top of page
Design your next Freestyle DTM plan with a little help from the app and
Steph Croxford.
Design your next Freestyle DTM plan with a little help from the app and
Steph Croxford.
All you could want to know
ABOUT DRESSAGE TO MUSIC
Freestyle Dressage to Music (often shortened to "freestyle" or "DTM") is a category of Dressage competition where the rider can create their own floorplan and set it to any music of their choosing.
Unlike a regular Dressage competition, where every competitor rides the same test, in DTM everyone rides a different floorplan that they themselves have designed and have set to music.
Like regular competitions, there are different levels, which involve different compulsory moves to be included in the choreographed routines. So for British Dressage competitors, the levels range from Preliminary up to Grand Prix (well technically levels PSG and up are FEI, but BD and other Dressage federations around the world use their tests at national competitions too). Similarly, in the USA national competitors can do freestyle Dressage from Training Level to 4th Level, plus PSG on up.
At international level, the freestyle Dressage is definitely the highlight of the competition. In fact, it was the freestyle Dressage score that settled the Individual Olympic Champion at the Tokyo Olympics in 2022.
Each level has a number of compulsory moves that must be included along with a set of prohibited moves that a rider will be penalised for if they include them. Marks are given for each of the compulsory moves (these are the "technical marks"). Unlike regular competitions, there are no collective marks. Instead, there are "artistic marks" which reflect the judge's opinion of the harmony, degree of difficulty, music and interpretation of the music shown during the performance. The artistic marks have a higher coefficient, meaning they count for more than the technical marks relatively speaking.
Riders enjoy freestyle not only because it's "dancing with horses", but because it gives them the chance to design a floorplan that shows off their horse's strengths and hides their weaknesses.
For instance, if you know that medium trot is not your horse's strong point - let's say he's not quite managed to get the level of expression in his front legs yet - then you could do your medium it from the H or M corner towards A, and away from the judge at C, sneakily hiding his less-than-flashy-front end from the judge! Also bear in mind that medium trot tends to be better after the canter work.
For more tips like this and info about freestyle dressage to music, follow us on facebook and instagram!
bottom of page