#Merging and split dressage moves

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tiny shard
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Hey, I need a dressage guide on how to correctly teach merging and splitting the line moves for my club Steel Progress. I hope you can help.

dawn dome
tiny shard
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So I am mostly confused on how to correctly merge when my club does a split, we haven't mastered the merging and splits yet.

rugged raven
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I like to call a cut at C/A, where both lines are heading. For it to look good though, people in the line have to make sure that they are one horse ahead of the person who was originally ahead of them (their back hooves on the person Infront's front hooves)

dawn dome
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To split:

Make sure your riders know if they are a 1 or a 2 (or odds/evens, A/B, whichever labels you want to use). They can count down the line alternating 1 2 1 2 1 2 etc. at the start of the lesson if needed, or the commander can quickly tell people their label before asking them to split.

You can split from anywhere in the arena, but it's simplest to use the walls. Bring your merged line down the centerline, for example, towards A. As you approach the wall, make sure your riders are in good alignment with a very straight line exactly in the middle of the arena. Make sure they have even gaps and know their labels. Tell them to split at the wall, with one label going one way and the other the other (most people have 1s go left and 2s go right). As long as the line leader turns in the right direction, you can also tell people to just go the opposite way of the person in front of them. Make sure that as people turn onto the wall, they don't change their spacing back to what it was when they were merged. If you used OT gaps while merged, you will need OH gaps while split, and if you used HI gaps while merged, you will need HH gaps while split. People should end up in these gaps automatically after splitting if all goes well. Have your lines go around the arena just focusing on keeping their spacing and alignment consistent and correct.

To recap - you were on the centerline going towards A, you split at the wall, you went around the arena, and now both the lines are approaching C.

To merge:

have the lines go back together in the original order on a new line in the place that they meet. In this case, your lines will meet at C, so you can tell your riders to merge at C by going back to the centerline in the original order. Assuming that your riders kept proper gaps while they were split, it should be very easy for the riders to just turn onto the centerline when they reach it and automaticaly end up back in the correct order and in their original gap (OT or HI)

tiny shard
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Ok so basically the only way they can merge is by cutting at A, C, B, or E?

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Like not in dye ac or dye divide stuff like that?

dawn dome
# tiny shard Ok so basically the only way they can merge is by cutting at A, C, B, or E?

no, you can absolutely split merge anywhere! using the diagonals is great, you can even split and merge into circles or just out in a field somewhere without an arena. it's all about one line becoming two. i just explained it with A and C since that's the most simple way to do it, and if you're struggling with it, it's a lot easier to visualize the steps and find mistakes or misunderstandings in the simple scenario

tiny shard
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I think I understand, thanks I appreciate your help I will 100% contact you if I need help on merging, thanks again!

dawn dome
tiny shard
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Yes I have merging with the walls settled like you showed me, I was wondering if you could show me merging without being on the wall?

dawn dome
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I'll search around for some video examples, but splitting and merging is exactly the same regardless of where you do it and which angle or lines you use. For example, you could pretend the midline was a wall and split at the center from the centerline onto the midline. From there, both lines could turn towards C and merge at C (or to A and merge at A), or both could turn right and go onto the diagonals from opposite corners; the lines would meet in the center of the arena and you merge down another diagonal.

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As long as the lines are approaching each other and you have the wider gap size, the lines can merge where they meet! You can also merge at a normal spot in a unique way, like merging at C but turning the line towards E at that slanted angle instead of going down the centerline

tiny shard
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For example what would you call cutting to a midline letter whiles doing cut mid?

dawn dome
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just split!

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I would command it like "split at the center onto the midline" for extra clarity, but it doesn't need its own move name, and I don't know of one 🤔 you could give it a name if you like, but if it's the same exact thing as any other split, why not use the same word?