What are the most common faults in piaffe?

The most common faults in piaffe are identifiable patterns that reveal specific deficiencies in the horse's collection, training, or physical development, and each points toward specific corrective work rather than general adjustment of the movement. Lateral movement — the horse swinging its body from side to side rather than stepping up and down with alternating diagonal pairs — is among the most serious faults and typically indicates insufficient collection or tension that prevents the correct diagonal rhythm. A piaffe that appears almost like a pace, with the legs on each side moving together rather than in diagonal pairs, has lost its fundamental two-beat rhythm and is no longer technically a piaffe regardless of how elevated it appears. The haunches trailing — the horse's hindquarters not stepping sufficiently under the body and remaining relatively high while the forehand drops — indicates that the collection has not shifted enough weight to the hindquarters and that the horse is not genuinely carrying from behind. Tension through the back, visible as a tight, braced topline rather than a supple, carrying one, produces a movement that appears hurried or choppy rather than the slow, powerful, deliberate quality that correct piaffe shows. Loss of lightness in the front — the horse becoming heavy on the forehand in piaffe when collection should be producing maximum lightness — indicates compression rather than genuine collection and is often associated with excessive rein pressure during the training of the movement. An irregular rhythm — steps that are not equally elevated and equally timed in both diagonal pairs — indicates asymmetry in the horse's collection or physical preparation that has not been adequately addressed before piaffe demands were introduced. Excessive forward movement that does not stay in place indicates insufficient collection, while excessive backward movement that retreats rather than staying in place indicates tension or evasion of the forward component that piaffe must maintain.