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With the DNB Freestyle Extravaganza just over a month away now is the time to start planning your entry! There is a wide source of information on the world wide web to help you match your four legged friend to the perfect music! At the lower levels really all one needs for music is a song for walk, one for trot and one for canter. It makes it easy when putting it all together once you have designed the choreography.

A great source in finding music already sorted according to your horses BPM (beats per minute) is EquiMusic.com. The site is run by Mike Matson. On Mike’s Instructions page he describes how you can easily determine your horses BPM in the walk, trot and canter. Once you have the beats per minute for each gait you can search and sift through which songs capture you and your horse’s personality.

Another great resource for music is Itunes. If you are anything like me and pretty much think it’s a sin to ride without music (aside from lessons of course) you may already have an idea on what works and what doesn’t work for your horse. Itunes is a great source to buy it/song or you can also look for instrumental versions. For example, Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” may not be entirely appropriate for Dressage Competition but a quick search using keywords “Poker Face Instrumental” comes up with dozens of choices! Or just a search using “Instrumental” may give you some ideas. One great one is Michael Buble’s “Haven’t Met You Yet” instrumental version. Or perhaps Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy”. If you want to rock out perhaps try the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (some do have vocals).

Now on to choreography. This is where you get to really have fun and go with the music! Make sure you know what the requirements are for your level. Walk/Trot and Training are available through the DNB website. First and above are available on Equine Canada’s website. On the Equine Canada files they also have a page where they list what is clearly allowed and clearly not allowed for movements. The clearly allowed will often give you ideas to increase your level of difficulty, for example for Second Level freestyles Canter – Halt – Canter is allowed. The main thing is to play up your horse’s strengths and play down his or her weaknesses!

I hope this gives you a start in designing your freestyle for the Sussex Show, July 24th and I hope to see you there, with a big smile showing your creativity with your best equine friend! For everyone who will not be able to compete, come out and support the riders! It will be a great evening for everyone to share our love of the sport. Good luck everyone!

PS: If you are interested in seeing how the top riders do it, take a look at Cees Slings creating Laura Bechtolsheimer’s amazing freestyle.

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