Dressage to music, also known as Freestyle is a fantastic opportunity to have a go at a different sport within British Dressage. With two championships to aim for each year, it gives you the chance to embrace your artistic side and have a go at dancing with your pony!
Making your freestyle programme is great fun and can be done at home if you have a 60 x 20m arena. Alternatively there are some professional dressage to music companies that can design the floorplan for you and set it to your chosen music.
One of the key things to remember with dressage to music is that the normal arena markers don’t matter, it’s all about timing the music to the movements. For example, you don’t have to halt at one of the markers of the centre line, but you need to know when your music is going to finish and halt in time with the music. If you get behind the music you can cut the corners to make up time, the judge doesn’t know your floor plan, so as long as you include all of the compulsory movements and stay in time with your music they won’t know if you have to improvise!
So what do you need to know to get started?
British Dressage have all of the information on their Dressage to Music page but we have summarised some of the key things to get you started.
Membership
You need to be a British Dressage Club member with a Club registered horse to have a go at dressage to music. If you want to enter the Area Festivals or Winter Regionals you will need to upgrade your membership to a full membership to compete.
Choose your level
The levels for dressage to music are the same as standard British Dressage classes, so you can choose from Prelim right up to the top levels. You will also need to enter the right section depending on whether you are Bronze, Silver or Gold level. You can check out the eligibility criteria here (Page 75 onwards).
Designing your floor plan
Floor plan is the name used for your individual test. Each competitors floor plan (test) is different, which allows you to create a test based on your strengths. The level you choose to compete at will influence what movements you can or can’t put into your floor plan.
British Dressage have a list of compulsory movements, non-compulsory permitted movements and prohibited movements for each level. You can buy the test sheets from their online shop and these have a list of what you can and can’t include for your level. There is also a time limit for the test and penalties are applied if you go over this.
The floor plan must be in a long arena (60 x 20m). Once you have designed the floor plan you will need to practice riding it a few times so that you know it really well.
Set your floor plan to music
Once you know your test and have ridden it through a few times you can get started with the fun bit… choosing your music! Get a friend to video you riding through the test. Start outside the arena as you would at a competition. Most riders choose to start their test somewhere between E & V or B & P depending on which rein you want to enter on. When you ride your test at a competition you will halt outside the arena at the same point, put your hand in the air to signal for the music to start and move off as the music starts. It’s important to video yourself riding the test in the correct size arena, so if you don’t have a full size arena at home we would recommend hiring one from your local show centre. The video is used to set the music to the movements so if your arena is too big or small, when you go to a competition you will either be ahead or behind the music throughout the test.
If you are good with tech and love music and have a good idea what might suit your horse then you will probably love choosing your music and setting it to your floorplan. If not then a professional company such as EquiDance is definitively worth investing in!
How is it marked
Your final mark is made up of two separate components, a technical mark and an artistic mark.
Each compulsory movement earns a technical mark out of 10 and these movements are marked in the same way as standard dressage test, and follow the judging guidelines set out by BD. However instead of getting the normal collective marks to summarise your performance, with a music test you get an artistic mark that is made up of five different areas:
- Rhythm, energy and elasticity – this marks relates closely to the paces and impulsion mark in a standard test. It focuses on the gymnastic ability of the horse. The judge will be looking for consistency in the rhythm and regularity of the paces, the correct tempo of every pace, freedom and elasticity of the paces, impulsion, activity and engagement of the hind legs, suppleness and swinging of the back and fluency of the movements.
- Harmony – this relates to the submission and rider mark in a standard test and reflects the relaxation and confidence of your horse, the lightness and ease of the movements, fluency of transitions, suppleness and balance of the rider and how subtle and effective the rider is.
- Degree of difficulty – this mark is only used when riding at Medium level and above.
- Choreography – This is one of the true artistic marks and is not so dependent on your technical performance, although strong resistances and mistakes will reduce your marks. Things to consider when designing your floorplan and choosing your music include using of the whole arena, making sure your movements are symmetrical and including a flowing pattern. Think about adding in dramatic moments combined with quieter moments and try to include an impressive finish.
- Music and interpretation of music – this is not about whether the judge likes your music or not! Their personal taste in music should not influence what mark you get. Their job is to assess the suitability of the music for the horse and rider and whether it enhances or distracts from the performance.
The artistic marks earn a four times co-efficient, making them really influential to your over all score.
Before you compete
You’ll need to download and complete your music license record form which needs to give an accurate account of the music you have used and a signed music sub-licence agreement. This allows you to use any music of your choice from the Phonographic Performance Ltd (PPL) database.
Once you’ve completed the forms they need to be sent to British Dressage (membership@britishdressage.co.uk). You only need to send pages 14-16 of the music sub-licence agreement.
Once British Dressage have processed your forms they will send you out PPL music stickers which need to be filled out and stuck to the back of your music CD case. If you update your music at any point you will need to send in an updated music licence record form.
When you get to the competition don’t forget to hand your CD into the show secretary and don’t forget to collect it before you go home!
Dressage to Music Championships
Once you have entered a few dressage to music competitions you might want to look at what you can championships you can aim to qualify for. There are two national music championships each year, the NAF 5* Winter Championship and the Petplan Equine Area Festival Summer Championship.
NAF 5* Winter Championship
You can qualify for this championship via the Winter Regionals at Silver or Gold level. To qualify for the regionals you will need to get two qualifying scores at your local BD competitions in the period 1st July – 31stDecember. The percentage you need to qualify depends on the level and section you enter and you can check out what you need here.
Petplan Equine Area Festival Summer Championship
You qualify for the summer championship via the Area Festivals at Bronze or Silver level. To qualify for the Area Festivals you will need to get two scores at 63% or above at your local BD competitions in the period 1stJanuary – 30th June.
If you are just getting started with Dressage to Music there is quite a lot of information to take in, but once you’ve got a couple of competitions under your belt, it can be a lot of fun!
We’d love to hear how you get on…
Liz, Lou & Liz x
