Despite Anna's perception of the days dragging on, the month of October, and the chill and horse blankets that accompanied it, came much more quickly than Anna had anticipated.
"Are you ready for the show this weekend?" Kristoff asked, as he and Anna walked from the latest team meeting back to their building.
"I think so," Anna said, "I'm kind of nervous, but with Weselton pushing us as hard as he has, I think we're all really more prepared than we think we are."
Kristoff laughed, "You can say that again."
The next show was indeed in only two days. They would have Friday off, as they had for the previous show, but it would still be an early morning. The show was at a barn an hour and a half away, and the team was expected to arrive by ten. So it was virtually like waking up for an eight a.m. class.
But make that an eight a.m. with a major exam.
Because the stress and anxiety that came with the pressures of showing, in addition to not knowing which horse she would end up with, really did affect Anna.
A lot.
And more than she was letting on about with Kristoff.
She said a quick goodbye to her friend before heading into her room, where she was surprised to find that her roommate was still awake. And before she had even shut the door, Rapunzel squealed, "I have a date! I have a date!"
A grin instantly came to Anna's face, "With Flynn?"
"Yeah," Rapunzel's smile never left her face, "I mean, it's technically not a date date…"
"I'm not buying that," Anna said as she plopped herself down on her bed.
"He asked me to come with to your team's second show," Rapunzel said.
"That is still a date. Especially because this show isn't at our barn. I didn't even know that non-team members could go."
"Apparently so," Rapunzel shrugged, "But…I'm pretty excited."
"You should be," Anna said, truly happy for her roommate.
But she had really begun to wonder that if anyone could go to the shows, then would…Elsa go to the show?
Probably not, Anna decided almost immediately.
Elsa had pointedly said that she rarely went to the shows at her own barn.
But she went to this past one…
Anna decided that she would just ask at work the next day. Elsa had also said that she was off on Saturdays, after all.
"Anna, I already told you, just because I'm off doesn't mean I can do whatever I want. I'm still the one who's called if something goes wrong."
"So that's a no then?" Anna couldn't ignore the feeling of disappointment she had, even though she had been prepared for Elsa's answer. And she didn't exactly understand why it bothered her, either, but she decided to focus her energy on her sweeping instead of dwelling on it.
"That's a no," Elsa confirmed.
"I don't know how you do it," Anna said.
"Do what?"
"How your life is entirely…" Anna waved with one hand to indicate the barn and the horses, "this. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love being around the horses, but in the position that you're in, doesn't it ever get…I don't know…" Anna trailed off, not exactly knowing where she was going with this, and also not entirely sure if she should continue to go on with this.
Because this was a topic that was usually strictly off-limits: Elsa and Elsa's life.
But the senior surprised her, filling in the last of Anna's sentence with adjectives of her own, "Boring? Repetitive? Annoying? Agitating?" Elsa's blue eyes were no longer on Anna, but directed somewhere towards one of the stalls where Knight stood wrapped in a royal blue blanket, "But it's not like I have a choice. I do what my parents want. No questions asked."
Anna felt a pang of sympathy for the senior. Anna's own parents had told her to pursue whatever degree she wanted. That was why she was currently undecided as far as her major.
"So…that's the only reason you're a business major."
Elsa only nodded.
"But why?" Anna asked.
"What do you mean 'why'? They want the business to stay in the family. It's profitable. And while they travel they need someone to keep it running. They need someone to pass it on to," Elsa said, but somehow her words seemed more sad and distant than they had before.
Anna wondered how much more of the senior's life had been dictated by her parents.
There is so much about you that I don't know.
Blue eyes were for the first time torn from the distance and back to Anna, "And?"
"What?" Anna asked, completely confused.
"You did it again, didn't you?" Elsa's frown turned into a small smirk.
"What?" Anna demanded.
"There is a lot about me that you don't know."
Anna nearly dropped the broom as she slapped one hand over her mouth.
Oh yes, Anna, you have done it again, Anna thought as her face burned. Stupid mouth.
"I must say, though, you're just about the only one who's ever really cared," Elsa said, and Anna didn't know how to interpret the statement. Was Elsa being sarcastic? Facetious?
"Is that…a good thing?" Anna asked.
"I mean I don't really care either way. You can know my entire history, but that doesn't change the fact that you answer to me."
Definitely facetious.
