Who hasn’t been thrilled watching Olympic dressage riders perform their freestyles? Every move of the horse is echoed by the music in perfect harmony, creating an effortless-looking dance in the ring.

This seamless match of movement and music is key to creating a great freestyle. Expert services such as British Columbia-based Applause Dressage work with riders from around the world to select the ideal music and choreograph a routine which shows off horse and rider to their best advantage.

But freestyles aren’t just for those at the upper levels. With freestyle classes now offered at all levels from walk-trot on up, Applause Dressage founder Karen Robinson offers tips to riders looking to create their own freestyles and join in the fun.

Selecting the right music is the most fun, but also potentially the most frustrating part of creating a freestyle. If you are successful, your music will have the following qualities:

  • The tempo, or rate of rhythm, measured in beats per minute (bpm) of each song matches your horse’s walk, trot, or canter. Use different music for each gait, since both the tempo and energy level are different in each gait;
  • The music has a definite beat that is easily related to your horse’s footfalls and a melody with variations in instrumentation or power to reflect individual movements;
  • All the music is built on a theme, or is consistent within one genre, which makes transitions between songs more natural and smooth and helps create a unified program;
  • Vocals are no longer as frowned-upon as they once were, but try to avoid using more than small doses of lyrics – they can be distracting for judges and spectators, and a really strong voice diminishes the impact of the music’s beat.

Before you begin searching for music, start by measuring your horse’s gaits with a metronome. You can purchase one at a music store that sells instruments, or simply download a metronome app for your smart phone. These are the average tempos for each gait, with ranges that include smaller breeds and bigger ponies:

Walk: 104 bpm (range 94-116)

Trot: 150 bpm (range 128-180)

Canter: 96 bpm (range 88-110)

Passage: 112 bpm (range 106-118)

The best way to measure bpm is to video all three gaits and watch it back while using the metronome. The beeping of the metronome should match each footfall in trot, each full three-beat stride in canter, or each front leg footfall in walk.

Making a video of your test pattern in a 20×60-metre arena gives you the footage you need to edit your chosen music to fit the timing of the choreography. There are many great products out there for editing music such as Sound Forge, Audacity, and Pro Tools (for Apple users).

Music selection tips

  • Beware of choosing music that you simply like to listen to. What you play in your car on the way to school or work is not likely to be the best match for your horse
  • Focus on one gait first – such as trot – and once you find music that suits your horse in that gait, build your music for the other gaits to support the genre and personality of the trot music
  • Although any genre can be used for freestyles, big band, contemporary instrumental, world music, and Broadway musicals tend to be easier and less likely to garner negative responses from judges
  • Entry music can be the same as one of the pieces of music used in the freestyle, or it can be a different song that supports the theme of the freestyle.