The Prix Caprilli tests were first created in the early 1960’s, they assess the skill of the rider and not the way the pony / horse moves.
Usually two small jumps are used, originally they were Caprilli jumps – hence the name of the test – named after Frederico Caprilli a teacher at the italian cavalry schools of Tor di Quinto and Pinerolo. He is usually credited with inventing the forward seat (his Il sistema). Not so. Long before him the hungarian Hussars did, imitating the riders of the russsian Steppes, the Sythians from central Asia, and the persian Parthians et al.
The prix Caprilli jumps were originally a single fixed offset pole on a cross at each end. When they were rotated on the crosses this raised or lowered the pole. They were banned from use in the mid 1970’s because they were unsafe. Now ordinary jumps are used or poles on blocks.
Prix Caprilli was started in Northern Home Counties as a quasi area competition in the early 1970’s and is now run alongside the area dressage competition.
It is now apparently a competition unique to area 12, the winners do not qualify for any further competition. Area 12’s district commissioners have continued to support it as it gives younger rider a gentle introduction to a form of dressage.
All but one of the tests has been re-created after much research by Michael Raeside Auld. Test number one has, sadly, not been found and has yet to be re-discovered.