Because…it was said in such a way that Elsa was trying to hide how much it really did bother her. Anna could tell because of the way that Elsa was no longer looking her quite in the eye, and the way her fingers flew to her braid for a brief moment. And Anna could only imagine what it was like, to be the daughter of highly-respected parents, expected to live up to the full potential to follow in their footsteps, and to have her life defined by others—so much so that the Elsa who stood here before her could very well be someone else entirely. Someone so far removed from the Elsa that could have been.
And this was the Elsa that Anna so desperately wanted to know. The Elsa who perhaps had fears or worries; had dreams and aspirations and hopes beyond the goals her parents had set for her. The Elsa who, Anna was almost completely certain, no one else had ever seen.
"So if you don't care…then I can ask you a question," Anna said as she picked up the broom once more.
Elsa seemed to contemplate Anna's comment for a moment before saying, "That doesn't mean I'm going to answer it."
"I'll take my chances."
Elsa merely folded her arms and leaned against the nearest stall, "Then start asking. I don't have all night."
Anna fought the elated grin that threatened to break out on her face, "So I want to know why you're in a freshman level chemistry lab."
"I'm a physics minor," Elsa said, "And apparently basic chemistry is a foundational requirement for all science tracks."
"Why physics?"
"You said one question."
"Oh, come on. That's so unfair!" Anna exclaimed.
Elsa sighed, and scuffed the bottom of one of her perfect black leather riding boots across the ground in front of her before crossing it over her other ankle, "It would have been my major. But clearly, that wasn't happening. I convinced my parents in the beginning of my junior year that I could take it as a minor without it getting in the way of…all of this."
This, again, meaning the barn.
Anna paused for a moment, and then asked, "So do you ever compete? Or show any of the horses?"
"Only in dressage. But the primary reason I show is to take the training horses to rated shows. The more experience and ribbons, the more valuable they are for sales."
Anna nodded her head. That made sense.
Taking in the senior's appearance, this time a purple polo shirt, Anna asked another question that had been bothering her, "So why do you always wear short sleeve polo shirts? Especially when it's so cold in here."
Elsa seemed confused about the question at first; Anna had to admit, it was kind of random. But she wanted to know and much to her surprise, the senior actually answered her, the words prefaced by a small shrug, "The cold never bothered me."
Okay. Well. It was a simple answer. Not the one that Anna had been expecting—but then again, what kind of answer had she been expecting?
But no matter; Anna had many more questions that she needed answers to.
"How did you know my name the first day of chem lab?"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"How did you know my name?" Anna repeated, taking note of how uncomfortable Elsa suddenly seemed to look.
"I…don't even know what you're talking about."
"Ha! You hesitated!" Anna exclaimed, crossing her arms in triumph.
"I did not."
"Answer the question."
"You're impossible."
Anna glared.
"Fine," Elsa sighed again, "I…may or may not have looked up your number from the tryouts and matched it to your paperwork."
What? Why? So she did notice me before all of this?
"Uh, you…did?"
"How else do you think you ended up being the one to ride Dee without a martingale in your lessons?" Elsa said, composure completely regained.
Oh.
"Okay. Fine. Next question. Do you think you'll ever move out? Like, are you going to live with your parents for the rest of your life?"
"No!" Elsa's response was so sudden and forceful that Elsa herself looked a little shocked that it had come out the way it had, "I mean…no…I don't plan on living here for the rest of my life. I'll…just have to find some place close. Even though at the moment, I've got the house to myself. It's a rare occasion that my parents are ever home."
"Why do they travel so much?"
"They…claim it's business. They're always looking for bigger and better prospective training projects; any publicity they can bring to our business. And we're not just talking the state or the country here. We're talking worldwide…" Elsa trailed off.
"But you don't buy it," Anna guessed.
Elsa paused, seeming to deliberate whether or not she wanted to say anything more on the subject. And much to Anna's pleasure, the senior continued talking, "It's not that I think they're lying or anything. Because they're not. I just think that traveling was always their…passion. And now they want to pursue it. So they're gone more often than they're here, and while they get to do what they want, I'm stuck here."
"That is so not right!" Anna was slightly surprised at how much this infuriated her, but continued ranting, "How do they have the right to do that? Like seriously, I know they're your parents, but you're an adult. They can't keep telling you what to do! They can't just expect you to—"
Elsa raised her eyebrows and gave Anna a look that clearly said 'calm yourself and stop making a scene'. Even some of the horses had stuck their heads over their stall doors to inspect the commotion.
