Second level freestyle

I forgot to share our second level freestyle now that the choreography and music timing is all worked out. This is a really exciting freestyle for me since it has so much potential to be awesome if we can really master the movements. The BHB gets a bit excited in the medium trot and doesn't always want to easily come back to do the travers right after, but we're working on it! There was originally a 3/4 turn on the haunches in the middle of the walk section, but I think eliminating it helps the BHB have a more relaxed walk. His amazing walk has not been so great in the show ring lately, so it might be a smart thing to do. The laziness shown in this video is why the BHB is currently on vacation and I'm crossing my fingers for cooler weather at Regionals!

Creating a Freestyle: Music

I'm currently going through the music choosing process for the second time... and I wish it could be the last! Choosing music for a freestyle has proven to be a stressful and time-consuming task. 

The first step is to find your horse's tempo in all 3 gaits. Then it's on to listening to a million soundtracks (mostly browsing youtube.com for me) to find music you like AND would work well in a freestyle. The kicker is that it also has to be the right tempo for your horse. Tempos can be modified, but large modifications (more than around 10%) probably won't end up sounding the way you want. Also, it really needs to be music that's quite pleasing for judges of every background. The BHB's favorite music happens to be R&B... but I can't imagine it would go over as well with the judges as classic rock would!

For the DIY-er, you can download the free music editing program Audacity. It's not a very beginner-friendly program, so if you're not very tech-savvy you might be better off hiring a professional. Heck, anyone would probably be better off hiring a professional... I'm just trying to see if I can squeeze by in creating a great lower-level freestyle without spending more than $3. Granted, I've done plenty of video editing in the past, but editing music seems to be much more complicated.I do realize I may have to end up hiring someone to create seamless music, but at least it will be less expensive since I've picked out the music and made the choreography.

If you're still reading this after hearing how daunting music editing can be, let's go to the next step. First, I did rough edits of the music to eliminate the part of the music that I don't want to use. I figure if I have a 5 minute limit and have to do all of my movements in both directions, then I need no more than 45 seconds of walk, 1 1/2- 2 minutes of canter, and around 2 minutes of trot. Counting in both directions for the trot and canter, and I could probably edit it down to 1 minute trot and canter segments to repeat in my freestyle. I still left 2-3 minutes of music for each gait so that I had enough to easier match it to my choreography without creating horrid franken-music by piecing many different parts together and loosing the natural song flow.

I video-taped my choreography ridden how I'd like to show it so that I could get timing for each movement.  Then I used Audacity to edit the segments. I found the segments I wanted and pieced them together with Fade/ Cross-Fade effects. I'm still learning to use Audacity, so maybe in the future I'll figure out how to use some other effects in editing freestyle music.


A few educational articles on choosing and editing freestyle music:
USDF Connection article "Got Music?"
USDF Connection article "The Wow Factor"
USDF Connection Article "To Turn a Phrase" 

Creating a Freestyle: Choreography

The first step I've taken in creating a first level freestyle to debut this year is putting together choreography. With my research background, I felt the need to search and browse over everything I could find on about creating the best freestyle possible. The USDF e-TRAK section is chock full of information and is accessible via the USDF by current members.

Obviously the first step in creating a freestyle is to know the basics. So go check out the score sheet for your level to find the required and forbidden movements. It's also good to have an idea of the coefficients associated with each aspect of the test so you can try to maximize your score. The scoring associated with freestyles is different from regular dressage tests, so it's a good idea to understand freestyle scoring.

Great tips for choreography from a Dressage Today article:

Add difficulty to minimum technical requirements at the level to improve your "degree of difficulty" score.

Add a little technical difficulty to each movement or combination rather than taking a few "all or nothing" risks.

Directional arena placement of movements should account for the judge's viewpoint.

Consider which movements, like half pass, are best performed going toward C and plan other movements as directional set-ups.

Short connecting lines make efficient use of arena space and your time allotment.

Difficult transitions add to your "degree of difficulty" score.

Keep the walk short and simple to preserve time for more brilliant movements in trot and canter.

Quick changes of bend add difficulty.

Combine several movements in sequence to show the greatest number of requirements in the least amount of space possible.

Frequent transitions between paces add difficulty.

In movements such as half pass, riding a longer or steeper line than required in tests at the level adds difficulty.

Create space in your design scheme to include one or more "insurance lines" (chance to do movements a second time).

Performing a technical movement in a connecting line, such as the short side of the arena, uses arena space efficiently.

Use centerlines to add technically scored movements to your design.

Practice alternate movements on the final centerline and you add an "insurance line" to your program.

Other great resources for freestyle choreography:
USDF e-TRAK article "Let the Show Begin"
USDF Connection article "Tackling Choreography"
USDF Connection article "A Primer on Freestyle Creation"
USDF Connection article "Judges on Freestyle"
USDF Connection article "So You Think You Can Dance"
USDF Freestyle Committee handout "Understanding Artistic Impression"