dressage horses vs. cross country horses in competitions

[lindiak007]

i am not sure where to put this subject...so i decide to put it here.....

are there differences between horses that participate in dressage and cross country horses competitions??? are dressage / cross country horses trained differently for each type of competition?????
i mean regard to aids etc....or it is really depending only on the horse....
thank you

 

[IrisSilverMoon]

In dressage you will probably find a lot more warmbloods, eventers are usually thoroughbred or some other lighter type of breed.

the difficulty of tests will also be different at the highest levels. at 4 star eventing you have flying changes, half passes and leg yielding. There won't be any tempi changes or piaffe or passage as you would see in the grand prix level of dressage.

aids for movements should be more or less the same with some minor differences depending on the type of training you do.

training is probably a little different too since dressage horses are going to need muscle in different areas than the eventers. Eventers need to have stamina and dressage horses need to be very supple to carry them through the movements required at the upper levels.