Anna gave a small cough, "What I meant was…that's unfortunate."
"Well, it's life."
Elsa's favorite phrase.
Anna hated it.
"I'm sure you could do something," Anna said.
"That's why I have the physics minor," Elsa paused for a moment, again seeming to decide how much she wanted to say before continuing, "Right now my parents have the final say on who works here. But I figured that sometime in the future when I'm running the place, I can essentially hire more employees. And then I'll have more time. It'll still be what they want—it's technically going to 'stay in the family' because I'll still be running it. And I'm hoping…to go into research, maybe. Or engineering, even though that would require more years of school…" Elsa trailed off and looked to the ground, as if she thought she had said too much.
"I could totally see it," Anna grinned.
Elsa's blue eyes, now thoughtful and almost excited, once again met Anna's own, "Really?"
"Yeah," Anna said, "I know I couldn't do it. But you've got the motivation. The devotion. The brain."
"I don't know everything," Elsa stated, rather matter-of-factly.
"Says the one who's the reason I have a hundred percent average in chem lab."
Elsa only shook her head in an attempt to just brush off any mention of her academic talent. And while Anna would have pursued it further, she let this one slide.
Because she had a much better question that she was just dying to know the answer to.
"So enough about school. I have one last question."
"Which is?"
A sly smile found its way to Anna's face, "What does your tattoo say?"
One corner of the senior's mouth curved upwards. Then it grew into a smirk.
Clearly, this one was non-negotiable.
"Now that, I am not going to answer."
"Anna get up already! We need to leave soon!"
The excited voice of Anna's roommate was one that was oddly out of place at six thirty in the morning. Normally, Rapunzel would be the one hiding under the covers, but now her roommate was practically bouncing off the walls, already dressed, including the spare pair of riding boots that Anna had lent her (a favor in response to Rapunzel's nonstop complaining of how she didn't want to ruin her only pair of white sneakers that she had worn to the barn the first time).
Anna groaned, "Fine."
She yawned, taking her time getting up, but once she looked at the clock and understood that it was six thirty, she began rushing around, all thoughts of tiredness gone.
"Why didn't you wake me up before!" she cried.
And thank God I had half a mind to get everything together last night.
"Well, I tried. But when you slept through the alarm I knew it would be torture to even get you to open your eyes."
Anna sighed, "Go get me something to eat. I'm not going to have time for breakfast. I'll meet you back here before we go, okay?"
Her roommate didn't even seem bothered by Anna's request—which had come out as more of an order.
"Sure," Rapunzel said, "But only if I can smuggle something out of there. You know how they are about that."
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Anna said, but who could really think about food at this point, anyway? She was already nervous about the show, so the food in her stomach definitely wouldn't sit well with her later.
As soon as her roommate was out the door, Anna scrambled to change. She threw on a pair of jeans, knowing that if she left in her show breeches they would get destroyed before she even got to the barn. She did, however, put on her white show shirt, placed the navy blue show jacket in her bag with the breeches, and threw an old, normal, zip-up jacket over the show shirt.
Then she pulled on her tall show boots and double checked her bag to make sure she had everything—forgetting things had become commonplace for Anna, and she didn't want a repeat of the tryouts when she had left her helmet in her dorm room.
Especially because it led me straight to Hans, Anna was instantly repulsed at the thought.
As if her stomach need something else to churn over.
And she didn't know why she got so anxious about these shows, either. She was a good rider. Not the absolute best, but good enough to have proven herself worthy to be a part of the team. So why did she continue to doubt herself?
In the same way that you almost let Hans talk down to you.
The thought, although Anna had tried to banish it, resurfaced against her will.
But she shoved it away again, not wanting to dwell any more on Hans. Even though she would see him today (since they were on the same team, as much as that disgusted her as well) she hoped that they wouldn't exactly cross each other's paths. And transportation was only going to help her in this regard; the college provided a bus, but team members could drive if the distance was within two hours away. Naturally, Kristoff had offered Anna a ride, who had passed the offer along to Rapunzel. However, as Anna had assumed, she would be taking the bus with Flynn, as team captains were required to travel with the team.
Not a minute after Anna had closed her bag, Rapunzel burst through the room and tossed Anna a bagel before saying, "I need to go catch the bus. And Kristoff was at the dining hall and told me to tell you to meet him in the main parking lot."
