equestrian at the Summer Olympics. She brought the first Iberian horse to International and Olympic levels and was also the first rider in the Versailles tradition to ever ride in the Olympic Games. She was national dressage champion multiple times. Together with her husband, famous equestrian and dressage master Michel Henriquet, she wrote a number of major dressage and horse training books and released a young horse training DVD series showing how the Henriquets take young horses from their first time under the saddle to the Grand Prix. Catherine Henriquet still actively shows Hanoverian horses and Lusitano horses at Grand Prix level and has trained dozens of horses to the Grand Prix. She currently rides two horses on the Big Tour: 18.7 hands Hanoverian gelding Lexus Gold and 15.7 hands Lusitano gelding Diabeau du Coussoul. Henriquet is also a retired dermatologist and always maintained professional practice while showing internationally. Having a full time profession aside from riding sometimes got in the way of being able to attend international shows and selections.
Carrie Schopf is an American-born Armenian dressage rider. She became the first Armenian equestrian ever to compete at an FEI-level championship.
Charlotte Fry is an Olympic, European Championships and World Championships medal-winning British dressage rider. As of August 2024, Fry has a total of 90 victories and is currently third in the FEI World Dressage Ranking.
Nathalie Bizet is a French Para-Equestrian Dressage rider. She won a bronze medal.
Shruti Vora is an Indian equestrienne. She represented India at the 2022 FEI World Championships held at Herning, Denmark. Vora and Anush Agarwalla were the first Indians to compete in an individual dressage event at the Dressage World Championships, where Vora scored 64.53% astride 16-year Indian-bred Denightron. Vora qualified for the World Championship at Hagen in June 2022 and represented India at the 2014 Asian Games at Incheon.
Pauline Basquin is a French Dressage rider. She competed at the 2022 FEI World Championships in Herning and at the 2023 FEI European Dressage Championships, finishing 13th in the finals. Basquin was also part of the winning team at the FEI Nations Cup Dressage in Rotterdam in 2023, which was eventually the first Nations Cup victory in dressage for the French team. She represented the French team at the 2024 Olympic Games, finishing 6th in the team competition and 16th in the individual freestyle.
The National Equestrian School in France, École nationale d'équitation, is a public establishment created in 1972 around the Cadre Noir in Saumur with the aim of training senior equestrian executives. In 2010, it merged with Haras Nationaux to form the Institut français du cheval et de l'équitation.
