Freestyle on fixed - I don't get it

You don't ride hard enough, if you'd never come across a reason to need to skid.

Just because you don't have a skill doesn't mean it's not useful. You'll notice I've made no reference to fixed sans brakes. Even with a brake (or two) a skid can be useful from time to time.

The next question being why did you learn if you thought they were "not essential"?

I am not saying I dont use them on a regular basis, but, I am saying that before I could skid I could still ride the bike safely (and relativly hard) using the brakes much like I would a freewheel.

When I lernt them I didn't know how usefull they would be and to be fair to your first coment they are now part of my riding, but, to be fair to my coments, you can ride efectivly without them.