What is the difference between Piaffe and Passage?

I was wondering recently the difference between a piaffe and passage. I have always known these terms and I knew they were both dressage movement to do with trotting but I never knew the difference. After years of curiosity, I finally got around to googling it, as any normal person would do, and I got these results: A piaffe is where the horse trots on the spot, whereas a passage is a trot that very slowly travels forward. Now, I read this on about three different website, therefore it is 100% correct in my eyes, but as a rider, how do we ask the horse for each movement?

Now, the aids for passage are 'Start in the walk, trot or piaffe, apply subtle leg aids and brace the back, lightly restrain the forward movement of the horse with the hands, ride a few steps of passage, finish by riding the horse forward in the trot. This is the horse's reward for offering good passage steps.' according to http://www.dressage-academy.com/schooling-tips/passage.php. But if I were to put this into more simple terms that a larger range of people could understand, I think I would interpret this to say: Start with a forward walk or slow sitting trot, put your legs on and sit deep in the saddle while half halting until it feels like the horse is floating. Once you have performed a few strides, reward the horses by letting it do a free forward trot.' Many of the websites I looked at to get the aids said to only attempt it for the first time on a horse that is trained to do so, I decided it might be wise to include a disclaimer as well then.

So apparently the aids for piaffe include putting your shoulders back and applying either leg one at a time in time with the horse's rhythym. That is a concise version and I think my version of that would be to put your shoulders back, allow your hips to absorb the movement, put your right leg on when the horses left leg lifts and your left leg with the horses right leg.

I have been interested in the difference between piaffe and passage for a long time now. This post is not to be used as a guide of how to train and perform these dressage movements, it is just a short post that will hopefully help you differentiate between the two movements. I apologise if any of this information is incorrect, I am not an expert. I was just fulfilling my curiosity!

Until next time,
-KaimanawaKim