The New Era of Musical Rides - Otter Creek Farm

Last weekend I attended a horse show with Amedeus and Hazel.  Both horses were very good and did very well.  I was so proud of them both!

Otter Creek Farm was a great place to get out and show off their training.  The weather was fabulous and the hosts were welcoming.

I learned something this time about musical freestyle.  I previously thought that making a pleasant pretty ride showing off your horse's best attributes at each level was the way to go.  Don't get me wrong, I still think that.  But I have also come to learn that your score goes up when you increase the degree of difficulty. I guess I always kind of knew that but it seems even more important than ever.

The rules have changed in musical freestyle and you are now allowed to do some things above your level of freestyle.  This was clearly forbidden before.  This makes for an interesting change and a little confusion at first.  I am pretty sure I get it and am on board!

Have a great ride every ride!

Musical Dressage is great fun!

August should be called the month of the musical rides around here.  There are two events coming up that are requiring the creativity of putting together a musical ride.  The first is a formal dressage competition at Otter Creek Farm in Wheeler on August 20th and 21st.  Humble Hazel is going to do her first competitive musical ride.  She will be doing a 1st level Kur.

The next is the West Central Roundup in Glenwood City, WI on August 27th.  There Hazel and Amore are going to do a musical ride together.  I chose these two because they are rescue horses from Trempealeau County and are just regular horses.  I think sometimes people think that dressage is only for warmbloods, Hazel and Amore help people understand - dressage is for every horse.

Hazel is also going to be an advanced horsemanship demo horse in Glenwood City. 

I am going to attempt to attach a photo to this blog so you can see Hazel and Amore getting used to each other to help their musical ride go smoothly.