Equestrian Orchestra

The summer Olympic games are taking place in London this year.

I knew that.

Dressage is an equestrian sport people will be competing in.

I knew that too.

Composer Tom Hunt is at work with members of a British team to compose music for the horses, paying careful attention to what each event calls for and, more importantly, what each specific horse will best respond to.

I didn't know that.

Mr. Hunt says that, when composing such pieces, you have to establish what sort of music the horse can respond to, just like you might do with people. What does this mean? Well, he explains that, if you have a big strong horse, you might want to use a big orchestral arrangement. But if you have a fun horse with more dainty movements and friendly characteristics, you might go for pop.

Some pretty interesting, beautiful and even epic original pieces have been composed for these horses, all for their various events. When asked if he thinks the horses express a preference for his work, Hunt says that he'd like to think that the horses are responding to the music because it's been designed with them in the mind. According to him, he never composes music that isn't going to suit them.

If you ask me, I think they might be a rather thankless audience. But then, I don't have a dancing horse.