Before all, to train a horse is to look for the purity of the gaits.
Only after he trots with harmony, relaxation, rhythm, in a correct posture, round, light and vibrant, can the horse start on the harder exercises building on the development of the trot, and leading to passage and piaffe.

The trot is a diagonal gait with two beats, in which the horse jumps from one diagonal to the other. If walk is the gait of apprenticeship, the trot is the perfect gait that allows the development of rhythm.

Working at the trot has several purposes:

 Raises the range and the regularity of the strides
 Muscles and strengthens the horse
 Limbers the joints
 Develops communication between horse and rider
 Balances the horse
 Raises collection
 Gives the horse better rhythm

Working at the trot is of capital importance for the training of the horse. The rider must give it great attention and always try to improve it.

• An equal and symmetrical push of each hind leg,
• A great regularity in the touchdown of the diagonals,
• A rigorously equal distance between each stride,
• An equal  range and elevation  of each leg, the same movement at each stride.

The trot can only be good if the horse is totally mentally and physically relaxed, fluid, and with a constant balance and posture. The horse is on the bit without stiffness, the shoulders are free, the actions of the legs are limber, and the impulsion, the forward thrust is regular. The horse carries himself straight in the shoulders and the haunches, with no twisting, stretched out by the the impulsion, ready for any change in direction or gait.

The development of these qualities, day after day, will take the young horse toward collected trot, School Trot and the airs above the ground.
 
 

The young horse, bothered by the weight of the rider, very often trots irregularly, in a horizontal balance, the neck rather low, in an open posture, with the angle of his head/neck open. He hollows his back, speeds up or slows down at the littlest movement of the rider, worries easily, often deviates from his path, and bends toward outside in the corners.

At this stage, your most important goal is to work out the upper back and the lower back of your horse. This will help to avoid sudden accelerations of the gaits, to obtain regular strides of trot, wide, well framed in the channel of aids.

Working on the lunge is the best way to start developing muscles, to relax and balance the horse in a trot, to regularize the trot in a correct posture, and to make him comfortable.
 
 

Lunge lessons are just as important to the training of the horse as the mounted lessons.

First, you must lunge your horse a couple of minutes each way freely at the trot to relax and to wake up the muscles.

Be careful! The lunge is never attached to the rings of the bit, but always, and I insist, to the noseband or the caveson, to avoid any injury to the mouth of the horse because of eventual  “jumps of joy”.

After the initial warm up, start using simple soft leather side reins. These are attached laterally to the surcingle or the girth,  just below the flaps of the saddle, and to rings of the bit.
The fixed rein on the inside will be around an inch shorter, to bend the horse on the circle.
The reins must be adjusted so that the horse is placed correctly just with the weight of the leather, the head almost vertical. The horse must keep a certain freedom while being almost on the bit, but he must not be squeezed into position or fight the reins.

The work on the lunge is analyzed in the chapter NOTES… Let’s talk about… FIXED REINS.

The horse is well framed between the hands (the lunge) and the legs (the long whip, the aid to forward thrust). The hand controls with slight vibrations of the lunge, the whip determines the impulsion with discrete, precise and perfectly controlled actions.

Work during 5 and 10-minute intervals (depending on the energy, the muscle mass and the training of the horse) at each rein, mainly looking for regularity of the trot and consistency of impulsion. Progressively ask for as much impulsion as possible while keeping a relaxed horse.

Every now and then do an entire workout just trotting on the lunge.
Almost always start your workout by a very well conducted warm up on the lunge (20 minutes), at the trot, free first and then with the fixed reins. Try to feel the correct rhythm for the horse.

This work will allow your horse to develop stronger muscles, to stretch out his backbone, to make his trot more regular, and to find his balance without the weight of the rider.
 
 

The young horse is still lacking strength under saddle. He cannot support his back for very long and he stiffens fast when trotting. Therefore, at first, almost all work at the trot must be done at the rising trot  to relieve the back of the horse every other stride, allowing the horse and the rider to be comfortable.
But you need to know how to rise the trot with limberness and in balance.

How to trot on the left diagonal:
 

Shorten your stirrups one or two holes
Adjust your reins a little shorter
Carry your chest forward a bit and let the left (for example) diagonal lift you a couple of inches off the saddle, while putting your weight on the stirrups, with the legs fixed (between the knee and the heel), the heels down placed on a vertical line with the seat bones.
Let yourself fall softly back in the saddle, at the moment the left diagonal touches the ground.
Rise again when the left diagonal rises again.
Keep an even contact with the horse’s mouth, the reins adjusted softly, without moving you hands.

