12
TOO OFTEN HURRIED OR SKIPPED OVER IN TRAINING, the trot is a neglected and poorly developed gait for many horses. Yet this gait is easiest for teaching many things, and any horse can benefit from work at the trot. A wise trainer spends a lot of time on it: the trot helps a horse develop strength, fitness, balance, and collection, all of which are essential for later training and for any sport that requires athletic agility.
The trot is the best gait for combining speed, control, and endurance. It is faster than a walk, more predictable and less exuberant than a gallop, which makes it much easier to control the horse, and less tiring than a gallop. Some kinds of movement are made much easier for the horse if he has had a lot of practice in this gait. As a two-beat gait, the trot is regular and balanced. Because the horse’s head and neck are steady, your job is simplified: you can keep your hands still and not interfere with his mouth. At the trot the horse’s muscular development and strength progress as a whole; it provides excellent all-around conditioning.
How the Horse Moves
The trot is one of the three natural gaits of most horses (see pages 279–80) and is a two-beat, diagonal gait. The horse’s legs move in diagonal pairs (left front and right hind; right front and left hind). At the fast trot there is a moment of suspension during which all four feet are in the air, but in the slow trot, one diagonal is striking the ground as the other diagonal is pushing off; there may or may not be a brief instant in which all four are on the ground.
The trot has constant, equal rhythm and balance; the horse has his best balance at the trot. He makes no balancing movements with his head, as he does at the walk or canter. At the trot, his head stays at a steady level (unless he is lame in a front foot — then he bobs his head as he takes weight more quickly off the injured foot). Supported at both ends and both sides of his body by diagonal legs at every stride, he has the best stability at the trot.
First Trotting Lessons for the Green Horse
Early training is done at a walk until the horse is comfortable with the extra weight of his rider and is thoroughly at ease with your signals — responding well to moving out, stopping, turning, and extending his walk. All of these improve his balance with weight on his back and his control, both of which are necessary before you begin trotting lessons. How soon you start trotting depends on the individual horse and how well he has progressed with his balance and control.
Cueing for the Trot
Ask for the trot by squeezing lightly with your legs when your horse is walking briskly. Add clucking noises if he has been trained to this verbal cue. Your horse knows he is supposed to move faster in response to leg pressure and clucking. Squeeze with the calves of your legs, where they hang in the stirrups, not back toward his belly. Never kick (see page 243).
Your horse may increase the speed of his walk rather than begin trotting, but if you keep encouraging him and reward him by release of leg pressure each time he responds by moving faster, eventually, he will break into a trot. Most horses will soon get the idea that you want them to trot when you give them these cues. If your horse is still reluctant to break into a trot, however, you may have to more strongly stimulate him with a light tap of a riding crop or bat (a small whip carried by a rider) or the ends of your reins if using long reins. Once he realizes what you want him to do, this extra stimulus won’t be needed.
TROT TYPES
The speed and animation of a trot can vary greatly. There are four types of trot: the jog, which is a slow trot; the working trot; the extended trot; and the racing trot. Each category has variations of speed and animation. Most horses never do a racing trot, and many don’t know how to extend their trot while ridden. This usually takes training to develop.
TROT VERSUS PACE
At the trot, the diagonal legs move forward in unison, resulting in excellent balance and stability.
At the pace, the lateral legs work together. When pacing, the horse has a rolling motion from side to side, with less support, balance, and traction on slippery footing.
Working the Green Horse
For safety, the first few times you ask the green horse to trot, do it in an arena or pen where he can’t take off across the countryside if something goes wrong. After a couple of sessions, it won’t matter so much where you practice the trot.
Your early lessons at a trot will be in straight lines, heading across the arena or along a trail — wherever you do most of your riding. Work at the transition from walk to trot and from trot to walk as your horse becomes more proficient at understanding what you want. Do not undertake these first lessons until you sense that your horse is physically and mentally prepared to begin trotting.
The first times he trots, he will do a somewhat extended trot because he does not know how to collect himself. He may also be clumsy; he has never done this while carrying a rider. First trots should be brief, as your horse does not know how to balance with a rider at this gait and must develop his balance and muscles.
Out on the trail, the trot will become the best gait for covering ground quickly and with agility. It is the best gait for teaching balance and collection and for developing physical fitness. Give your horse as much trotting work across country as in an arena (or more!). Once he can make transitions smoothly from walk to trot and back to a walk, start working on ways to improve his balance and dexterity at this gait. Training sessions now should be longer, perhaps 30 to 45 minutes.
