Filming a ride you can measure tempo from
Put the camera on a tripod at C, landscape, with the whole arena in frame and the horse's legs never cut off. Ride each gait for at least a minute in a steady rhythm. That is enough to tap a reliable tempo for walk, trot and canter.
Last updated 19 October 2026. Written by the Kurtempo team.
Where to put the camera
Film from C, the judge's end, as high as your tripod goes. From C you see the horse on every line of the arena, the centre line straight on, and the diagonals at an angle that still shows each leg. It is also the view the judges have, so the video doubles as a check of how your figures look.
Landscape, not portrait. Zoom so the whole arena fills the frame with a little room at the sides. If your camera follows the horse, keep the zoom wide: a close shot loses the feet each time the horse turns away.
If you cannot be at C, the long side at E or B also works for tempo, as long as the horse stays in view; you lose the centre line view for checking figures.
What the video must show
- The front feet, clearly, on every stride. The tap convention is about front feet: every front foot in walk and trot, the leading leg once a stride in canter.
- Enough light. In an indoor school, turn on every light; in a dark arena the camera blurs fast legs.
- Steady footage. A tripod or a fence post, never a hand held phone if you can help it.
- The sound, if you can: hoof beats on a firm surface are easy to tap to with your eyes closed.
What to ride
A tempo is only as good as the rhythm it comes from. Ride each gait as you will in the test, in its working or collected form, for a minute or more on large figures, with no transitions in the middle. In a freestyle the tempo stays the same through collected and extended work, so one tempo per gait is what you need.
If you are also using the video to plan, ride your planned floor pattern in order. Each part of the ride then becomes a segment on the builder's timeline, named from your level's movement list, and the time check reads your real ride.
Worked example
A rider sets a phone on a tripod behind C at shoulder height, landscape, zoomed so the arena fills the frame. She rides a working trot for 90 seconds on a 20 m circle and the long sides, a minute of medium walk and free walk, and a minute of canter each way. The file is 1.4 GB at 1080p and 60 frames a second.
In the builder she loads it, plays the trot, and taps the space bar each time a front foot lands: 24 taps over 10 seconds. The builder reads 152 bpm, steady, with one tap she rushed named as an outlier and left out. The canter, tapped once a stride as the leading leg lands, reads 98 bpm.
Common mistakes
- Filming from too close, so the horse leaves the frame on every corner.
- Filming in portrait, which leaves the arena a sliver in the middle.
- Tapping every footfall in walk (4 a stride) on one day and every front foot (2 a stride) on another: the tempos then differ by double.
- Tapping through a transition. A rhythm that changes mid run reads as unsteady; tap a settled stretch.
- Using a video from months ago. Tempo changes as a horse gets fitter and stronger; film close to the show.
Formats and size
MP4 in H.264 plays in Chrome, Edge, Safari and Firefox on most systems. A MOV from a recent iPhone is often HEVC, which Safari plays and other browsers may not; if the builder says it cannot play the file, export it from the phone as "most compatible" or open it in Safari. Files up to 2 GB are accepted and stay on your device.
Frequently asked questions
Can I film on a phone?
Yes. A phone on a tripod at C, in landscape, at its normal video setting, is all the builder needs. Phones record at an uneven frame rate; the builder snaps by time, not by frame number, so that does not matter.
Does it need to be a whole test?
No. For tempo, a minute of each gait is plenty. A whole ride through your planned pattern is better for marking segments and checking the time, because the timeline is then your real freestyle.
How big a file can I use?
Up to 2 GB. The video plays from the file on your device and is never decoded into memory or uploaded, so a long file is fine on a laptop. Trim it or film at 1080p if it is bigger.
Sources
- FEI Dressage Rules 2026, Article 419 (freestyle), FEI. Last reviewed 19 October 2026.
- HTMLVideoElement.requestVideoFrameCallback(), MDN Web Docs. Last reviewed 19 October 2026.
- Guidelines for Dressage to Music (revised November 2025), British Dressage. Last reviewed 19 October 2026.
Rules change. Check the current rulebook and test sheet for your level before you ride.
Next: choosing music tempo for each gait, or go straight to the builder. The tap rules are on how the tempo and the stretch work.