"Thank you so much," Anna said, "And I guess I'll see you there, then."
Rapunzel gave a small wave before heading down the hallway, leaving Anna to shut the light and close the door.
Bag over her shoulder, Anna hurried to the parking lot, where Kristoff was already waiting in his car. And before she could even get in he said, "So I think I left my helmet at the barn."
"Oh," Anna said, resisting the urge to laugh, "And you tell me that I forget things."
"Yeah, well," Kristoff mumbled, "Hopefully we won't be late, now."
"I doubt it," Anna said as they headed off campus and turned down the road towards the barn.
It only took three minutes this morning; there was barely any traffic at all. It certainly didn't provide Anna with enough time to put her hair into her two signature braids as she had planned to. And so by the time they arrived, Anna had one braid half completed, and had to continue it while she followed Kristoff into the barn and up to the lounge, where Kristoff was certain that he had left the helmet in one of the lockers.
But when they walked in, Anna was surprised to find Elsa there. And the senior's slightly widened eyes made Anna realize that Elsa was equally as surprised to see them.
"I thought you had a show today," Elsa said.
"We do, but Kristoff left his helmet here."
"Oh," Elsa said, "Actually I think I might have it in the office. I had to clean everything out of here yesterday, and came across a helmet."
And it wasn't until the two of them turned to follow Elsa down to the office that Anna suddenly realized how ridiculous she must look; what with her old, worn jacket half zipped, the hood probably inside out and flopped somewhere over her shoulder in her rush to put it on, her show shirt buttoned all the way up to the collar, her torn jeans paired with tall show boots, and only one completed braid with the rest of her hair loose down the left side of her face, she was sure she was making quite a fashion statement. She might work in old clothes, but the fact that she was at this particular barn looking the way she was, especially with the half-done hair…it made her a little self-conscious. And her desperate scrambling to start her other braid, while simultaneously attempting to fully zipper her jacket, didn't go unnoticed by Kristoff.
"You look fine."
"What are you talking about?" Anna said, trying to brush it off.
Kristoff gave her a look that told her that she knew exactly what he was talking about. But she only rolled her eyes, too tired to argue with him.
And Elsa, if she caught any of the conversation, chose to ignore it, simply walking into the office and returning with the helmet that she had found, "Is this it?"
"Yeah," Kristoff said, "Thanks for holding onto it."
"Not a problem," Elsa said, "Good luck at the show."
Kristoff said a brief thank you, and Anna echoed his response, her attention focused on finishing her braid. And by the time she had wrapped the last of the elastic around it and muttered a quick, "There. That's better," she found that Kristoff had already turned to go. And she was about to turn on her heels and follow him when she heard something that kept her rooted in place.
"I thought it looked nice," Elsa's eyes were soft; she wasn't joking, or making light of the situation, "You should wear it down more often."
"O-oh," Anna said, genuinely surprised, as compliments from Elsa were rare, "Thanks."
The senior gave her a small smile before heading back into the office and closing the door.
"Anna, come on!"
Kristoff's call drew her out of her stunned state, and it was an abrupt enough distraction to keep her from trying to analyze why her face now seemed to be burning.
Okay, Anna. Deep breaths. It's all going to be okay.
The barn was a rush of commotion everywhere she looked, and the petite pinto horse that Anna had been assigned to ride was shifting nervously beneath her. As if Anna needed anything more to worry about, now the horse seemed nervous. Anna could feel the worry radiating through the saddle, and saw nervous ears flicking back and forth.
The arena was smaller than the one they all practiced in, but that didn't make the large strangeness of it any less intimidating as Anna walked the pinto horse, Patriot, into the arena. She couldn't even pick out the face of her roommate or any of her teammates in the crowd.
Focus on the horse. Just the horse.
The course consisted of all vertical jumps this time, but their heights were fairly low. The majority of them were set to the minimum height requirement for her division with the exception of the last two.
As she prepared to canter, she could feel Patriot already pulling at the bit.
I'm always stuck with the troublemakers, Anna sighed.
She had to ask twice for the gelding to pick up the canter lead, and Anna breathed a sigh of relief when he picked up the correct one.
When she directed Patriot at the first jump, he took it with ease, but jerked his head up when he landed, and Anna knew that he was going to try to move faster towards the next jump. To prevent this, she leaned back and put a little more pressure on the reins, but still gave Patriot room to move. Her efforts paid off, enabling them to get over the next three jumps without a problem.