The horse should have as much work across country as in an arena, or even more.
Arena work, or on any relatively flat ground with good footing when you are out riding, can help him learn balance and confidence, of course, as well as improving communication and control. Once your horse is comfortable carrying you at a trot, start doing large circles, figure eights, and serpentines. Doing circles and changes of direction at a trot help teach him to respond to directional cues — leg pressure and rein pressure to indicate the direction he must turn or circle — and how to adjust his stride and think about where he is putting his feet. All of this is necessary before he can develop good balance and learn how to collect himself.
Work on smooth transitions with a minimum of cues. Speed him up and slow him at the trot; perhaps begin some lessons in collecting and extending. (For more on transitions, see pages 309–10.) As you refine your cues, work on a smooth stop from a trot. The trot is the most versatile gait; the more you polish it, the better trained your horse will be. (For more information about teaching the horse to stop smoothly, see chapter 15).
The Jog
The jog is very slow and unanimated. The horse may have no impulsion at all, and his head is usually level with his withers or sometimes even lower. Some horses prefer to jog rather than walk fast and must be taught to speed up the walk or to extend it. The jog, with head at the same level as the withers, is a natural gait for many horses when they want to travel slightly faster than a slow to medium walk.
Jigging is also a slow trot, but in contrast to the lazy jog, the jig is a nervous prance. An excited horse may jig when he wants to go faster than his rider will allow. Jigging shows lack of training or inability of the rider to use hands and legs properly to encourage the horse to relax and walk.
In the jog the horse’s hind foot lands behind the track left by the front foot. There is very little momentum, or energy expended while performing this trot. The jog, because it is not quite two-beat, is not a perfectly diagonal gait. The hind foot may land a split second before the opposite forefoot. This can also occur in the racing trot, when a horse is traveling so fast that the unified movement of the diagonal becomes a little broken and disassociated, thus producing an irregular four-beat gait.
The rider always sits the jog. Some horses have to be taught to trot this slowly, with their heads down. The jog, with head level with or lowered below the withers, as it has been performed in Western pleasure classes during the past couple of decades, is actually an unnatural gait for many horses.
The Slow Trot
The slow trot is a little faster and slightly more animated than the jog. In a well-trained horse, it can be animated (if collected) or completely relaxed and uncollected, depending on the rider’s wishes and cues.
Using the Slow Trot
The slow trot is a good gait for training. It is useful when starting a horse, as it can be more controlled than a fast, extended trot. In the slow trot, you can work on walk-trot transitions. (You’ll do some transitions later from a medium and a fast trot, but they are easiest to accomplish first from a slow trot.) At the slow trot, work on communication with rein and leg aids until the green horse is comfortable and responds well. Then he will be more likely to respond at a faster speed.
Eventually, you will want to teach the horse various speeds at the trot. You’ll want him to be able to shift instantly from a fast to a slow trot and vice versa, as well as from a collected to an extended trot and back again. But first you must perfect his slow trot so you have excellent control, balance, and unity.
Sitting the Slow Trot
When training a green horse, you will sit the slow trot. You will post the faster trots mainly because you can stay in better balance with your horse, which is very important, as he is learning his own balance while carrying a rider. When you are in balance, there’s no danger of alarming, distracting, or hindering him by bouncing or banging the saddle. Because much of your work with a green horse will be at a slow and uncollected trot, you’ll probably be sitting the trot much of the time or posting close to the saddle, whichever is more comfortable for you and the horse.
The slow trot is one of the best gaits in which to acquire and maintain a good seat on a horse. Most of your weight is in the saddle, your body is erect and slightly forward (never leaning back), and only part of your weight is in the stirrups. You will be using only light leg and stirrup pressure. Too much weight in the stirrups at the sitting trot makes a rider stiffen the knees, hips, and back and creates more bounce.
Don’t slouch; your back should be straight and your shoulders square. But you also want to keep your back muscles supple and relaxed. That way, your whole body is able to move with the horse and you can keep a good seat, never losing contact with the saddle.
Some horses have a rougher trot than others and can be challenging to sit. If you find yourself too far back in the saddle, you’ll be jammed against the cantle with your feet braced forward against the stirrups, bouncing over the weakest and most tender part of your horse’s back. This causes discomfort for the horse and hinders his ability to use his legs properly.
