7 minute read
ON MY TACKBOX WITH FIONA PORTEOUS
Movement plus music equals magic
The selling point of any great freestyle dressage test is that the music should tell a story, writes FIONA PORTEOUS, who is passionate about matching the horse to the rhythm.
If you’re not a rider, watching dressage can sometimes be, dare I say it, boring. Showjumping and eventing are true spectator sports, but dressage is all about accuracy and obedience and to someone who doesn’t ride it can get a little lost in translation.
Everybody knows that when kids start riding most of them say dressage is their least favourite discipline. They would much prefer to go to Pony Club to jump, sport or even hack. It’s not until we understand that dressage is the basis of nearly all other disciplines of horsemanship that we begin to appreciate the beauty of the technique and the pure magic of dressage.
I was definitely one of these kids who avoided dressage because I didn’t really understand it. What do you mean you ride from the inside leg to the outside rein? What the? Don’t you just pull the left rein when you want to turn left? Then I started having lessons and another world opened up before me.
When I was 20 I gave away horses for a city career. I found the world of health and fitness and started my career in aerobics instructing and personal training. 20 years ago aerobics was all freestyle and classes were packed to the rafters with sweaty aerobic junkies frothing at the bit (to use a horse metaphor) for their next big routine with pumping music and highly choreographed routines in which a sea of people all moved in unison to the pounding beat. I had found my new addiction - choreographing routines to music.
It was another 15 years before I got back into the world of horses. I did my level 1 coach education and quickly realised my career in the fitness industry was taking second position to my love of horses. I discovered Freestyle Dressage after I’d been competing in dressage for a few years but found that I was really not being challenged enough – that was when I had a lightbulb moment and started combining both my love of horses and my love of music. The beauty of freestyle dressage is you can stay within your level of competition and add a freestyle test as well. You make up your own test - as long as you execute all the compulsories outlined at your level of competition. You also get to choose your own music. hardest and most challenging thing about freestyle. You might think that using something you truly love will work for you but the people you have to impress are the judges so thinking along those lines is a good idea. A good freestyle test should look like the horse is dancing and is in perfect time with the music. Great music choice will also showcase the horse’s strengths and enhance them even more. Some riders who aren’t as confident will choose music that resembles background music but I feel this isn’t in the spirit
of true freestyle and judges will (or should) mark accordingly. Sometimes your particular choice of music may not always be suitable for you and your horse. Big horses need big music to show off their flamboyance whereas a pony suits music that shows off a quick stride and the ‘cute’ factor. As all horses have their own personality there is always music out there to suit every horse and rider. In general music without lyrics works best but if the lyrics don’t take over the music that too can also work and is allowed.
How the maestros do it: Edward Galand with Moorlands Totilas.
First you need to create your routine and make sure you’ve included all your compulsories. Once you know your workout (without the music on top) and can ride it accurately the same way at least a dozen or so times, get someone to video and make sure with EA that you’ve included every compulsory movement for your level of competition. You cannot add any advanced moves from a higher level otherwise you will be disqualified.
Remember that at the time you compete you and your horse will be full of adrenalin and will be more forward than you are at home. A tip is to video your workout out somewhere in an unfamiliar environment. If you make the mistake of riding quietly when videoing your routine at home you run the risk on competition day of coming up to your end halt with the music still running! Not a good look. Trust me. I’ve been there.
Once you’re happy with your workout and have videoed it without any hiccups this will be your base to lay over the music.
Each horse’s pace has a different tempo or beat. Your horse’s movement should be accurate to the beat and also show the expression of this pace. If your music is too hard it will make your horse look heavy. If the music is too light it will make your horse look comical. The key is to pick the perfect music to suit your horse’s movement and tempo.
The biggest selling point to any good freestyle test is that it should tell a story. The music needs to resemble some sort of mood or emotion and it needs to have light and shade. Take a look at Moorlands Totilas ridden by Edward Gal and his world record freestyle scoring of 92.3%, or Andreas Helgstrand riding Blue Hors Matine in 2009. These are two of my all time favourites – and yet both are completely different styles of freestyle. Edward Gal’s music was not ridden to the beat but rather chosen for its mood. It painted a picture of strength and dominance whereas Andreas Helgstrand’s music was ridden beat perfect. It really seems as if Blue Hors Matine was actually dancing to the music. Matine was so beat perfect. She seemed to hear and respond effortlessly to every beat. Both freestyles captivated audiences worldwide and showed us the extraordinary joy and elevation you can see in a great freestyle test.
Once you have your video done you then have to choose your music -which to me is the hard part. Find out your horses BPM’s (beats per minute) in each pace. If you are changing tempo within your paces - ie: collect canter to extended canter you will need to change your music to suit. To do this count your horses paces over 30 seconds and then times it by two to get your BMP’s per minute. You then have to do the same with your music. If the music is different to your horses pace it won’t work, no matter how hard you try.
A quick reference to a horse’s pace is: Walk is approximately 116bpms. Trot is approx 160bpms. Canter is approx 80-100bpms (but there are a lot of variables).
In general if you only need three working paces - walk, trot, canter, with no tempo changes, you will only need to choose three different tracks for your freestyle.
Once you’ve chosen your music tracks you then have to put the music over your video. If you’re starting in trot use a section of music from your trot music that starts to paint a picture. You can cut and paste your music as much as you like but the more cuts you make the patchier your music will sound. On the other hand though, if you use too much of the same thing it will become boring to watch. Always fade your music in and out of each pace. This also gives you a cue to listen for when you’re riding your test. Finally finishing on your strongest pace to your halt should always be a little dramatic and ridden correctly.
So when you’re thinking of entering your next dressage test why not think about trying out a freestyle test as well? It’s well worth the little extra effort and from my point of view it’s way more fun. You never know, your horse may turn out to be a great dancer!
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A: A dancing legend: Andreas Helgstrand with Blue Hors Matine.