They were moving at a steady pace, heading towards the second to last jump. And Anna was sure that everything would go smoothly from there on out. But, as if she hadn't already had enough trouble, 'smoothly' was far cry from the word she would have used to describe what happened next.
Anna had looked for the distance; saw that they were ideally two strides away. When suddenly…Patriot decided that the bright yellow coloring on the poles of the jump was terrifying. And instead of going over the jump, he skidded to a stop, throwing Anna slightly off balance.
Why? Anna groaned internally.
The refusal would count against her. And she would only get two more attempts at the jump; three refusals counted as a disqualification.
Anna turned Patriot in a circle to face the jump again, and this time, she tapped Patriot with her heels on the approach. But then she felt the sudden jolt of a second refusal, this time tossing her forward onto the gelding's neck.
At this point, the entire crowd had gone silent, much to Anna's displeasure. But she let all thoughts leave her mind except for those of Patriot.
And how he'd better listen this time…
Anna circled Patriot once more. And, after having gone through it twice already, Anna could feel exactly when Patriot became unsure and was about to stop. And so she did something that she normally tried to avoid at all costs. Sometimes it was inevitable, like it was in this moment. And it wasn't that it was a bad thing either. The horse needed to learn to respect the rider, and often needed a little extra encouragement.
Anna resorted to the riding crop that she carried in her right hand, and reached behind her to tap the horse behind the girth.
But when she did this, she was not expecting such a reaction from an experienced school horse.
Patriot pinned his ears and bucked.
Forget about getting over the jump; now all Anna wanted was to stay in the saddle. Which she managed, thankfully. The buck was nothing compared to the one than had thrown her off of Lance, but it still caught her off guard. And the realization that she was now disqualified didn't even hit her until Patriot was once again calm and walking.
Anna sighed, walking the horse out of the arena and tuning out the commentary of the announcer.
If only someone didn't think that the color yellow was life threatening.
"It was awful," Anna complained at work the next day.
She and Elsa had actually struck up a conversation before Anna's shift began, which was something that didn't normally happen.
"I'm sure it wasn't that bad," Elsa said, "What happened?"
"The horse refused twice. And then instead of just refusing the second time, he had to go ahead and buck like a maniac. So I was disqualified," Anna recalled the information, even though, somehow when she said it, it didn't seem as dramatic as it had felt in the moment.
"Did you stay on this time at least?" Elsa asked—no doubt remembering the crazy experience that Anna had had with Lance.
"Yes," Anna said, very matter-of-factly, "Yes I did."
"Then it wasn't awful. It just could have been better."
Anna contemplated the senior's comment. Somehow Elsa didn't always strike her as optimistic, but it was moments like this that sometimes caused her to change her mind.
Anna shrugged, "I guess."
"And you placed third at the last show."
She remembers that?
"I did," Anna said.
"Then you shouldn't worry about it."
"But it was the last show before break," Anna sighed.
"Lighten up," Elsa said—and the words seemed extremely out of place coming from the senior.
"Well, maybe I could if there was something to look forward to in the near future besides a million exams and studying and work and riding in the freezing cold—" Anna stopped there, realizing that everything she had just stated was something that she hadn't really meant to say aloud at all.
And although Anna sounded frustrated and was full of complaints, Elsa didn't seem to mind, instead giving the redhead something else to think about, "You can look forward to the party."
"Huh?" Anna asked, "What party?"
"Your team insists on having a party before winter break," Elsa said, and from her tone, Anna couldn't tell if the senior approved of this or not.
"Since when? And where?" Anna was still slightly confused.
"Since as long as I can remember," Elsa said, "And as far as where…my parents offer the house."
"What!?" Anna exclaimed incredulously.
"Well, they're gone nearly all the time. So what would it matter, anyway?"
That was a point that Anna couldn't argue with. And also one that she didn't know quite how to respond to. So...she decided to ask a question that had suddenly formed in her mind and was in no way going to stop bothering her until she asked it: "So do you ever, uh, go to one of these parties?"
"No, I usually don't."
Okay. Well, really, there was no surprise there.
But still, Anna couldn't help the incredulous smile that came to her face, "So you mean to tell me that a whole group of insane college students is allowed to just invade your house and have a party without supervision?"