Too much weight over the loins makes the horse move less freely; he’s forced to shorten his stride or develop an awkward gait. In this position, the rider is sitting directly over the area with the most up-and-down motion and bounce — from the thrust of the hind legs — and has to fight against the extra movement of the horse. The horse whose rider is bouncing and thumping on his back will stiffen in self-defense, tightening his back muscles and raising his head, which makes his trot even more uncomfortable for both of you.
The slow trot is an ideal gait for developing a good seat and balance.
Maintain Good Position and Relax
If you are tense as you try to stay in the middle of the horse and grip with your legs to decrease the bouncing, you will have trouble sitting the trot. Proper position and relaxation are essential. The flopping rag-doll effect back on the loins is not pretty, nor is it healthy for the horse. You must be over his center of gravity and moving with him — in the center of the saddle — relaxed.
Proper position at the slow trot — rolling your weight with constant saddle contact — enables you to have constant communication with the horse through seat and legs. Your hands remain stationary on the reins, rather than bobbing up and down, because you are flexing your wrists and elbows. You can give proper signals through leg and weight-shift cues. You can’t do a good job of training a green horse at the trot until you have a good, secure, well-balanced seat. If you are not “with” the horse, you’ll inadvertently give him improper signals through your legs, body position, and hands. For steady, controlled communication through the bit, you must first have a secure and balanced seat at the trot, whether sitting or posting (see page 303).
Slow-Trot Horse-Rider Unity
If you have a little trouble keeping proper position while sitting the trot, try the slow trot without putting your weight in your stirrups. This helps break the pattern of feet forward and seat too far back, which puts you “behind” the horse. Jog on a loose rein and sit heavily in the saddle with your weight on your seat bones. Let your legs hang in the stirrups without putting weight on them. Allow your legs to hang naturally, straight down from the hips, toes hanging down. This helps you sit more deeply in the saddle, where you should be, in a balanced position instead of back on the cantle. This will also help you relax and stay in the middle of the saddle, at the narrowest part of the horse’s back — right behind the withers — where you’ll feel the up-and-down motion the least. The farther back you sit, the more thrust you’ll feel from his hind legs.
Keep hips and lower back relaxed and flexible; when you tighten your legs, your hips will tighten, too. If you grip with your knees, you will interrupt the movement needed to stay in sync with your horse. Gripping your knees will tighten your muscles and cause tension, rigidity, and more bouncing. If you grip with your thighs, you can’t sit deep in the saddle; if you grip with your calves, the horse may try to increase speed due to the leg pressure. You want a relaxed leg that dangles alongside the horse.
Keep your upper body vertical, and relax. Lean back only slightly, if at all, and let your hips and lower back swivel and move freely with the horse’s motion. Don’t sit too far back; you’ll get more push from the hind legs and be bounced more. You want a relaxed, rolling movement with the horse.
Try First at the Walk
Once you relax your legs, work on relaxing your back. Practice at a brisk walk before trying a trot. At the walk, notice how your body moves with the horse and see the way your back moves. The horse’s motion moves your lower back and hips and is similar to the movement you should make while sitting a trot.
If he isn’t walking fast enough, push the horse with your body, especially with your seat muscles, and urge him on. Swing with him. Use your legs alternately as you swing with his movements. As you stimulate each hind leg to push off harder, he will take longer strides and walk faster, and you will feel the extra thrust in your seat. This will help accustom you to the extra push he’ll give at the trot. This kind of contact with the saddle and contact with the horse through your legs enables you to subtly control your horse’s movements and speed. The way you move your body is as much a form of control and cueing as are your legs and reins. It’s also the key to sitting the trot.
This rider is trying to make a jigging horse walk by sitting back in the saddle, staying relaxed, and using gentle give-and-take with the reins.
Keep practicing at the walk until your horse is walking strongly and you are automatically moving with him, coordinating hand and leg movements to keep him walking fast without breaking into a trot. Once you have the swing of your body and your hand and leg actions perfected, concentrate on letting your back relax as you sway with the horse.
Practice the Sitting Trot
Keep the horse at a very slow trot at first, fingering the reins if necessary, and concentrating on relaxation, so your back won’t have to sway much faster than it did at the fast walk. Move in sync with the horse, relaxed but with a secure seat. The horse’s back must be relaxed, too. If his back is flexible and relaxed, there will be some give to his muscles; he will be smooth to ride at the trot. Horses who are stiff and tense often have a very rough trot.
