Now that we’ve ushered in 2010 and are now officially in the year of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, let’s resume taking a look at the eight equestrian disciplines that will be featured at these world championships.

I’ve covered eventing and jumping in previous blog posts, so it’s time to complete the triumvirate of Olympic equestrian disciplines with a look at dressage.

This sport, which tests the horse’s gymnastic and athletic development in much the same way that gymnastics tests the athlete and ballet tests the dancer, is one of equestrian sport’s lightning rods. People tend to either love dressage or despise it. They “get it” or they equate it to the excitement of watching paint dry. And with its high level of subjectivity — at the WEG, dressage competitors will be scored by a panel of five judges — it just can’t seem to escape accusations of bias and of woefully off-track judging standards