you embark on a pilgrimage, for the wishes of the people.

lore gathered + rewritten by vanda rosesea

Dots are extremely important when doing dressage. They are the foundation of almost every guideline/technique we set up.To enable your dots, simply click the rake at the entrance of the arena. Always make it a habit to prevent stepping out of your position!When riding in the arena, you ALWAYS want to make sure that you are riding in the CENTRE of your dots, and not to the side/edges of them. This also means you should not follow your other riders if they mess up, but instead your own track to ensure that you're centred and a chain reaction does not occur.

Slant lines are 45 degree angles from your straight axis. They follow the dots diagonally, & there are also little pebble tracks in the arena that follow the same direction!It's good to use guides like the pebble lines & your dots to ensure you aren't veering. The more you veer, the more your gaps, alignment, & merge will be messed up!

The outside track takes off 5m of each long wall (A & C). As you can see, our arena diagram shows them cut off already, so what's displayed is the whole arena we will use!We cut the long wall by 5m so that all riders can stay within render distance. Whenever "wall" is mentioned, it will always refer to the outside track.

Metre lines start in increments of 5, going all the way out to the wall (also known as the outside track). It is divided into the A & C side via the midline.

Used for waterfalls & tiers!TIGHT TRACK_
Your tight track will be from edge of dot to edge of dot, brushing boots with your partner.
REGULAR TRACK
Your reg track will be 2,5m away from your original line of travel, or in between two dots.
WIDE TRACK
Your wide track will be one dot away from your original line of travel, or 5m out.

In a walk, you will be back of saddle to the person in front of you.As a reference, your horses nose should be touching the back part of the saddle of the person in front of you.

When standing in line, you will be nose to tail with the person in front of you.You should avoid colliding at all costs! Your horses nose should only be hovering over the person in front of you's tail.

In a trot, you will be halfway inside of the person in front of you.To know if you are doing this correctly, the front of your saddle should be touching the back of the saddle of the person in front of you. Sort of like hugging! Your horses front legs will typically also be aligned with the person's human legs itself.

In a forward slant (slant, ribbon), you will be parallel to the person in front of you.In a backward slant (back slant, fish, etc.) you will be parallel to the person behind you. This does not change line order, so merging will be the same.Since Night Heroes uses different horses, instead of front legs & back legs aligning, you will only use just your front legs to ensure you're aligned.

In a walk, the back of your saddle should be touching your lead horses nose.In a trot, you should be one horse ahead of your lead.In a canter, you should be a horse and a half ahead of your lead.

In a waterfall, you will align side by side (SBS) to the person that was originally in front of you.In partner moves, odds will look to the even that was originally behind them, vice versa.

In a walk set, you will start walking as soon as you see the person in front of you start to walk.In a trot/canter/etc. you will start your gait set as soon as you see the second person ahead of you start.
For example, the lead will go on go, the second uses predictive riding to go, and the third person in line will wait go when the lead does. This ensures people quickly get into their gaps efficiently, and perfect!

HALT SET
Requires the riders to all walk when the first set is called. On go, the lead will stop and all riders will line up NTT. The rider in front of you will stop later than you think, so watch your spacing and stop a good horse length behind the second person in front of you!IMMEDIATE HALT
Requires all riders to stop on go. Press G to stop perfectly where you are. This type of halt can show you how your gaps look in relation to the instructors screen!

The curl divisions are essentially the 8 possible angles you can land on when doing fractions of a curl.Slant - 1/8 of your curl division
Comb - 2/8 of your curl division
Back Slant - 3/8 of your curl division
Curl Over - 4/8 of your curl division
Fish - 5/8 of your curl division
Keyhole - 6/8 of your curl division
Ribbon - 7/8 of your curl division
Curl - 8/8 of your curl divisionWith this, we can combine a variety of these moves in the arena and know exactly where we will end up!

Gait TransitionsDirectional Transitions
Gait transitions are doing any move that requires going from one gait to the next.Directional transitions are doing any move that requires going from one direction to the next.
You will transition to the next gait as soon as you are straight. Do not let go of your directional key at all when in a gait transition, only tapping w/s to change the gait.You will transition to the next direction as soon as you are straight. Do not delay in switching keys, you should be holding one then immediately the other to prevent any delay.

There are three main categories of directions that you will need to remember.

Default LeftIn/OutLeft to Left
Whenever a move or sequence is called that does not have a direction associated with it, you will automatically go to the left. Evens will go to the right if it is an odd/even move.This is called when you are in waterfalls/tiers/circles/etc. In will mean towards the opposite line, while outwards will mean away from it.LTL means passing from left shoulder to left shoulder with your partner/other line. Another way to think of passing LTL is to ensure that you go to the right of them to pass their left shoulder.