On a bend, in a corner or in a circle, (to the right, for example) the outside diagonal travels a longer distance than the inside diagonal.
By rising with the outside left diagonal, you trigger a slight forward push of this left diagonal and therefore allow it to travel a bit further than the right diagonal. The horse will be able to keep an even rhythm on the circle.
That is why you must always trot on the outside diagonal in an arena.

When the horse starts to get a better balance, a better rhythm, the rider can start to sit in the saddle, his lower back in tune with  the movement of the horse.
As soon as the young horse starts to hold back a little, the rider goes back to rising trot before the horse’s back starts to collapse.

The rider sits softly:

- The two seat bones stay in contact with the saddle, without moving
- The seat simply goes with the motion, passively, without trying to push the horse with pelvic movements which only bothers and stiffens the horse
- The belly button is pushed forward (and not launched forward at each stride), the lower back stays limber, flat or slightly arched, depending on how you are built.
- The legs fall naturally, the angle of the thigh/upper body very open. The legs must stay loose. If the legs, the knees, or the calves tighten by stiffening, the rider will bounce in the saddle, stiffen his back and his shoulders, and loose control over his hands.
- The chest stays close to the vertical, relaxed with no stiffness (this is impossible if the legs are tight!), lower back simply supported, shoulders low.
- The arms are half bent, they fall naturally along the upper body.
- The hands are motionless, moving the least amount possible in the space between the withers of the horse and the belly button of the rider (this is impossible if the legs are tight!).

Every horse has his own rhythm in a trot. The hard part is to find the correct cadence.

The rhythm is correct when the horse moves with ease, in a stable and balanced posture, active and relaxed at the same time.
The horse feels good, works with pleasure, the rider is relaxed, stable, and can work without tiring.

To find the correct rhythm, first find the best possible posture for the horse: more or less on the bit, neck more or less elevated, degree of bend controlled in the circles…

It is for you to feel and choose what balance to give your horse. Start with minimal forward thrust. Go with the essential: relaxation of the trot. When the horse is in place and relaxed, progressively ask for more forward thrust. When stiffness appears or when the balance is off, that means your are asking for too much impulsion.

Then, you must find the necessary degree of impulsion.

When your horse feels good and does not change anything in his balance, in his impulsion or in his posture on the circles and changes of bend, while at the sitting or rising trot, you have found the rhythm that suits your horse.

You can validate this by lowering your hands and lowering your legs. The horse must be able to carry himself in the trot without your help.
 
 

Workout after workout, the horse develops his rhythm, the size of his strides and the roundness of his back.

You must take particular care of the work in a circle, the voltes, the corners, and the changes of bend on the serpentines.

The “philosophy” and the way to proceed are described in the chapter Themes, The Walk (Improving the walk).

Shoulder-ins and half-passes (these must be executed with tact with a correct, rhythmic and relaxed manner. The exercises should be varied: head to the wall, croup to the wall, counter changes of rein on two tracks, and haunches in or haunches out) are unequalled exercises to confirm and develop the trot toward collected trot.
The way to proceed, the advice and the problems encountered are developed in the chapters “Themes”, SHOULDER-IN and HALF-PASS.

Do not hesitate to work on your trot in the outdoors, on a good flat or slightly hilly terrain. Be very attentive. Keep your horse on the bit, in the right bend and in balance. Watch the regularity of the trot and the degree of  the horse’s relaxation.

If your horse stays in balance and in rhythm, leave him free on semi loose reins. Do not let him up.

A lot of riders sit the trot on trail. What a mistake!

They get tired and the back of the horse is overworked for no reason. On the other hand, the rising trot relieves the horse and allows the strides to become longer. The rider is in balance on top of his stirrups, the chest moves more or less forward depending on the rhythm of the trot, and the hands remain fixed.

Another common error is to trot too fast, too long, and sometimes even to extend the trot.
A generous horse will end up hollowing his back, ruin his hocks or damage his joints.
There again, you must find the right rhythm. You can trot with a bigger stride and more energy, but always, I repeat, always, in balance, rounded and with ease.
 
 

While working on the transition halt/trot/halt, walk/trot/walk and trot/canter/trot (described in the Chapter “The Walk”, transition and halts), you will try to shorten and lengthen the trot of your horse.

