ANSWER:
The purity of the gait is an interesting topic, especially the Rhythm aspect of it. The 3 beat canter is part of the Elementary School and Campagne School stages of the horse's education. When you develop the horse beyond that (if he is talented enough) to High School and collect the canter further, you reach the school canter, in which the inside hind leg touches down before the outside front leg, partially because of the greater elevation of the horse's front end, which separates the diagonal (inside hind - outside front). If you increase the collection even more, beyond the school canter, both hind legs start to move in unison, especially if you drive the outside hind leg and/or if you ride with a haunches-in position. At this moment, the school canter changes into the terre-a-terre, as Michael has pointed out. We have a wonderfully talented horse in training right now who changes from canter to terre-a-terre, if you ride a very small haunches-in volte (which is a common baroque exercise).
The question of the rhythm in the canter pirouette has only become relevant in the context of the competitions. The reason is that competitions are based on Campagne School riding (military equitation). At this level, the canter is always 3 beat. However, at the FEI levels, the Campagne School program has been enlarged to include High School movements as well, such as lateral movements in the canter (although they are not ridden nearly as collected as they are at the High School level), and especially piaffe and passage. Since the school walk, school trot, and school canter have never been made part of the competitive curriculum, the 4 beat canter or the 2 beat terre-a-terre are considered "incorrect" by the competition judges. In a wider perspective, they are perfectly natural movements, and time honored, traditional dressage gaits. So, from a traditional point of view, the question of whether the pirouette should be 3 beat or 4 beat has very little relevance.
If we could ask an 18th century master, he would probably tell us that it doesn't matter in what rhythm the pirouette is executed, as long as it is done fast enough to get the rider out of harm's way in combat. In those days, the half pirouette was done very quickly in one or two strides. The horse was "thrown around" more or less. A modern bullfighter would probably share the same view as the Renaissance or Baroque master, because his life is on the line as well. In modern academic equitation, we are safe from these concerns, so we can afford to ride a slow pirouette with as many strides as we like without getting killed by an enemy.
The change in the rhythm of the canter can be observed not only in collection. When the strides are lengthened to an all out gallop, the so-called main diagonal is separated again. This time it is not because the front end is so elevated, but because the horse stretches so much. That is why the gallop of the race horse is a 4 beat gait. In old academic and military equitation, the extended canter became a 2 beat movement, by driving the outside hind leg more forward and straightening the horse. This 2 beat gallop was called Carriere. It is another gait that has not been included in the dressage competitions, although it is a traditional exercise that has always been valued highly by the masters of the past.
The effect that collection has on the rhythm of the gait can be observed not only in the canter, but in the walk as well. The Old Masters noticed that if you increase the collection and impulsion at the walk enough, it becomes diagonalized, like a trot without suspension phase. Some authors refer to it as the school walk, while others refer to it as the piaffe walk, since it can be regarded (and used) as a precursor to the piaffe or passage.
For me, these considerations lead to a contemplation of the way the FEI and the national organizations have selected and grouped the gaits and movements in their tests. If you look at the tests from a historical and training perspective, you cannot help but find a certain lack of inner logic and consistency in them. It would make more sense either not to include any High School movements at all, which means that lateral movements at the canter, tempo changes, pirouettes, piaffe, and passage, would have to be excluded. Or, if the FEI decides that they are too pretty to give up, the other High School movements (at least the airs *on* the ground) should be included as well. That means that the riders would have to show a 2 beat school walk, a school trot, a 4 beat school canter on straight lines and voltes, a 2 beat terre-a-terre, a 2 beat carriere, and possibly other exercises as well. In that case, it would only be logical to demand of all riders to ride the entire test with a curb only, reins in the left hand, whip upright in the right hand - no bradoon.
Of course, a test like that would be considerably more difficult than a current Grand Prix or Grand Prix special, and there may simply not be enough riders and horses out there to hold competitions at that level - but then again, the art of dressage was never meant to be a competition, anyway.
- Thomas Ritter
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Last Update: January 13, 2007