"My parents have someone stay at the barn just in case, although everyone I know who's stayed has ended up falling asleep on the job. And the team captains attend the party. They're technically the supervisors…" Elsa looked down at one of the papers on her desk, "But I'm fairly certain that many things have happened that they haven't yet been inclined to share with me."
"But why do you let it continue, then? Why don't you do anything about it?" Anna asked.
It didn't seem like Elsa at all, always in control and maintaining order, to allow the crazy members of the team to wreak havoc in her own house.
Elsa only shrugged, "It's a way for them to celebrate the first half of the show season, I guess. It only happens once, before the semester is over."
But here was Elsa again, avoiding the question. Diverting it from herself. Holding something back.
And although it frustrated Anna beyond belief that they'd come so far, and Elsa still refused to open up, Anna didn't want to push her.
If she did, they'd have to start over from the beginning, like when Anna had critiqued Elsa's riding.
And while all had worked out afterwards, Anna didn't want to ruin anything.
She didn't think she could handle it if Elsa shut her out completely.
"Anna, the door."
Anna froze in place on Thursday evening.
Something about Elsa's comment had caught her off guard.
Instead of placing emphasis on 'the door', as she usually did, Elsa had pointedly placed emphasis on Anna's name.
Elsa—who strung her sentences together so precisely; who chose her words so carefully, with some inconspicuous intended meaning behind each phrase that Anna was always determined to uncover—had said something in a way that Anna never thought she would.
You're being crazy. Thinking way too much into it, Anna told herself as she closed the door. It means nothing…
But did it? Did it mean something?
The thought plagued Anna's mind as she worked.
Why was Elsa so hard to understand? How could she seem like she was opening up to Anna, but then ever so subtly revert back to hiding again? Answering Anna's questions, and avoiding others? Sometimes opening up, yet most times hiding behind such rigid, emotionless features that Anna could barely read them. It was the presence that Elsa put on in front of others; the one that Anna had gotten past quite a few times…but had never completely gotten through to.
Anna could picture the senior clearly in her mind, even though Elsa was nowhere to be seen; not a hair in that platinum blonde braid out of place. And those perfect ice blue eyes that Anna could only sometimes get to actually see.
Only sometimes would they soften; looking at Anna as…as what?
Her equal? Her friend?
And then sometimes Anna could get her to smile.
That wonderful little smile that was Elsa's and Elsa's alone—not bright and radiant, but a small tug at the corner of one side of her mouth.
A smile that Anna completely adored…
Wait, what?
Anna stopped short.
It…was a smile that Anna enjoyed bringing to Elsa's face. And that laugh that would sometimes come with it…
What? What? What!?
'Anna the door.'
She wanted Elsa to need her for something.
To want her for something.
"Oh my God," Anna breathed.
She had to place a hand on Dee, from where she was standing in the mare's stall, to steady herself.
'Anna, the door.'
She wanted Elsa to need her for something.
'Anna, the door.'
'Anna.'
'Anna.'
How had she been so blind?
The way she felt the need to look presentable. The way she reveled in every compliment. The way she sought approval. Her desperate and ceaseless longing to be closer…
Anna had been so caught up in trying to get through to Elsa that she hadn't even begun to understand herself.
She liked Elsa.
Anna liked Elsa.
"Oh God, Dee," Anna whispered, her words heard only by ever attentive ears of the chestnut mare, "I like Elsa."
A/n: So I hope that answered some questions. Elsa's somewhat less of a mystery now.
Annnndddd…welcome to reality, Anna! She finally has an idea of what's going on!
Some horsey terms: It's just a small one, but I'll explain canter leads. The horse has two canter leads—the right and the left. They're dependent upon which front leg moves forward first and which back leg is used to push off of the ground with. Naturally, there's one lead for each direction. It's a balance thing, although some horses have trouble picking up the correct lead. But here's a fun fact: in dressage, there's something called the counter canter, which is really cantering on the wrong lead. And I just realized that I don't think I ever really explained what dressage is, so I'll explain that now because it's going to be mentioned more. Basically, it's just another discipline, in which the horse and rider only perform on the flat (no jumping involved) and it's focused mainly on the transitions from movement to movement. The rider has to memorize the pattern of movements, which is called a dressage test, and the perimeter of the arena is marked with letters at which the different movements need to be performed. And that's the basic overview of dressage, so hopefully it makes sense!
Thanks for reading!