Dressage Goals: Enter Sandman. Or Dancing Queen?

Our first dressage test of this year. Warm up.

So, as I am sure you have noticed, Bacon and I aren't so great at dressage. We can blame this on a few things (mostly me). My lack of dressage knowledge, no lessons, no arena large enough to work in, lack of fancy movement/position, etc. I would really like to remedy this. And that is hard, because dressage is boring to both me and the pony.

This fall, playing at Prisoner's house

It is also hard. Really hard. And it is hard for us to be motivated to do it and to do it properly (or what I think might be proper when there is no one watching us from the ground). It would help if our riding space were larger than a 50ft square. I am hoping that Bacon's feet will be tough enough next year so we can ride in the lumpy pasture. But dressage is beneficial for all the things, so we need to get better. Not only that but we need to improve our scores to be more competitive. But the biggest motivator I have found?

Freestyle dressage.

If I have to do this dressage business, I have to make it fun. Freestyle dressage looks fun. I love music. My dad let us listen to Beartooth and In This Moment at the dinner table for Thanksgiving. I learned my love of music from almost all family members. I was trained by my grandpa at the earliest of ages to know the difference between Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. The first song I boogied to was Aerosmith's Walk This Way. And then I got the nickname Boogs. I haven't heard that nickname said since my grandpa Bob left us 7 years ago, but I need to uphold it.

Shirt did not stay white. Boogs and Bacon.

In order to do freestyle dressage, you must follow these rules: USEF Rules, DR 129.9: “Except for USEF/USDF Championship classes and for FEI Pony Riders, FEI Junior and Young Rider Freestyles, in order to enter a freestyle class at any level, a horse/rider combination must have received a minimum score of 60% in the highest test of the declared freestyle level or any test of a higher level at a Federation Licensed or FEI recognized Dressage Competition or “open” Dressage class (i.e. open to all breeds) at a Federation Licensed Competition held prior to the competition where the horse/rider combination is entered to ride a freestyle class.

Just add music. And fix lots of things.

So basically, Bacon and I need to score higher than a 60% at a recognized show. Preferably at first level for us. You know what else is cool? The rules say any music is accepted. You know what that means. METAL (That spider dressage saddle would really help with that). Sooooo, the goal for next year is to make it to a real dressage show and get through some training level tests. If those go well, we will work our way towards first level and hopefully be that much closer to our goal of ROCKING THE SHIT OUT OF DRESSAGE. With metal.

Slipknot? Avatar? Cradle of Filth? Volbeat? INSTRUMENTAL VERSIONS?

Yeah, I don't think the judges will be too fond of lyrical versions.

Do you think we can do it?  Do you dream of doing a freestyle to a certail set of songs? Do you have any song suggestions? I have so many ideas, but I have a hard time corralling them. Though I do think we need to include this folk metal song.

Maybe they would appreciate a German pagan folk song

Maybe a little Korn and Skrillex to tickle their senses and get those stiff asses grooving

Or should we go with something creepy? (Don't worry, not creepy at all)

So many options. How am I suppose to choose?