Assembling a freestyle in an afternoon
With a video of your planned ride and a handful of tracks you own, a freestyle takes an afternoon: an hour for the taps and segments, an hour for the music, and the rest for listening, timing and printing.
Last updated 19 October 2026. Written by the Kurtempo team.
Before you start
- Your level's rules: the time limit and the compulsory movements. The levels page lists them with their sources; check your current test sheet too.
- A video of you riding your planned pattern, filmed from C. See filming a ride for tempo.
- Three to six tracks you own, for walk, trot and canter, ideally near your horse's tempos.
- A laptop or a tablet. A phone can tap tempos and play, but the full editor needs the room.
The afternoon, step by step
- Load the video and choose the level. The movements become a checklist and the time limit is shown.
- Tap each gait. Play a steady stretch of walk, trot and canter and tap the space bar on each footfall. Aim for steady or fair on each.
- Mark the segments. Start a segment where each gait begins and end it where it changes: the opening halt, each trot, walk and canter, transitions you want their own music for, the final halt. Name each from the movement list.
- Add the music and tap each track's beat. Or type its tempo.
- Give each segment its track and in-point. Play the track, pause where the phrase should start, and use where the track is playing. Nudge so a downbeat lands on the first step.
- Read the stretch. Fine under 8 percent, a warning to 15, refused past it. Swap a track rather than force a stretch.
- Fit the music and watch. Play with the fitted music and loop any segment that feels wrong.
- Check the time. Over the limit is shown with the exact overrun. Shorten a segment or ride a figure smaller.
- Draw the floor plan and export. Draw each segment's line or type its letters, then save the WAV, the cue sheet and the floor plan.
Worked example
A First Level rider with a 5:00 limit marks 9 segments from her video. The ridden time, from the end of the opening halt to the start of the final halt, comes to 5:12.4: 12.4 seconds over. She shortens a trot lengthening segment by 8 seconds and a walk by 5, which brings it to 4:59.4, inside the limit. The crossfade into a short 1.5 second transition is shortened from 2 seconds to 1.5, and the builder says so.
Common mistakes
- Leaving the time check to the end, then cutting music that took an hour to place.
- One long segment per gait. Breaking a gait into its movements lets the music change with the choreography.
- Crossfading into a very short segment. Give a transition its own short segment only when it needs its own music.
- Forgetting the entry. Music usually starts before you enter at A; give the opening its own segment.
- Not keeping a backup file. Your segments live in this browser; save a backup before you clear it or change computers.
Some shows and streamed events require licensed music. Check your show's rules.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a finished floor plan first?
A rough one helps: the order of gaits and the compulsory movements. You can draw the exact lines in the builder once the segments are marked.
What should I take to the show?
The WAV file on a USB stick and on your phone, as the show asks, the cue sheet for whoever plays the music, and the floor plan for your own warm up. Check the show's rules for format and labelling.
Can I change one section later?
Yes. The segments, taps and settings stay saved in your browser. Load the same video and tracks, change the section, fit the music again and export a new file.
Sources
- 2027 freestyle tests, USDF. Last reviewed 19 October 2026.
- FEI dressage tests, FEI. 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.
Ready? Open the builder. Every rule it follows is on how the tempo and the stretch work.