When a horse raises his head very much above his withers, he tenses his back muscles. This makes his back unyielding, his trot jarring. If he stiffens his back when he trots, go back to a walk until he relaxes, then try the trot again. The horse needs his head above his withers for good balance and proper movement, but you don’t want him raising his head too high or his back will hollow and make him unbalanced — as well as create a rougher, stiffer trot.
Rest the balls of your feet in the stirrups, but don’t put much weight on them or push down your heels. Use the stirrups just to help keep proper leg position. If you try to put weight in the stirrups, you’ll stiffen your legs and seat and lose that perfect contact with the saddle. Keep yourself loose, and your seat will stay more firmly in the saddle. If you stiffen your legs, you’ll lose saddle contact and bounce. If you let your calf muscles relax, they’ll stretch, and gravity will pull down your heels into the proper position.
If you start bouncing, you are putting weight in the stirrups, pressing down on them and pushing yourself up off the saddle. To keep from pushing down on the stirrups, practice letting your heels bounce down past your stirrups, with your toes just lightly touching the stirrups. Keep your ankles loose and flexible. This way you can keep proper weight distribution on your seat and continue to move with the horse.
KEEP LIMBER AND LOOSE
Most green horses need more work at the trot to relax and travel freely. If your horse trots with a stiff back, it may take patience to loosen him up enough to relax and carry his head at a normal angle. It will be good practice for you as well. Make your back muscles stretch and give as you swing with your horse, rolling your weight on your buttocks and thighs. Keep constant but not rigid contact with him.
Sitting the jog or slow trot
Don’t practice just in an arena. Go across country and trot at various speeds. Working on seat and balance in all kinds of conditions will give you and your horse the practice and confidence you need to have an excellent unity while sitting the trot.
The Posting Trot
Posting is rising out of the saddle, with weight in your stirrups, to one beat of the trot, staying up long enough to miss the next. You are moving up and down in rhythm with each stride: up when one front leg is off the ground and down when it is on the ground. Rider and horse are working in unison. At a fast trot, it’s easier to stay in balance with your horse by posting rather than sitting. You can keep your upper body forward over the withers so he can carry the load while expending the least amount of effort. When you are up, your weight is entirely on your stirrups instead of in the saddle.
There are two ways of posting. If you post behind the trot, you let yourself be lifted upward from the saddle by the thrust of the horse, simultaneously pushing your upper body forward to keep in balance with him, then letting yourself down by flexing knees and ankles again on the next beat.
POSTING THE TROT
Posting the trot on the left diagonal. The rider moves up and down with the action of the horse’s left leg: up out of the saddle when the left leg is off the ground (A); down in the saddle when the left leg is on the ground (B).
Posting ahead of the trot (rising forward and up) is a way of urging the horse to trot faster.
Posting behind the trot, letting the motion of the horse push your body up (erect but not forward), acts as a drag on the horse’s momentum, to help slow his trot if he’s going too fast.
POST LOW AND CLOSE
Posting the trot on a green horse should always be done well and “quietly” — that is, never come down hard in the saddle. It’s best to post low and close to the saddle, staying in perfect balance, so you don’t interfere with your horse’s actions.
If you post ahead of the trot, it’s a little easier on both horse and rider. Lean your upper body forward, rolling your weight forward on your thighs, and push your pelvis forward and then up. Your weight is on your stirrups and thighs. You can post very close to the saddle this way and enjoy a very smooth ride.
The Working (Medium) Trot
The working trot, or medium trot (sometimes called an ordinary trot), is a brisk, balanced gait. To a Western rider, this may be the fastest trot asked of a horse — moving out more freely and with more impulsion than in the jog. In some types of English riding and in long-distance sports, a working trot is the slowest trot the rider asks of a horse; the jog is rarely used.
When training a horse, you must know how to post so you can teach him more versatility. The slow trot is the only speed you comfortably sit. You must teach the young horse several speeds at the trot and how to make transitions from one speed to another. You’ll be able to accomplish these goals more readily when you can post.
