So this weekend didn’t go entirely to plan – we were meant to be competing in the Novice freestyle at Myerscough on Sunday, but on Thursday Chirma came in lame and has been on box rest since, with dire warnings about the possibility of concussive laminitis ringing in our ears. Hopefully it’s nothing worse than bruised soles from running around on the hard ground, but it meant we had to forfeit our entry. Gutted.
As I wasn’t competing I went to Myerscough in a spectator capacity, and actually it was very useful to watch 11 freestyles one after another. It’s rare I get the opportunity to compare and contrast so many tests, and it was definitely a good use of the morning. I’ve collated a few thoughts – feel free to tell me if you agree or disagree in the comments!
Dramatic music usually sounds better
With the exception of one cob who rather brilliantly went round to instrumental versions of Madness (it was a piebald – two tone!), by and large it was the orchestral soundtracks that sounded best and really added something to the performances. So embrace those strings groups like Escala and Bond, who have strong beats and dramatic rises and falls! It actually went to show how difficult the “subjective” side of the freestyle judging is – some of the riders used music that I really didn’t like, but worked fairly well with the horse, while some of the others who I thought showed a bit of a sense of humour weren’t rewarded for it. You don’t have to go for crashing drums and horns – there were some really atmospheric pieces that added excitement but suited the lighter horses.
Really think about your choreography
From the stands it soon became clear that some choreography really is better than others. Some tests were really clear, while others looked rather confused. I think the key is to picture the test from the judge’s car – so make sure your figures are well spaced and things flow logically. It’s hard at novice as there’s only a certain number of ways you can ride each movement and too much innovation leads to things looking messy. There were a lot of 20m canter circles at one end, followed by a half 15m circle-counter canter change of rein at the other end – and the reason being, it looks good! I rather liked the 15m trot circles that didn’t touch the sides of the arena, but at the same time, too much work away from the white boards can look a bit cramped. The best tests were the ones where the riders weren’t afraid to use the diagonals, while some of the less interesting ones seemed to spend a lot of time just going around the outside of the arena.
Ride to the music, not to your floorplan
It was blindingly obvious when transitions weren’t ridden to the music, and it really did jar. On the other hand, some of the riders rode really cleverly – for instance waiting for the music to surge in order to ride medium canter, which looked absolutely fantastic and really made the tests “to music” rather than just “with music”. It was clear that the top placed riders had really done their homework when it came to choreography and then practised their socks off until it was perfect – I came away feeling very inspired!
Enter At A: Diary of a Dressage Adventurer 