Review by Nancy Brannon
Dancing with your horse was around long before “Dancing with the Stars” became a popular TV show. Riding to music is a fun experience, enhancing the horse’s and rider’s rhythm, cadence, expression and energy. However, progressing from riding while the music is playing to riding with the music and choreographing a “dance” with your horse involves more technical aspects.
Frank and CeCe Maddlone’s book Rhythm Riding: A Guide to Riding With Music provides a practical step-by-step approach to create your own musical Kur. Each chapter begins with an interview with an expert on music and riding. Oriented for Dressage, the book starts with the basics of the arena, levels of tests, riding skills and movements required at each level; then shows how to add music; exercises to practice; and tips on “do’s and don’ts” when adding music to your ride.
Chapter two, which begins with an interview with Dr. Cesar Parra, explains rhythm, meter, tempo and how to measure your horse’s beats per minute (BPMs), which is essential to know when selecting music. A chart shows which footfall to watch and how to count footfalls to get BPMs.
Chapter four, starting with advice from Nicole Uphoff-Selke, explains how to design choreography to go with the chosen music. This includes how much time for each piece of music and each movement, how to map the movements on a dressage arena chart, then put it all together with final editing touches.
The accompanying CD includes 60 minutes of music, divided into three 20-minute sessions that are timed to the average beats per minute of small, medium, and large horses. No matter what size horse you ride, there will probably be some music that fits your horse’s gaits. At the end of each session there is a basic Freestyle arrangement so you can practice putting a choreographed ride to music.
The music on the CD was created for EquiChord by guitarist, songwriter, studio engineer, and music producer Simone Sello.
For more information about the book, visit:www.equichord.com. See article on page 18 about the Maddlones’ Kur clinic.
Dancing with your horse was around long before “Dancing with the Stars” became a popular TV show. Riding to music is a fun experience, enhancing the horse’s and rider’s rhythm, cadence, expression and energy. However, progressing from riding while the music is playing to riding with the music and choreographing a “dance” with your horse involves more technical aspects.
Frank and CeCe Maddlone’s book Rhythm Riding: A Guide to Riding With Music provides a practical step-by-step approach to create your own musical Kur. Each chapter begins with an interview with an expert on music and riding. Oriented for Dressage, the book starts with the basics of the arena, levels of tests, riding skills and movements required at each level; then shows how to add music; exercises to practice; and tips on “do’s and don’ts” when adding music to your ride.
Chapter two, which begins with an interview with Dr. Cesar Parra, explains rhythm, meter, tempo and how to measure your horse’s beats per minute (BPMs), which is essential to know when selecting music. A chart shows which footfall to watch and how to count footfalls to get BPMs.
Chapter four, starting with advice from Nicole Uphoff-Selke, explains how to design choreography to go with the chosen music. This includes how much time for each piece of music and each movement, how to map the movements on a dressage arena chart, then put it all together with final editing touches.
The accompanying CD includes 60 minutes of music, divided into three 20-minute sessions that are timed to the average beats per minute of small, medium, and large horses. No matter what size horse you ride, there will probably be some music that fits your horse’s gaits. At the end of each session there is a basic Freestyle arrangement so you can practice putting a choreographed ride to music.
The music on the CD was created for EquiChord by guitarist, songwriter, studio engineer, and music producer Simone Sello.
For more information about the book, visit:www.equichord.com. See article on page 18 about the Maddlones’ Kur clinic.
