I’m going to share something a little different with you today, so bear with me as I stray away from the projects and parenting to talk about horses. If you aren’t into horses, hopefully you can enjoy the pictures and videos.
Aren’t they awesome. This is Evan and Valiant of Horsemeister farms.
The unique beauty and power that belongs to the equine family has always captivated me. A large part of my childhood was spent in the horse pasture doing anything from riding to grooming, feeding, or just watching them. I’ve been extremely blessed to have been raised with a family that shares that passion. In fact, my aunt (who lives 1 mile from my parents home) owns a Friesian breeding farm. Part of her business includes going to fairs and showing her magnificent animals. This gave me the amazing opportunity to be involved by riding and performing in these shows, along with helping in the background tasks of choreographing, coming up with costumes, and putting together music.
We’ve learned A LOT through the years by experience and by watching incredible performances by others. I’d like to share some keys to putting together a great horse demonstration.
1. Well trained horses- this may be a given, but there is nothing more embarrassing than getting into the arena with a horse that has no idea of what they are doing. In all the fun of planning and practicing, don’t forget to prepare the star of the show. Desensitize your equine partner to loud sounds, flashing lights, and other scary things they will encounter. Train them to listen to only you. I think something also needs to be said about the complexity of the routine. If your horse isn’t trained to climb up onto a pedestal, stop on a dime, or do a perfect passage, don’t include that in your show. We have trained our horses to do neat tricks like the bow, lay down, step up on a pedestal, and such. These always please the crowd and if you have the ability and knowledge to train you horse to do these, it’s a great thing to include.
2. Music- We love to pick a theme and follow it in every aspect possible, from the music, to the costumes, to the actual routine. We have done Disney routines and acted silly and have had strong, dramatic music with a dark story line. Music has a a way of moving people to feel the emotions of the moments that enfold before them. Paired with your glorious animals moving in sync with you and each other and you will stir the kind of reaction that brings goosebumps and gasps. I have experienced this. I remember being moved to tears watching such a performance and I believe the key to it was the music.
This is a vaulting routine, and not our best, but the music really made it!
Now, it’s nearly impossible to find a single song that builds and flows the way you picture all while remaining under exactly 4 minutes, so here is my method:
- -I have found that songs from movie soundtracks are great for combining as they all have similar chords, progression, and tone.
- -Once you have picked your theme soundtrack, decide on a story line. We have acted out actual stories, like Cinderella, but it doesn’t have to be an actual story. You just need to know where you want the climax, how you want to build to that, and what other elements you want to include.
- -Match the music to your story line. If you are doing a silly performance, then don’t use the darker songs about the villain. You will probably have to listen to your soundtrack a million times to really form a picture in your mind of what you expect it to all “look” like. I can’t give you a step-by-step on this because it’s all about listening and imaging.
- -Edit the music. I have used Windows Movie Maker (the old version), which you can download for free, because it has the ability to fade in and out and snip bits of songs to use. The downside is you can’t layer the sounds. I also have Cyberlink Power Director (another video editing software) that does allow layering. I like to play with volumes, increasing during climactic parts etc. When we did Cinderella, I added a bell sound for when she was supposed to leave the ball. Just play with it.
Here is a special sneak peak of our music for our next show.
3. Costumes- You can have every other aspect of a really great show, but if you are dressed in your blue jeans and plaid, I’m sorry, I’m not buying it. Contrast that picture with a group of gorgeous Arabians with their riders adorned in traditional dessert garb, sparkling with glitter and colors coming into the arena in a rush and immediately driving you into the land of camels and palm trees. That’s another thing: you’re performance will be a lot more powerful if you play to your horse’s history, such as Arabians and desserts, Quarter horses and cowboys, or Shetlands and children. We have Freisians, so usually keep to a medieval theme, which is super fun because we get to wear long dresses :).
- -This can get expensive, so we try to see what we can either make, pick up at goodwill (prom and wedding dresses are awesome!), or take advantage of on sale Halloween items.
4. The actual routine, or the pattern you plan to ride your horses in is crucial. If you want to stand out among the many other performances at the fair, then trotting in a circle for four straight minutes is going to bore your audience to tears. No matter how beautiful your music, costumes, or horses are, that only lasts about 1 minute or as long as it takes to get a first impression then they will be done looking at you. Captivate the people and keep them looking with a good routine.
- -Following a story as I mentioned before makes choreography easy and you can follow these steps:
- 1. Decide on your scenes. For a four minute performance we usually do four scenes. For instance, for Cinderella we had: (1) Cinderella being persecuted by her stepmother and the fairy godmother, (2) The ball, (3) The prince searches with the slipper, (4) Finale with the Prince finding his girl.
- 2. Assign characters and place them accordingly in those scenes.
- 3. Plot out the movement of characters. Horse shows, though very similar to a theater performances, don’t include speaking parts. You have to tell the story by movement and facial expression. For instance, in the first scene of Cinderella, the evil stepmother canters, signifying the fear that surrounds her and scowls at the audience and Cinderella. There are other scenes that a walk is more appropriate. You can get really creative when you have a group of horses by having them weave in an out of each other, do a windmill, or pass by each other at a fast speed, barely missing a head on collision.
- -If you aren’t following a specific story the steps are similar. You still want to define scenes and characters. Maybe you want to portray a salute to the armed forces. Then, you could have a beginning scene of a young man leaving his bride to fight at war, another scene of him in the war, a scene of his bride back at home missing him, and, for the grand finale, their reunion.
Of course, when all is said and done, have fun with it!
Now, I have to give credit to my aunt for the pictures, vidoes, and amazing horses. Her website is Horsemeister.com, and she has the prettiest horse pictures out there. She also has a really fun blog to read, its: ourfriesianstallion.blogspot.com and gives details on the day to day activity of running a breeding farm. There is always something crazy and exciting going on there.
Ok, again, I’m sorry for straying completely from what this blog is normally about. I hope I haven’t lost some of you. And, to those of you that are here because you love horses, welcome! I hope you stick around and find inspiration.
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