08/21/2026
𝐑𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞-𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐲, 𝐀 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟑, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔 𝐄𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐇𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐅𝐚𝐫𝐦, 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝, 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭
CVDA looks forward to our final clinic of 2026 with Ruth Hogan-Poulsen. Ruth has created freestyles for every test level, every regional competition, the Pan Am Games, the World Equestrian Games and the Olympics. She equally enjoys teaching people how to use music as part of their daily riding.
We asked Ruth to answer a few questions about the clinic. Read on to learn more! To register, please visit www.cvda.org/events
𝐃𝐨 𝐈 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜?
No! Every level of rider and horse can benefit from music in some way. Your subconscious hears the beat as well as your conscious mind. Your horse does as well so if you’re working on trying to improve your rhythm, riding to music is an excellent way to do so. If you’re trying to increase your horse’s energy level and tempo, riding to a faster beat can help draw the energy into you and your horse.
𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐈 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐝𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠?
Riding to music has so many benefits, they are hard to list in a short answer! Exercising to music increases your endurance level up to thirty percent. The innate beat, providing it is correct for you and your horse, will help you maintain rhythm. Your brain can also only focus on a number of things at one time, so if the music’s going, you’re less likely to worry about the tractor driving down the road. You’d also be surprised that even though the beat of a certain piece of music might match your horse perfectly it may not be the right kind of music for your horse or yourself.
𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥. 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐈 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧?
Absolutely. Even though you might not be able to move to rhythm you have rhythm all over. You breathe in a certain rhythm and your heartbeat has a rhythm. Likewise for your horse. So even though you might not think you have rhythm, you’re made up of all kinds of it!
𝐈'𝐦 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐲𝐥𝐞. 𝐃𝐨 𝐈 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐬, 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜, 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡? 𝐈𝐟 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈'𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡, 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐢𝐭?
If you want to work on your own freestyle and you have ideas and music, yes, you should bring them. As for tweaking an existing freestyle, yes, absolutely. It depends on what format your freestyle is in and whether it’s an editable file. Also, where it came from - if it was from another professional, we would need permission generally to change it.
𝐎𝐧 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞, 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜?
I grew up with a lot of music in my household and played a number of instruments. I understand the math of music and I love all kinds of music except for maybe rap. I always loved riding to music so at my first opportunity I built a freestyle for myself. The only thing available to me was a dual cassette player with a stop button. I’ve learned a lot since then! I also have seen how much improvement music can bring to my horses and my students so it’s always fun to play with.