You can use posting as a means to help the horse trot faster or slower, taking advantage of your body position and balance. If the horse is sluggish in his trot and you are trying to encourage him to trot faster, you can post “ahead of the trot,” pushing your body up and forward at each stride. Your more forward weight is a form of urging; your horse will tend to go faster to keep proper balance. When you are posting ahead of the trot, it is very easy to squeeze with your legs each time you roll your weight forward to rise because you can squeeze with your legs as a means to raise your body. Your legs and forward leaning are good encouragement for him to move faster. If he is trotting too fast, you can post “behind the trot,” letting the thrust of the horse push your body up. This way your body is erect rather than forward and acts as an anchor to hinder his speed and make him stay slightly slower.
Your body weight and position send signals to the horse for speed and balance, especially when posting. Posting enables you to reinforce your leg and rein cues so you can minimize them and communicate with the horse with just a light touch of the bit or your legs, as when asking for more or less speed.
Don’t Make the Horse One-Sided
When posting, be aware of the horse’s diagonals (see box below and pages 311–12); know which diagonal you are on. One reason for learning to distinguish between the diagonals when training a horse is so you can change them occasionally when trotting.
If you unknowingly always post on the same diagonal, it’s more tiring to the horse and makes his muscle development one-sided. Then he’ll feel awkward and unbalanced when you suddenly post on the other diagonal. Some horses get so used to a rider posting on one side that if you try to change, they will seem very rough or uneven in gait; a horse may even try to shift his strides so you are again posting on the preferred diagonal. Avoid this problem from the beginning by making a conscious effort to change diagonals often.
DIAGONALS
At the trot diagonal legs of the horse move forward at the same time. To change diagonals when you are posting, stay up for two beats instead of one, then continue posting. You can also sit for two beats instead of one.
The Extended Trot
The extended trot is the lengthening of the horse’s stride to the limit without changing the regularity, cadence, tempo, or rhythm. The legs are not moving faster; rather, they are taking longer strides and putting forth more thrust. This trot has tremendous impulsion. The strides are lengthened without speeding up the tempo of the hoofbeats, but the horse is being propelled farther and faster.
At a slow trot, the horse takes very short strides. He takes longer ones at a medium trot and very long strides at an extended trot. If you trot him a certain distance at a slow trot, then at a medium trot, and finally at an extended trot — and count the number of strides each time — you’ll see that he uses the least number of strides at the extended trot.
Extended trot along a road
A horse who doesn’t know how to extend his trot merely speeds up his strides instead of lengthening them when asked to go faster; he just makes his legs move faster. A horse who knows how to extend will lengthen his stride when asked. His feet will hit the ground at the same tempo but will be going farther and faster; he will almost float above the ground because of the extra thrust.
Some horses extend more naturally than others. Some will do an extended trot when excited, but a good extended trot under saddle when asked is not learned quickly; it requires training and muscle development, as it takes a powerful thrust and suppleness of the horse’s hindquarters and back. The horse lengthens his neck and his stride, and his hoofbeats may actually sound a little slower because he is propelling himself a much greater distance.
In the extended trot, the horse lengthens his frame and lowers his hindquarters. In so doing, he has more drive and thrust from the hindquarters and freer shoulder action and can extend his legs farther. When some horses “shift gears” and go into the extended trot, the rider can feel the whole horse drop down. It is not as easy for a horse to break into a gallop from an extended trot as it is from a medium trot because of his lengthened frame.
TROT SPEEDS
The horse’s trot can vary from a 4-mile-per-hour jog to a racing trot, which may be more than 30 miles per hour. The slow trot is 4 to 6 miles per hour with short strides. The ordinary working trot is about 8 miles per hour, with strides 9 to 10 feet long. Hind feet overstep front tracks several inches or even a foot. (The overstep is the distance the horse’s body is traveling while in suspension — the thrust through the air with no feet on the ground.) There is a longer period of suspension between strides; the horse moves with more thrust. The extended trot is 12 to 20 miles per hour; the overstep is as much as several feet. At the racing trot, the horse may have a stride of 15 to 20 feet, with an overstep as great as 6 feet.
Walk-Trot Transitions
As you train your horse, you will work on improving his ability to make smooth transitions from one gait to another. Work first on transitions from the walk to a slow trot and back again. As the horse becomes more proficient, cue him to go from a walk to a fast trot and back to a walk again.
Use Weight-Shift Cues
The young horse is just learning about leg and rein cues. You can help him understand what is wanted if you add balance shifts and body language to reinforce those cues, especially when changing from the walk to the trot and from the trot to the walk. Leaning more forward and pushing with your seat bones will encourage your horse to move faster and break into the trot.
