Dressage has long been seen as the most graceful of equestrian events and for good reason. The FEI dressage horses that compete at this level are trained to move gracefully across the arena performing complex maneuvers while the rider appears to give no cues and interferes very little in the actions of the horse.

The FEI rules describe dressage as the development of the horse into a happy athlete through harmonious education. As a result, it makes the horse calm, supple, loose and flexible, but also confident, attentive and keen, thus achieving perfect understanding with his rider. Dressage also means training in French and when properly trained, the dressage horse is capable of performing a variety of maneuvers while it appears that the rider is really just along for the ride. This level of harmony is best witnessed during the dressage competition at the FEI World Equestrian Games.

There are two types of dressage competitions at the World Equestrian Games. These are the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Special. During the competition, each horse and rider will perform the same test that consists of specific movements and gaits to be performed at specific points around the arena. The FEI dressage horse will be capable of demonstrating a very high level of achievement and the performance of the horse will match the description of the FEI dressage rules.

Each horse is tested independently before a panel of five judges. Each movement of the test is judged independently as well. The horse and rider team with the highest overall score wins the competition. However, if you really want to see an amazing dressage performance while visiting the FEI World Equestrian Games, then you wont want to miss the Freestyle competition.

The Freestyle competition allows the rider to create their own pattern and choreograph it to music. There are specific movements that must be completed in the test, but the rider is able to determine when those movements will be performed and they can ride to the music of their choice.

You can witness dressage at nearly every equestrian horse show across the globe, but rarely do you have the opportunity to witness the best dressage horses at work. If you want to see what a truly professional dressage horse looks like, theres no better place than the FEI World Equestrian Games when riders and horses from around the world come to compete for FEI World Cup in dressage.

The dressage portion of the Alltech 2010 World Equestrian Games will take place September 27th-29th and October 1st, 2010.

Another brilliant and meaningful way for you to get involved with the FEI World Equestrian Games is through volunteering, both for general labor purposes and for competitions. The requirements asked of you will be very different depending upon what your skills, expertise, and availabilities are, but the governing counsel is delighted with each opportunity to utilize the services of a volunteering and caring public. As volunteers who are chosen for the Ariat Management and Volunteering Team will be heading in from all over the country and even from abroad, a great amount of consideration is being made for reduced cost housing, hotel stays, meals, and other travel arrangements.

For those who are not specialized or experienced, per se, with the more direct and professional duties that need to be tended to during the completion, there are many general and public duties available for application. The application process for these duties and positions are not as detailed as for the more specialized jobs, but they should still be filled out as soon as possible. As with all things having to do with the games, slots are filling up quickly and the demand is great for all things equine right now.

For those who are interested in volunteering for competition positions, there are a few more details and credentials that you will need to make the comity aware of in order to obtain consideration. For most of the 8 events, such positions as scribes, runners, stewards, clerks, score runners, test couriers, time keepers and input technicians, and obstacle persons are needed desperately. You will be asked to give the dates that you are available through, so be sure to read through the detailed prerequisite page before committing to a position. Many of these jobs require that you arrive up to one week before the games and remain until sometime after they have unfolded.

Some of the less specialized competition volunteering positions include general courier duties, driving the groom shuttle, stable management and assistant duties, assistants to the announcers, shuttle drivers for the athletes, trainers, and owners to and from their accommodations and also to and from events throughout the venue, show office help, and many other duties without which the show could not go on. The volunteering staff expresses the importance and sanctity of public volunteering, for without these caring and hardworking individuals, no matter how miniscule the task may seem, the World Equestrian Games would not be possible.

The events, now standing at 8 in total, which make up the World Equestrian Games were once deliberated and contested separately. There used to be a world dressage, eventing, jumping, vaulting, driving, endurance, and reining champion determined under very individual programs and shows. As these events became more and more popular, and the schedules more and more rigorous for all involved, the FEI decided to combine all of the top, elite venues into one huge championship show which runs every four years, during the even years between the Olympics. There are many different reasons for this, but one of the most prominent ones had to do with the physical and financial toll that competing was taking on the teams who participated.

Many of these championship horse and rider teams used to find themselves traveling from one competition to the next, as they were involved in more than one discipline at a time. Combination venues are also available, but scheduling these world championships with enough time in between for the athletes and riders to recoup and get on to the next one was a very difficult and time consuming feat. Travel can be tough on horses, especially when done across the country or overseas, so it made more sense to everyone that these champions be given the chance to compete on an all-inclusive and level playing field.

The first FEI World Equestrian Games took place in 1990, though planning for the knew venue was accepted and begun in 1988. Since then, there have been many up and downs, near misses and amazing moments, and more people have been able to witness these fine events than ever before. 2010 marks the first year ever that the world games will be hosted on American shores, and more appropriate grounds could never have been supplied than those available at the famous Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington.

Tickets for all events, as well as a fully and consistently updated schedule of the championship show, will become available on September 25th, 2009, exactly one year before the opening ceremonies and commencement of the recently incepted reining event. New to the forum this coming year is the 8th event to be contested at the world games, para dressage. For those wishing to find lodging information or home rental opportunities, the Alltech FEI comity is hard at work compiling available accommodations and a list of prospective tenants for the upcoming two week show.

