Horses have always been a big part of Kristin Hermann's life. Her fascination with these animals began when she was a small child growing up in New England. "I really understand and trust horses because we have our own way of communicating," the Upper St. Claire resident said.

     While taking an equine instructor training course, she discovered dressage (French for training), and decided to make it her life's work. It was this interest that brought her to Pittsburgh to study under a renowned trainer.

     "Dressage is training a horse to behave naturally, despite having a rider on its back who's commanding it to perform intricate steps," Ms. Hermann explained. "If you watch a horse run through a meadow, its tail will be up and its neck will be arched, and you can sense its excitement. That's what dressage is - recreating that innate movement."

     According to Ms. Hermann, dressage techniques were first used during wartime to help protect soldiers in battle. Horses were taught to leap up and kick out at the enemy with its hind legs.

     Dressage has the same effect on a horse as yoga does on a person, she said. "If trained properly, the horse will be relaxed and calm while executing a variety of elaborate movements."

     Riders who enter dressage competitions, progress through various skill levels. At each level, the horse is judged on its ability to perform certain compulsory movements. "A horse goes forward by nature, but through extensive training can learn to trot in place," Ms. Hermann said. To reach the fourth and highest level of dressage competition, The Grand Prix, can take up to seven years of instruction, she said.

Teacher and Trainer

     Ms. Hermann has competed successfully to the second level of competition and is currently a teacher and trainer at the Coventry Equestrian Center in the Meadowlands. More than 40 of her articles on dressage have been published in national equestrian magazines.

     She is also the Vice-President of the Western Pennsylvania Dressage Association, a local chapter of the United States Dressage Federation. Its members will staff a booth at the Southwestern Pennsylvania Equine Symposium on April 8 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. A videotape from a Grand Prix dressage competition will be shown. (Note from Kristin: this convention was held a few years ago.)

     For Ms. Hermann, dressage is a lifetime pursuit of continually developing a horse's skills, through patience and repetition, to achieve a higher level of intricacy. "That's what makes dressage so intriguing."