Anchor points are super important in dressage. They allow riders to go on lines, switch, and do many various other things independently by relying on your position in the arena rather than your instructor.By using anchor points, it also allows for riders to be more uniformThere are various types of anchor points in the arena, of which the basics will be explained and used actively in our arena.

When transitioning from a line to another line, there are various anchors that can put you perfectly in the middle of your dots.WALK
When your horses front hooves reach the middle of your dot.
TROT
Your front hooves should be at the edge of your dot.
CANTER
Your horses nose should be at about the edge of the dot, or your front hooves a character spacing away from the line you want to transition to.

When keyholing, you can actually follow your axis-to-axis transitions, except using your back hooves to land perfectly in the middle of your axis! Isn't that cool?WALK
Your back hooves should be in the middle of the dot you want to keyhole onto
TROT
Your back hooves should pass the dot you want to keyhole on.
CANTER
You should "bounce off" the dot ahead of the dot you want to keyhole onto.

When belting in any gait, your horse's front hooves shall meet the edge of the dot/area you intend to belt on. From then, you shall follow your slant lines back onto your original axis.With this anchor point, you should not follow the person in front of you. This will cause your gap needing more correction than needed!

wigglinggait hopsstraightness
wiggling is one way you can fix your gaps. This means pressing your a or d key to make micro-adjustments as turning slows down your horse.Gait hops is one way you can fix gaps & alignment. This entails quickly pressing your W and S keys to change gait and go back to your original one in the blink of an eye!Straightness consists of learning how to be straight in the line, while staying in the middle of your dots.
You should very sparsely tap your keys, to the point where your adjustments are almost invisible. Any harsh turns will result in a chain reaction, requiring everyone to wiggle and therefore the line failing at straightness.As with wiggling, your gait hops should be very very quick, only staying in the upper/lower gait for a fraction of a second. Staying in the gait too long will result in a chain reaction happening, which will maintain straightness, but make it look messy.Staying straight on your axis involves a few things. It is imperative you stay as your own individual rider, and do not follow anyone in harsh adjustments or possible veering. Using your horses ears to ensure that you stay in the middle of your dot is the main strategy to use, while also minimizing your use of corrections.

Full 8's are combining two half 8's, with one half 8 going the direction called and the next half 8 going the opposite direction.Full 8's can be done from 2,5m all the way up to 10m.

Starting from any corner dye, make a round curve up to the centre, and another round curve down to the next corner dye.If you start from H, you will curve up to X, and curve down to K.

Starting from any corner dye, directly cut up to X, (following your dye lines), then cut down to the next corner dye.If you start from H, you will cut up to X, and cut back down to K.

In split lines, cut at the corner letter & go towards the 5M on the wide tier. Ride straight to the next 5M wide tier, and cut away from the opposite line to head to the corner letter on the opposite side.If you start at F, you will go towards the A5/Ewide, head straight to the opposite wide, and cut back towards K.

CUSTOM MOVE!Start by doing a half 5 in the direction called, then a half 10 in the opposite, followed by a half 5 in the same direction, and then another half 10 in the opposite.If you started your first half 5 going left, you will do your first half 10 right, your second half 5 right, and then your last half 10 going left!

Half 8's are 2 half metre shapes combined. One half metre going the direction called, and the next the opposite direction.Half 8's can be done from 2,5m all the way up to 10m.

Start with a half 5 in the direction called, followed by a half 10 in the opposite direction. Finish by doing a final half 5 in the original direction.

FormationsActions
We have a variety of formations in Night Heroes for members to practice.Actions are riding & keeping the formation you currently have.
In most of these formations, you will end up in brushing boot gaps. This means your boots will be lightly touching your partners beside you. Your spacings for some formations will differ, ranging from your front/back hooves aligning with your partners legs, to your front/back hooves aligning with your partners front/back hooves.This requires a lot of coordination, as you must keep your brushing boots spacing, as well as the specific alignment needed to make it look the same as you did halted.
Whenever you have an odd amount of riders, there will only be one head needed for various formations (ie, arrow). If there is an even amount of riders, there will be two heads instead to make each side to look even. The two leads will move slightly to the edge of their dot, keeping brushing boots spacing, while the other riders alternate sides for the needed formation.Practicing actions in all formations will be very important as this will be the main way we demonstrate them in a multitude of routines!

The lead will halt, with the first two riders arrow halting, the next two riders halting SBS with the lead, continuing that pattern. Riders will be brushing boots.

The lead will halt, with riders halting to the person next to them.Spacing may range from back hooves to boots to back hooves to partner's front hooves.

The lead(s) will halt, with riders halting in a left-right pattern.Spacings may range from front hooves to boots to front hooves to back hooves.

The lead(s) will halt, with riders halting in a left-right pattern.Spacings may range from back hooves to boot to back hooves to front hooves.

The lead(s) will halt in their slanted direction, with all other riders halting more slanted at their point, creating a semi-circle shape.