Never a more fitting venue has the FEI World Equestrian Games known than the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. Three of the most exciting and renowned thoroughbred race horses to ever grace the track are stabled here, namely Funny Cide, Alysheba, and Cigar. 1,200 acres of rolling, calming, legendary Bluegrass appeal make up this equine haven, a place where history, mystique, tradition, and powerful talent have created some of the most memorable and whole hearted equine legends since the settling of America. Was there even a question as to where else in the U.S. to hold the prestigious world games? If there was, it was quickly put to bed.

The Kentucky Horse Park is a place where everything horses is cherished, and a place where horse lovers can come during any time of the year to celebrate the scents, warmth, and allover good feeling of watching them sleep, eat, work, compete, and play. There are 18 breeds of horse stabled here, and each of them offer a very unique educational experience to adoring visitors. Not the least popular activity on the property is the opportunity to tour the grounds via horse drawn carriage, where a guide will remind you of all of the things that brought you out to horse country in the first place.

The International Museum of the Horse is a Smithsonian affiliate, and is one of the most broadly useful and informative looks into the natural history and centuries of culture that the equine has contributed to the world. You will learn the entire anatomy of the horse, as well as proper terminologies, where he came from, what he used to be, and why he is so honored and revered the world over. Once you have finished there, you might want to check out the American Saddlebred Museum, where you can learn about the only breed original to Kentucky itself.

The grave of Man O War was exhumed from Faraway Farm, where he was buried in 1947, and his remains brought to rest at Kentucky Horse Park during the early 1970s. Just keep an eye out for the famous, beautiful statue of the legendary horse, as this is the marker to his grave. The venue for the 2010 world games is most certainly a living celebration of everything that the horse is, was, and will always be to the world, and as such is honored and privileged to share its one of a kind venue with the world.

The rapidly approaching 2010 FEI World Equestrian Games are moving onto U.S. territory for the first time since their inception in 1990. There have been a few near disastrous occurrences which threatened to postpone or dismiss the games over the years, including a late cancellation by Dublin for the scheduled event of 1998, but the honor and endurance of the games seems to match that of the horse and rider teams who participate in them every four years. Residents of Kentucky and fans countrywide who have never been given the opportunity to see, smell, experience, and celebrate the event first hand are flocking and scrambling for tickets, reservations, and home rentals in the Lexington area.

The games begun with only 6 disciplines and in 1998 the eventing leg of the world games was held separately from the remaining 5 legs. The 2002 games brought reining into the arena, and this seventh discipline did not disappoint the deeply traditional and ever-so-slightly biased crowd. Historically, quarter horses had been considered as beautiful, strong, and worthy competitors, but not suitable for the World Games arena. Reining is as artful, difficult, spell-binding, and skill demanding as dressage, the crowd soon learned, and the new circuit has drawn an enormous following over the past 8 years as a result.

The coming 2010 games bring forth another first time event for the prestigious global competition: Para Dressage. In this, the 8^th discipline incepted to the games, those with physical handicaps will be given the opportunity to perform and compete on the world stage. This is an enormous step forward in the push toward the use of equestrian training and bonding as a therapeutic tool for children and adults with mental and physical disabilities. Because the most demanding and difficult maneuvers are performed through slight pressure and cues, dressage offers the perfect opportunity for both horse and rider to achieve miraculous and beautiful unison.

Before 1990, the six original disciplines which now compete in the World Equestrian Games were contested separately every four years. As the championship grand slam continues to grow, reeling in fans from all places, ages, and walks of life, horses are once again changing the course of history and taking their place at the helm of yet another revolution. The games become more accessible and tangible, offering inspiration and determination to a new generation of true horse people, and an awesome spectacle of beauty and sportsmanship to us all.

There are many things for visitors to do in the Lexington area, especially those who plan to attend the first ever FEI World Equestrian Games to be held here in history. The United States and Kentucky in particular, is proud to have earned the honor of hosting these prestigious and meaningful competitions, which will play out between September 25^th and October 10^th, 2010. For those of us who follow the world leaders in equine training and riding disciplines, the games have been merely an event that we scheduled to watch on television. Thanks to great video coverage and extremely adept and knowledgeable commentary, the television broadcasts still allowed us to keep up with all of the action, heartbreak, suspense, and sportsmanship of the games.

But next year, right in the heart of the country, we will be able to smell it, taste it, and live the thrill for ourselves. Planning, arrangements, ticket sales, preparations and reservations have been under way for months already, and the games are still over a year off into the future. So, what makes this such a special and well received occasion? If you think about the history of the horse throughout the recorded history of human life on the planet, it is easy to see where this strong bond, respect, and love comes from, and why it is still being honored and perfected today.

The first horses that man captured were products of the desert, and depictions of them were mostly mirage-like and vaporous, alluding to the mystery and majesty of these naturally swift, intelligent, and graceful survivors. Not only did they survive, but they were the heart of the desert and the barren lands surrounding, offering the key to survival and an easier life for mankind. For thousands of years, the horse has been bred and crossbred, additional feral horses discovered, and ancient strains developed, until there was a horse for every task in every climate on every continent of the world. And what has the horse asked for in return?

The horse, to most people, is an animal to be honored, respected, cared for, and kept healthy. The horse is an animal without which we might not be here today, and as such he is a noble and courageous beast to behold. Where better to honor him than in Lexington, Kentucky, where everything horse and history meets everyone who understands the importance of both? According to the FEI, nowhere at all.