As Featured in DressageDetails.com
By Sue Weakley / Photos by Sue Stickle
From silky smooth transitions to creative choreography, Kim Herslow knows that using professional freestyle designer Terry Ciotti Gallo of Klassic Kur LLC is the key to getting the best freestyle possible. Terry created the freestyle for Kim and her Hanoverian gelding, Rosmarin (Rosentanz-Wolendtaenzerin, Weltmeyer), whom Kim calls Reno. Kim and her horse have wowed the crowds and the judges both in the U.S. and abroad with their signature score and its iconic “Moves like Jagger” music.
“The judges recognize a professional and I always get a good score on the music,” Kim said. “It all adds up.”
She also knows that not everyone has the opportunity to use Terry’s talents, so she has some tips for riders eager to dance to the music while creating their own freestyle.
“There’s software out there that, if you are proficient in using it, you could probably make a pretty nice freestyle on your own,” she said, adding that GarageBand for Mac is one such program.
It’s All About the Bass
“The first thing I start with is getting some fun music to get the crowd involved,” Kim said. “I want to present the horse in a unique way and I want music that’s going to make people stop and look. It has to go with the horse’s personality, too.”
Kim likes music with a beat and bass. It’s what she calls “depth.”
“l want something that’s not too light and airy,” she said. “I like music that has more power and something that people recognize because it is popular or was popular. You want to catch people’s attention and you want them to stop and think ‘What song is that?’”
She said that Terry always has lots of ideas to match the horse and Kim’s personality. She usually watches the horse go and then finds a version of the song that aligns the music with the beats per minute of the horse’s stride.
“She knows I like fun, up-beat music,” Kim said. “I like guitar or something that has a little more depth and something a little different.”
Accentuate the Positive
Kim suggested pointing out the highlights of a horse’s movement and gaits while minimizing the horse’s weaknesses.
“That’s the advantage of a freestyle,” she said. “For example, if your horse doesn’t have a strong walk, you don’t want the walk in a super-obvious place. Maybe you have the walk go on the track toward the judge instead of right in front of the judge on the short side. You can be strategic where you put things. When it comes to the highlights, you want to put them where the judge is going to see them from the best angle.”
Practice the Transitions
“You’ve got to know when all of your transitions are coming so you can be prepared,” she said. “Those are important—those little key things that move you into the next transition. Those are the things you listen for when you are riding because you can’t be totally focused on the music and forget to be focused on your riding.”
Kim confessed that happened the first time she rode the freestyle created by Terry for Marilyn Sherwin’s Grand Prix Hanoverian mare, Soraya II (Sandro Hit-Dynamique).
“So now when I warm up, I have the music playing so I have it in my head where I need to be for the movement,” she said. “You need to get key points in your music aligned with where you are supposed to be.”
And the Beat Goes On
Finally, Kim said that she focuses more on the transitions than the beats. Although choosing the correct music to match a horse’s footfalls is important, once that music is in place she doesn’t worry so much about the beats as she does knowing where she should be and what she and the horse should be doing.
“You need to get key points in your music aligned with where you are supposed to be,” she said. “Then things start to fall into place.”