Likewise, to slow from a trot to a walk, finger the reins for some give-and-take pressure on the bit and shift your weight back to signal a slower speed. When trotting, both you and the horse have more energy and impulsion. If you return your body to walking speed by sitting back a little more and mentally shifting down to a walk, your horse will feel the transition you’ve made and will slow down also — he’ll want to keep the unity and balance that’s most comfortable for him. If he’s trotting and you sit down deep in the saddle in walking position, he needs to drop down to a walk to make things feel right. If you shift your weight back and relax, your horse will, too.
If he wants to keep trotting — as some young horses do when they feel good about traveling fast — give a little more cue with the bit as you shift your weight back. It may be sufficient to take the slack out of one rein with a quick touch of the bit or you may need to do several quick but gentle give-and-take actions. Either way, your horse will soon understand that your weight shift is the signal to slow down. With practice, you can use this weight-shift cue to decrease the speed of the trot or to have him drop from the trot to the walk.
Change of Speed and Stride Length
As you do more trotting with your horse and he gains better balance and control, you’ll want to teach him to speed up the trot or to slow it on cue. You can do this with the use of your hands, legs, and weight shifts, just as you did in walk-trot transitions. Also, teach him to lengthen or shorten his stride, to extend and collect (see chapter 13). This will help him become more agile and flexible for later training, whether to adjust his strides to approach a jump properly, perform a dressage test, collect himself to keep his feet and his balance while trotting downhill on a slippery trail, or stop and turn quickly.
There is a difference between increasing speed and increasing stride length. The well-trained horse must be able to do both. After your horse learns to collect and extend, you can adjust his stride length without changing his speed. He can lengthen his stride, for instance, while still traveling the same speed, simply by taking fewer strides to go the same distance at the same speed. Changes of speed and change of stride length are brought about by synchronizing the use of your legs and hands, enabling the horse to respond to your cues.
Improving the Stop from a Trot
When the horse halts from a trot, he must balance himself and shift back his weight, so he won’t be leaning forward and “lugging,” or pulling, on the bit. The green horse must learn to shift his weight on cue. He may stop gracefully when running free in the pasture, but he has to learn to do it while carrying a rider.
Improving His Balance
Smooth stops can be accomplished only when the horse can balance himself, and he learns this gradually as he becomes more collected. As you work on walk-trot transitions and change of speed within the trot, this will also improve his balance and his stop.
Smooth starts and stops come naturally as you teach your horse to move forward with gentle leg pressure and lengthening the reins and to halt when he encounters bit pressure. Bit pressure should not be active. Once he knows that pressure ceases when he responds, your horse will halt when leg pressure gently pushes him onto the bit and he finds it unyielding. As always, rewarding the horse by instant release of pressure is the most effective way to teach him what you want him to do (see chapter 15 for a detailed discussion of stopping).
Trotting in Circles
Trotting in circles is good training because it teaches the horse to bend his body to the shape of the circle, which is not easy; his spine is fairly rigid, with little flexibility side to side. His loin muscles are not accustomed to this movement. Riding in circles, when done correctly, is an exercise that improves his flexibility and increases agility. Whenever he is trotting in a circle, his outside legs must travel farther than his inside legs, which therefore carry more weight. Pay attention to which diagonals you are posting on to make it easier for him to trot the circle smoothly.
Diagonals
When the horse trots, he alternates from one diagonal pair of legs to the other diagonal pair. He’s on the left diagonal when his left front foot is on the ground and on the right diagonal when his right front is on the ground.
You are posting on the left diagonal when you are sitting in the saddle as the left front foot is on the ground and rising in your stirrups when the right front comes to the ground.
You are posting on the right diagonal when sitting while the right front is on the ground and up in your stirrups when the left front is on the ground.
This can be a little confusing to figure out at first, as you can’t see the horse’s legs as you trot and because he is moving so swiftly. It helps to watch the horse’s shoulders. Work first at a slow trot until you catch on to the way his legs are moving as you are rising and sitting to post. When trotting in circles, you should post on the outside diagonal, for this is most natural to the horse.
If you are circling to the left, with the center of the circle to your left, you should post on the right diagonal. Watching the horse’s shoulders as you trot, you should rise as his right shoulder moves forward and sit as the right shoulder moves back; you are moving with his right leg. When that leg is in the air moving forward, you are up out of the saddle; you are in the saddle when that foot is on the ground.