Circles directly follow the metre system. There are two main conditions you must meet to create a circle
1. It must have a centre point
2. It must have 4 markers that you aim for to create the circle.Circles can come in whole metres (increments of 5) or in half metres (in increments of 2,5). All the half metres are 2,5m, 7,5m, 12,5m, and 17,5m.

There are three main types of circles you will do.1. ON CENTRE CIRCLES
Circles that are simply performed from the centre of the arena. The most common form of circle.2. OFF WALL CIRCLES
Circles performed off the wall. You will count from your desired metre off the wall until you reach 0M. 0M will be your centre-point, and from there can count your other markers.3. ANYWHERE CIRCLES_
Circles performed from anywhere in the arena. Just like with on centre circles, you will simply just use your centre point to count your desired metre out from all sides to achieve your markers.

When doing circles, there are two types that either prioritize gap spacing, or alignment spacing!CLOSED CIRCLE
A closed circle is where every rider prioritizes their alignment with a partner across from them. This has the effect of the circle being completely closed evenly.OPEN CIRCLES
Open circles prioritize gaps with the rider in front of you, making the circle look like there is a solid line following. This is more often used for shapes!

For closed circles, you will be a horse ahead of your partner. When seeing this on your screen, your horses back hooves should be passing the marker while your partner's front hooves should just be entering their dot across from you.For open circles, gaps will entirely depend on what your instructor asks! It can vary from very tight like HH to very big FH gaps!

When expanding or shrinking in a circle, you always want to ensure that your horses tail or head is facing the exact centre point of your circle.This rule applies to any sort of curl overs and/or moves that require you to pass through the centre point of your circle as well.

AdjustingRoundingIndividuality
Adjusting in your circle can consist of a variety of techniques. Often, we use gait hops and also wiggling. Make sure to utilize both equally!Having a tapping rhythm is important to ensure that you maintain the roundness of your circle.Riders should always be following their own individual circle, not directly following anyone in their tracks.
With gait hops, you simply just press your up and down key to very quickly change your gait.You want to ensure that you are hitting the middle of your markers. This ensures that everyone maintains a uniform shape in the circle while also working on their rounding.When other riders wiggle or make gait changes, you should do as little as possible to ensure a chain reaction doesn't occur.
With wiggling, you should only slightly tap keys to wiggle. It should be very subtle, any harsh adjustments will be visible on camera and affect your speed.  

Curl over math is a resourceful tool to utilize in the arena. It helps riders understand their position in the arena and where they need to end up.WALK
A walk curl over is a third of a 5m spacing, and is also known as a character spacing. When done correctly, it will take 3 walk curl overs to reach your next dot.
TROT
A trot curl over is 2,5m, landing you in between two dots. It takes 2 trot curl overs (a dodge) to reach the next dot.
CANTER
A canter curl over will be a full 5M. To ensure that you land on the next set of dots, you need to round it off a bit by tapping!

Arena points come in tons of use when doing lots of routine work and specifying precise dots in the arena!Simply, you just need to combine your knowledge from metre lines and quadrant lines to get exact points.For example, we can combine the E quarter line, and the A 20 metre to know exact which dot you go to.

Random Line OrderReversed Line OrderPredictive Riding
As we know our alignment and gaps from our riding fundamentals, it is imperative that all members get chances at being in different areas of a line or formation. Random line orders help with this, and gives everyone the chance to effectively practice leading, and viewing different perspectives in the arena.Reversed line order is also very important as well, especially when transitioning from various moves (like curl overs!). Predictive riding is one way we can help our confidence. This means anticipating where our other riders are due to screen delay, and ensure that we adapt to them the best way possible.Predictive riding is when riders themselves can effectively see situations and decide how it will not only affect them, but other riders as well. In addition to this, predictive riding also includes what you can do in response to your surroundings and what other riders do.
Partner Work
When in tiers and waterfalls, it is important to understand the relationship between your partner and screen delay, especially in various moves.
In a crescent, for example, you need to be aware of your inside partners walk curl. Not only are you much further ahead, but also use predictive riding for how big the walk curl will be. Understanding the effects of this and riding to ensure that your canter curl is big enough (but also not too big) will aid you in increasing ridership for partner moves. Similar theory applies to stir. You need to predict how big you need to make your trot curl in relation to how wide your partners horse is.
For a rail shift, due to screen delay, your partner will go much more later than you. As you need to pass LTL in the shift you need to work together to ensure that you do not collide by predicting your partners path, while also still rounding off your half metre as much as you can.
Switches 
Switches are a term used for waterfalls. You are simply switching line positions! You can include a variety of moves in your switches. Some common ones include switch set, key switch, and slant switch. Can you think of some other moves to switch the lines?In a switch, it is very important that you are mindful of your alignment before going into the switch, and while you’re in the switch, the spacing with the people beside you. You want to make sure it is even so that you merge back in your SBS alignment and prevent yourself from catching up.