– by board member Rachel Masen
As an AA who started dressage later (after 30 years old), I have for years said to myself “Freestyles come later. Freestyles are for high levels.” I wasn’t ever really sure when that later was, but I knew it wasn’t for me yet. I was inspired to start thinking about it a few years ago when I “met” Sandra Beaulieu in spring of 2021. I did a feature article on her on Decidedly Equestrian and enjoyed her as a person so much that I went out and purchased her book Freestyle: The Ultimate Guide to Riding, Training and Competing to Music. I read through it, felt a little inspired to print out the freestyle requirements, and then it sat on my bookshelf for a long time ignored because it seemed too intimidating to go further.
Then came 2022 – the year of struggling through lead change hell. Then came early 2023 when it was clear we were still not solid in the changes. While we played around with 4th at home, we struggled to nail the changes consistently and it was clear moving up was going to be a while. As a goal person I needed something else to focus on to take my mind off our lack of progress.