You post on the outside diagonal when the horse is trotting in circles because he has a “lead” at the trot. His outside legs have to travel farther than his inside legs — his body is curving to fit the circle. You tire him less when you post with his leading foot. When traveling in a circle to the right, his leading foot and outside diagonal will be the left.
Changing Diagonals
Change posting diagonals whenever you change direction. If you are making a circle to the left, posting on the outside diagonal, change diagonals when you start a new circle to the right so you will again be posting on the outside diagonal.
To get the feel of this, trot the horse in a large figure eight. When you come to the center of the eight after having made a circle to the left, change diagonals by either sitting an extra beat or standing for an extra beat, whichever is easier for you. You will then be posting on the opposite diagonal as you change direction and start a circle to the right. When practicing figure eights, make your circles large, well rounded, and of equal size, and have the horse go straight for a stride or two as you change and reverse the circle. If circles are too small when trotting, it will be harder on his legs; the inexperienced green horse may also accidentally strike himself, hitting one leg with the opposite leg.
When circling to the left, post on the right diagonal, sitting down in the saddle when the horse’s right front foot is on the ground.
GIVE HIM A BREAK
When trotting across country, change diagonals now and then. On a long ride, your horse will not get as tired if his muscles have been developed equally by posting on both diagonals.
Circle Exercises
The trot is a good gait for working in circles to develop better balance. If the horse is bending his body to fit the circle, the outside loin muscles must extend as the inside ones contract. Because his legs are working in diagonal pairs, quite an adjustment in the horse’s stride is required to keep good balance and rhythm; remember, the inside legs travel a shorter distance and bear more weight than do their outside counterparts.
Trotting in circles is an excellent way to condition the horse physically for greater agility and versatility under saddle. It demands proper bending, adjustment of stride and rhythm, and increased impulsion on the inside leg, which carries more weight than the outside leg. This lesson is not an easy one for the horse. Always teach step by step. Trot him in large circles at first, and only when he has mastered them should you attempt smaller ones. Start with a circle 30 feet in diameter or larger, then gradually work down to a 10-foot circle for bending and stride-adjustment exercises, but don’t work very long at a time in the small circles. Three or four times around the circle is enough.
Attempting small circles before your horse is ready will result in awkward and clumsy movement and possible bad habits — he may hold his back and neck stiff, for example, because he hasn’t yet learned to bend. You also risk leg injury; your horse may strike a leg because of lack of coordination.
Save the small circles until he’s had more trotting and has learned how to handle himself with balance and collection (see chapter 13). He must be collected to be able to keep his balance and bend his neck and body to correspond with the bend in the circle. Having him properly balanced and collected will keep him from dropping his inside shoulder and leaning too far into the circle. A horse can’t change direction properly or circle with good balance unless he is collected and can keep his head and shoulders up.
The Most Versatile Gait
A trot can be slow, medium, or fast; collected or extended; or just uncollected. A jog is a slow, uncollected trot. A collected trot can be fast, medium, or slow, depending on the rider’s wishes. In the collected trot, the horse is animated and vigorous, with more energy and spring to his step. He travels with head up and nose more vertical, his weight balanced back off his front end, and moves with hindquarters well underneath himself to bear more of the weight. His weight is balanced back farther; he is not traveling heavily in front and thus becomes more agile and able to do intricate maneuvers with precision and dexterity.
The collected trot at medium speed is a good gait for tasks that require balance and agility, whether working in an arena doing complicated maneuvers or traveling through steep, rough terrain or slippery footing. The horse can maneuver with more surefootedness at the trot than at the canter or gallop.
The trot is the best gait for covering ground swiftly without tiring the horse. A medium-fast trot is easy on you and your horse and is much less tiring than a canter or gallop. Many endurance riders, and stockmen who have miles of range to cover every day, do most of their traveling at a fast trot. The trot has more potential than any other gait for developing muscle and coordination. The more training you can give the horse at the trot, the more agile and versatile he will become.
OTHER GAITS
There are a number of other gaits besides the walk, trot, and canter. Some breeds do certain gaits (such as the rack, or singlefoot) instead of trotting, for example. Among others, the running walk, fox trot, amble, and singlefoot are smooth gaits that cover the ground with more comfort for the rider than a trot. Paso horses have a gait all their own. For more information on gaits and training a gaited horse, try Easy-Gaited Horses, by Lee Ziegler.