All Things Being Equine

It’s 6:30 in the morning as Masterpiece starts his day with the first course of breakfast--timothy hay. At 7, his grain arrives, complete with an athlete’s ration of high-tech vitamin and mineral supplements. Then, after relaxing in his 12-by-24-foot stall at the privately owned Epona Farms in Thousand Oaks, the Danish Warmblood horse goes for a half-hour morning “hand-walk,” in which the groom leads him on foot. It’s all part of the finely tuned training ritual for the dark bay Grand Prix dressage horse.

At 11 a.m., with his back warmed by a heat lamp before the saddle is secured, 5-foot rider and trainer Leonie “Button” Baker of Thousand Oaks will climb aboard Masterpiece’s towering frame (17.2 hands at the withers, or about 5 feet, 7 inches) to hone their skills for the first United States Freestyle Competition and the Dressage World Cup U.S. League Finals on Saturday and Sunday at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank.

Masterpiece will go on to his midday lunch, then have an afternoon hand-walk, perhaps another ride from Scottish-born Baker, and an early-bird dinner at 4 p.m. The day-sheet covering his gleaming coat will be swapped for a heavier night blanket, before he gets another round of hay at 8 p.m. On any given day, he may also have a visit from the chiropractor, equine masseuse, or farrier before calling it a night.

“It takes a team to keep up the horse. It’s not just the trainer,” says Baker, who has ridden Masterpiece for three years. Although he can be like “riding a pistol” in the show ring, she says, “he’s got tremendous heart.”

Come Tuesday, he will be joining the morning commute along the 134 Freeway in the comfort of a lush horse van, ready to settle in at the equestrian center and await the other equine elite who qualified to compete. Showcasing the country’s top dressage riders, including two Southern California Olympic bronze medalists, Guenter Seidel and Steffen Peters, the competition is the horse world’s version of Olympic-level figure skating, with individually choreographed rides set to music and scored on technical and artistic merits.

The event this weekend will be the qualifier to select the single rider who will represent the United States at the FEI Dressage World Cup Final in the Netherlands in March, which also includes musical freestyle. As in figure skating, certain required movements must be executed duringthe musical program.

“It’s absolutely the most beautiful thing to watch and see these horses go with the music,” says Baker, 54, who once aspired to become a ballerina and does all her own freestyle music choreography. “You have to take the horse’s character into consideration when you’re choosing the music and things like the way he moves. I actually create the ride first.”

After testing how well music selections match her mount’s gaits, Baker has a music mixer who uses videotape and a computer to complete the audio component of the ride. The music’s speed, beat and rhythm are synchronized to movements as varied as pirouettes, piaffe (trot in place), and lead changes so quick, the horse appears to skip.

“I often find unusual music,” Baker says, although she is mum about the actual songs in Masterpiece’s upcoming freestyle. “I kind of like to keep that a secret.... Everybody has their different way.”

Two-time Olympic bronze medalist Seidel of Rancho Santa Fe sees the Grand Prix dressage freestyles as more exacting than figure skating. “Watch the beat of the gait to see if it fits the music,” says the German-born Seidel, 41. “I’m almost surprised how little [skaters] have the music fit what they’re doing. It’s more background music. For us, the goal is to have the music really support the beat of the gait.”

Linda Zang, who is based in Maryland, is one of the five Federation Equestre Internationale approved judges who will score the competition. Three others have flown in from Australia, England and Germany. The fifth is from the United States. Zang offers some pointers for those new to the sport. “There are five judges and we judge the technical and the artistic side just like any other Olympic sport in the freestyle. As a judge, you look for the technical aspect of each movement,” she says. “The artistic depends on the harmony of the horse and rider, the horse’s gaits, and then the choreography [which includes the degree of difficulty of their moves] and the music they select for the horse.”

Even the uninitiated can quickly distinguish an important element. “One thing you can watch is [whether] the beat of the music goes along with the beat of the horse’s front legs,” says Zang. However, unlike figure skating, the Grand Prix dressage (freestyle or other) is strictly formal attire. Riders wear white britches, shirts and gloves, plus a black coat with tails and a top hat.

Like others in the dressage community, Zang envisions freestyles achieving a wide fan base, much like figure skating. “We only had technical [competitions at first] and not many people could relate.” Then the Olympic committee urged putting freestyles into the sport. “For us, it’s the avenue where people can come watch, enjoy a sport that a lot of people haven’t been able to understand and hopefully, we’ll get more interest and sponsorship.”

Baker is enjoying the United States Freestyle Championship before even arriving in Burbank. “It’s the first time it’s ever been held and they’re going to swap it from coast to coast each year. We were lucky enough to get it on our coast the first year.” On top of that, Masterpiece, still a relative newcomer at the Grand Prix level, qualified for the competition. “I’m just proud of having made the cut in his first season. Anything else is like icing on the cake.”

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For ticket information, call (818) 841-3554.