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Riding Playlist assembled to match the rhythm of your horse!
By Larissa Cox
Does finding the rhythm and tempo of the walk, trot, canter evade you? Do you find yourself posting faster and faster to meet your horse’s trot running under you? Do you come out of corners not knowing where the forward went?
When riding, it is very easy to allow the horse to control the tempo of the gait. You are on top of a breathing, thinking, moving animal. It takes a seasoned rider to control their own body movements to control the pace of movement to the horse, which the novice rider might not have developed yet. Even then, riding a green horse proves difficult, as they may not be able to balance themselves in these gaits.
For these reasons, I believe having an external source that measures tempo proves to be extremely helpful to both horse and rider in improving this foundational element in riding. When a person hears a set tempo, it is natural to follow along with this beat. If you are riding on a horse who changes tempo, hearing a set beat could help with training your body to follow a consistent tempo, rather than simply following the horse’s movements. This could also prove useful for riding a green horse – the rider will not have to think about the tempo itself, but rather moving to match it to allow the horse to follow. Having an external tempo source could also help when training new movements such as the shoulder-in or tempi changes, where the aspect of consistent rhythm and tempo could be lost.
Riding with a metronome is one solution for finding this external tempo. You can set it at whatever beat you like, and it will keep on that beat until you turn it off. What I don’t like about riding with a metronome is it’s monotony: No sound except “beep…beep…beep…beep…beep”. The rhythm is extremely clear, but I find it is a chore after a while to listen to it.
This is why I prefer riding to music! Although some songs change tempo part way, there is a plethora of songs available with a steady, constant tempo that matches the average tempo of a horse’s walk, trot, and canter. Tempo is measured in beats per minute (bpm). An average walk is 108 bpm, an average trot is 152 bpm, and an average canter is 96 bpm. So, you would want to find songs that match these three gaits, and assemble them into a playlist for riding.
An easy way to figure out the tempo of the song is to clap along to it. Time how many claps there was in 10 seconds and times that number by 6. That number will be the bpm of the song.
I use software called “MixMeister BPM Analyzer” to find accurate bpms of all my songs. You can download this here: MixMeister
Upload a music file you would like to analyze using the “Import music files” button, and find out if your favorite songs will be great riding music!
I have assembled a playlist for riding below. You can download these songs from itunes, The New Napster, Rhapsody, or Walmart
Tack n’ Talk Music Playlist:
Walk – 108 BPM
Still Loving You by The Scorpions
Yesterday by The Beatles
Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong
Need You Tonight by INXS
Trot – 152 BPM
Tears In Heaven by Eric Clapton
Mickey by Toni Basil
Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison
We Got The Beat by The Go-Go’s
What I Like About You by The Romantics
Canter – 96 BPM
Fighter by Cristina Arguilera
I Love Rock n Roll by Joan Jett and The Blackheads
This Love by Maroon 5
Crazy For You by Madonna
The Garden by Mirah
Tack n' Talk 
What an interesting article. I can see how riding to music would help immensely. I’ll have to download that software!