span style=”font-style: italic;”> Judges, choreographers and riders gathered last month to analyze the elements that make riding to music an experience to remember.


The best and worst thing about dressage judging is its subjective nature. And nowhere does the subjectivityissue arise more than in the judging of the musical freestyle.

This is because the freestyle includes scores not only for technical execution of required movements, but also for artistic impression–and what impresses one judge as artistic might not impress another. Some judges even admit the artistic side of the score is where they most have room to maneuver when scoring a freestyle.

“The parameters in the regular test are much, much tighter. We all pretty much know what is a 7, an 8 and so on. But in the freestyle, you have more latitude,” said Axel Steiner, an O-rated judge.

But he also believes that, over time, most judges develop a set of standards they use when judging freestyles, and riders can come to know these standards.

“Frankly, I don’t even think of the score much any more. It just comes out. You have this standard that is just there in front of your eye,” said Steiner. Still, many riders doubt that it’s true of everyone who judges the musical freestyle.

“When you get to the Olympics or something like that, then it’s not just about the person, it’s also about the country,” said Olympic rider Robert Dover. “I hate to say that’s a part of our sport, but right now, it still is. And the freestyle allows for that extra subjective part of the evaluation to be a little less visible to the viewer. You can get away with a little more in the judging of the freestyle.”

Other sports–especially figure skating–have faced this same dilemma. The skating world has attempted to solve it by com-
pletely revamping the judging system.

But competitive dressage seems unlikely to follow that approach, at least in the near future.

For the moment, the dressage world seems most intent on clarifying just how judges should interpret such abstract concepts as “choice of music,” “cohesiveness,” “degree of difficulty” and “use of the arena,” all of which are found on the artistic score sheet.

A Basis For Discussion
To accomplish just that, the All-American Freestyle Symposium, held in April at the Kentucky Horse Park, brought together all the actors generally involved in the creation, execution and scoring of a musical freestyle–rider, horse, choreographer and judge. Steiner, Dover and freestyle designers MarleneWhitaker and Terry Ciotti-Gallo headed the panel, joined byseveral demonstration riders and horses.

Because riders don’t always understand the judges’ scores, the event highlighted the importance of dialogue between judge, choreographer and rider. Significantly, Steiner’s view as a judge didn’t always gel with that expressed by the choreographers or Dover. As Whitaker said, “Well, we’re all learning here.”

The group liked to think of their different perspectives as the basis for a discussion.”The freestyle has only been around for a relatively short period of time, so it’s still evolving, and everybody is still learning,” Whitaker said.

But just what judges are looking for when scoring the artistic side of the musical freestyle? One example of the differing perceptions among the panelists at the symposium regarded movements toward and away from the judge. Some judges prefer to see lateral movements performed with the horse heading toward them, Steiner said.

Still, by the afternoon of the second day of the Lexington symposium, he had pointed out so many movements that ought not be ridden away from the judge that it prompted Whitaker to comment that it was rather difficult to design a freestyle with everything ridden toward the judge.

Useable Advice
Although most riders at the higher levels have the help of professional choreographers when choosing their music, most lower-level riders still create their own freestyle.

And for those riders, Whitaker and Ciotti-Gallo offered some useable advice on choosing music: No. 1–find music with a beat that matches your horse. A simple way to do this with trot music is to find music to which you can post without rushing or slowing down your posting rhythm.

To count the beat of music, Ciotti-Gallo advised listening to the music and count the “down” beat for 60 seconds. That will tell you the number of beats per minute. Of course, you can also use a metro-nome to check for accuracy. Generally, if music is within 10 beats of your horse’s tempo, it’ll work.

One big mistake riders often make is failing to account for tension in the show ring. Relaxation is important, Whitaker said, because when a horse becomes tense, his stride and tempo change. So music that once matched the beat of the horse no longer does once he enters the show ring. “This can be a freestyle nightmare,” she said.

Modern technology has made it possible to slow down or speed up the beat of music, but a professional with the right technology is key. Steiner warned that poorly altered music is very obvious to a judge.

