Over the weekend I had the good fortune to participate in a Karen Robinson freestyle clinic. Due to the weather, I rode two horses on day two and only audited day one.
Day one was patterns only, no music- so it was a little, shall we say dry, for the spectators. Honestly, I think that I would be able to come up with my own original freestyle pattern. Years of Katy Cowgirls has prepared me for playing off of my strengths. Admittedly, Karen would know what's currently being done around the country... I'm not sure if it's worth the $650 to buy a whole freestyle, pattern and all.
Day two was matching horses to music. RC was my first ride of the day, since I wanted to ride him before Mom got too tired and went to bed, since she had to work the night before. I really appreciated that she stayed the whole time. It's nice to have that support. Anyway, Karen asked what sort of music I'd prefer for RC. I told her that I wanted to play up the Quarter horse thing and stick with a country sound. I rode to three or four different trot songs (which was more work then I thought it would be) and the first one she picked was the best. It was a swing-type song with strong country influence. The canter music she picked was also strongly country sounding. The more simple pieces worked better for his canter... That way it didn’t feel like he was chasing the music. And finally we ended with one walk song. It was PERFECT for RC. Karen just played it while we were cooling down, but the guitar beat matched every singly footfall. The peanut-gallery was cracking up. That's my goal for the freestyle. I want people to laugh with RC and I. Humor, not awe is the goal there.
Delight was my second ride of the day. I rode her with a fluffy pad for the first time, as she's really changed through her back. She was surprisingly well behaved; much better than expected. We only had one random airs above the ground and and little buck during the cantering. I went into the clinic with no real idea of what music would be best with Delight, only that I really didn’t want Celtic since “Irish Delight” and Celtic influence would be a little too froo-froo for me. Karen liked working with Delight because she could pull out fun, flirty girly songs. The best match with Deli's trot was “Ain’t got no Strings” from Pinocchio. It was light and cute and fun. The canter music that we played with was from the Jungle Book.... Disney pony!
Fun weekend, and I'd love to do it again. It really made me want to bring out a freestyle. Next time I'll make sure i have a camera!
