Thursday Video: Breakin’ It Down in the Freestyle

Dressage freestyle doesn’t have to be all classical music and instrumental orchestration. Rock out to Gonçalo Carvalho’s Olympic 2012 routine featuring a couple of pop tunes you’ll recognize…

Dressage generally seems to be loosening the collar just a little bit when it comes to music for the freestyle, or kur. As long as lyrics aren’t distracting from the overall presentation, more and more riders are opting for something a little more fun than what we might traditionally be used to — think of Charlotte Dujardin’s How to Train Your Dragon routine, or Steffen Peters bringing a little Queen into the mix.

This ride from London 2012 by Gonçalo Carvalho of Portugal breaks all sorts of pop-meets-dressage barriers. If you’re going to go all the way to the Olympics, you might as well rock out a little to your favorite tunes while you’re there.

What will the 2018 World Equestrian Games bring in terms of the music scene? We can’t wait to find out.

Go riding!