Use of technology is a serious issue to Steiner, who questioned the scoring of a rider’s “interpretation of music” when technology now allows for freestyles where the tempo of music has been changed and various pieces of music are mixed and matched.

“It used to be that you chose a piece of music, and you rode to it from beginning to end and adjusted your ride to the music,” he said. “Technology has changed the way we approach a freestyle. Now you do the ride and then cut the music to make it fit. It’s become more stylized than interpretation of the music, and I think that’s a significant change in the freestyle.”

But Dover believes that once the music starts, riders do “hear the music and feel it and go with it. You’re interpreting it and feeling it as you go.”
Ciotti-Gallo agreed, saying the “art is in the music but it’s also in the riding.”

In essence, the panelists agreed that most modern freestyles have reversed the old order. In the old way described by Steiner, the music comes first and the choreography is made to fit. In the modern freestyle, Ciotti-Gallo said, the choreography comes first, which allows riders to develop a pattern that puts their horses in the best light. The, music is then added to match the choreography.

Elusive Terms
Cohesiveness is another elusive judging term, even though there was little disagreement here on its meaning. It means putting together a freestyle using music that is of a similar theme or genre. In other words, if you start with classical, stick with classical. If the theme is brass instruments or guitar, stick with it. As Dover put it, “Let the music tell a story.”

Another mystery to many is the term “degree of difficulty.” Basically, it refers to doing a movement that is more difficult than what is required, but everyone’s perception or definition of what’s more difficult is different. A rider’s view may not match that of a judge.

Ciotti-Gallo advised, “If you’ve got it, flaunt it,” she said. But riders have been known to forget that the rules forbid performing movements above the level at which they’re competing. The trick, said Whitaker and Ciotti-Gallo, is to distinguish between movements and figures. Passage is a movement, but a volte is a figure. Thus, while passage isn’t allowed until Grand Prix, you can do a volte at any level.

Performing movements like shoulder-in and the half-pass at greater angles can also enhance the degree of difficulty–although Steiner warned riders that judges must be able to see clearly the movement being performed. A shoulder-in with too much angle can look like a leg yield to a judge, he said.

“Don’t confuse the judges,” he advised. “If the judge gets confused, scores very seldom go up. And if you take a risk and don’t pull it off, the score goes down.”

And, said Steiner, many riders seem to forget about the importance of location. “You have to know where you are in the ring. If you do a shoulder-in right before the judge, you can do it at a normal angle. If not, you might need to perform it on 31�2 tracks so it’s clearly seen as a shoulder-in.”

Another reason judges are often confused, Steiner said, is that many riders are overly creative with the required movements. His advice is not to take risks with required movements. If your level requires a half-pass, then first perform a very clean, clear half-pass.

“Once you have the required movement on the books, then you can play with it,” he said.

It’s A Big Ring
“Use of the ring” is another term on the artistic score sheet that often gives riders pause, and here the choreography comes very much into play. And, again, interpretation is the stumbling block.

Whitaker and Ciotti-Gallo said it’s a big ring and riders should use it all. “Never have long lines of nothing,” Ciotti-Gallo said.
But Steiner warned riders not to interpret that to mean that every space must be filled.

“Don’t overdo it. Don’t feel that you need to fill in every meter of the ring with something. Cramming in moves makes it too busy, and that’s not pretty,” he said.

After viewing demonstration patterns developed by the choreographers, Steiner warned against some movements that went toward the rail or turned into the rail, such as canter pirouettes. Movements such as shoulder-in off the rail should be way off the rail.

“The giant magnet that is at the rail will always suck you back, and it might look like you’ve made some mistake,” Steiner said. “Especially if your pirouette isn’t perfect, don’t go along the rail where the judge has a great reference point.”

The final important piece of advice doled out at the symposium is–no matter what happens–smile, smile, smile, and look straight at the judge when you do.

“Especially at the lower levels, there’s a lot of time between movements,” Dover said. “So fill it by making the judge believe how much fun you’re having and how easy it is. In every minute, you’re defining who you are as a rider and a person. This is show business. I showed because I wanted to show off.”

Steiner agreed: “Don’t look down. Make eye contact. This is theater. Come in and show off.”