Can Horses Dance?

I went out to a local charity horse event that was taking place near my home recently, and one thing that really impressed me was the dressage shows.

It was great to watch these incredibly talented trainers and horses pull off incredibly tight moves and sequences.

I’d heard people talking about the ‘horse dancing’ show and I hadn’t really known what to expect, but I wasn’t disappointed.

It got me thinking, though, about horses and dancing, and whether this is really what we can call it, so I did some research.

So, can horses dance?

In a way, yes, horses can dance. Many would simply see the terms ‘dressage’ and ‘dancing’ as being interchangeable when it comes to horses. Dressage is about pulling off very tightly executed moves, just like dancing is. They won’t do it without training, of course, but they can do it.

So as long as you’re comfortable seeing dressage as dancing, horses can definitely dance.

Some might see dressage in a different way, even dressage athletes themselves.

But, for layman’s terms, horses definitely can and do dance—they just don’t really do it without our help.

Do horses actually dance?

To avoid getting into a long discussion about what it means to ‘dance’, we can simply say that yes, horses do actually dance.

They don’t do it of their own accord, which is the important point.

They may gallop and prance around a bit as a show of joy, say after mating.

But as far as elaborate dances go, this is the realm of dressage.

Dressage involves a horse going through a series of movements and actions with a rider instructing them, and the horse is scored on how well they execute each action.

When you watch dressage, it does very much look like an elaborate and carefully executed ballroom dance.

They will tip toe about on their heels, walk sideways with confidence, and execute all kinds of other moves which are very easy to see as a form of dance.

Though it may hard to tell by looking at the rider, the important distinction is that every movement is carefully communicated to the horse before it does it, and they only do well after a great deal of practice and rehearsal.

So, in the case that they are carefully trained to do so over many years, yes, horses will and can dance.

Can you teach a horse to dance?

Teaching a horse dressage is one of the trickiest things you can teach them.

Dressage horses are usually bred for the specific purpose, with a lot of desirable qualities like obedience and intelligence.

They are also usually trained from the moment they’re able at a very young age.

So, if you were thinking of just teaching one of your horses some dance moves like dressage, you may have a difficult time.

Some basic moves it will probably be able to learn, but beyond that, it will struggle.

Dressage training also requires a lot of particular expertise from the rider, too.

As I said, one of the best indications of how well a horse is doing at dressage is how imperceptible the commands from the rider are.

The rider needs to know the ins-and-outs of the routine as well as the horse does, and needs to be able to train the horse to recognise very subtle commands.

Not to say that teaching your horse a few moves is impossible, but don’t expect to be trotting with the Olympic dressage riders immediately.

Is horse dressage cruel?

This question is a matter of debate.

For dressage riders, they would of course say that it is not cruel and the horses in fact enjoy the activity and time with their rider.

On the other hand, many animal rights activists would say that making horses compete in this way is cruel and unfair.

Ultimately, it will really come down to your view of it.

For many, they may not believe that dressage is especially cruel in any way, but simply believe that horses would rather just spend their time hanging out and eating grass.

While practices have improved a lot over the years, in the past there certainly were more questionable and unethical methods for training which contributed to the perception of dressage as being cruel.

Dressage itself puts no special pressure or pain on the horse if done in line with organization guidelines, but there can be problems with the training.

Dressage or dancing, then, either way it’s really quite similar.

The word ‘dance’ can describe quite a range of actions that we don’t necessarily have time to get into here, so it’s simplest to say that horses can dance.

They won’t really do it on their own, though, and training them to do is very hard.

This is why dressage is one of the more prestigious horse events. The simple answer is that yes, horses can dance