The extended trot is the result of added impulsion in the collection.

Without needing to be pushed, the horse sends his front legs forward, the extension starting at the shoulder and finishing at the tip of the hoof, and the back staying flexible. The hind legs are engaged forcefully under the weight of the horse and leave the ground very clearly.

The size of the strides, the limberness, the balance and the rhythm define a beautiful extension in the trot.
Stiffness, quickening, uneven extensions and unbalance on the shoulders are not part of a well-understood method, but just a contest of strength.

Here is how to proceed:

Clearly ask for more collection and a more vibrant trot, going very forward on a circle, or in a shoulder-in on the circle, and/or on the short side of the arena.
Obtain extra impulsion, but without speeding up. In the strides preceding the extended trot, fix your hand and keep him well on the bit.
Straighten up and progressively place the shoulders of the horse at the beginning of the diagonal or on the long side of the arena.

Carry your contact with the horse’s mouth (hand/mouth) forward and down and let your horse extend.
Push with your belt, your buttocks and your back, doing almost nothing with your legs.

During the extension, keep the contact with your horse’s mouth without letting him loose his head carriage. At the medium trot, the horse has to stay well on the bit.
Follow and amplify the extension with your seat and push very little with your legs, because they sometimes make the horse loose his rhythm.

This is the trot at the highest degree of collection.

It requires:

A higher elevation of the forehand, resulting with the lowering of the haunches,
Focused, slower and higher movements from the horse
A slow and majestic cadence
A superior impulsion with a rigorously straight horse
A total absence of parasite stiffness

The jaw gives in at the slightest action of fingers. The neck is round, smooth, and is the highest part. All the joints are flexed, the fetlocks nearly touch the ground when the foot makes ground contact, the shoulders are free and the hind legs are engaged under the weight of the horse.

The relaxation of the horse is total, and the balance is so good that your can lower your hands and lower your legs for long periods of times.

The School Trot is obtained by asking more and more collection, day after day, by exercising all the joints, by strengthening the muscles, and developing limberness.
Circles, the work on two tracks, the transitions trot/halt/backup/trot, the shortening and extension of the trot, and the variations of the rhythm are the key exercises to progressively obtain this beautiful gait.

The School Trot is the best preparation to lead your horse to soft passage and then to passage.
 
 

When you trot, first try to make your horse comfortable and in exchange he will give you personal comfort.
Do not forget: Trot is, before all, the search for regularity, cadence and roundness.

You dream of a horse perfectly on the bit, with a beautiful neck carriage, the poll high… very well! But it is sometimes better to work the trot with a lower poll, even a low neck, while very relaxed. I do not say behind the bit!
When the poll is high, and it does not result from a clear engagement of the hindquarters but only from hand actions from the rider, the horse will only hollow his back and ruin his hocks. Think about it!
 
 

With a young horse, alternate rising and sitting trot. Try to feel when the horse needs to be relieved from your weight on his back.

Also, do not sit too deeply in the saddle. Have a light seat. Let your back absorb the motion. You may sit more vertically once your horse’s collection progresses.

In the circle with a young horse, carry your hands high, the outside hand slightly higher, and do not hesitate to spread your hands if difficulties appear.
If your horse shortens the circles toward inside, open your outside rein and support with your inside leg.
 
 

The essential at the rising trot is that you are in balance, with a natural, supple movement, in tune with your horse. Outdoors, change diagonal in the air every now and then, so that you do not tire one diagonal more than the other.
 
 

At the sitting trot, keep your buttocks heavy, your legs down to have a light back - not the opposite!
Keep your seat bones and your buttocks motionless. Do not try to clean the saddle with your behind.
Your lower back should be slightly hollow with no stiffness and absolutely not rounded or slouchy.
If you hit the sides of the horse constantly with your ankles, you will destroy your horse’s trot. Keep your legs soft, act little and at the right moment, with fast and light touches…

When trotting, do not oppose the forward thrust. The horse must always feel that the “door is open” in front of him. The hand acts like a filter. Let the necessary amount of energy through.
Precede all hand actions with an action of your chest. It is the most efficient way to balance and regularize the trot.
Push and slow down with your back, not with your hands.

Between the horse’s mouth and the rider’s hands, there is a contact that is soft, fluid, regular, and equal when the horse is in balance, and supports his trot by himself. Do not forget to lower your hands and your legs.
 
 

When trotting, always control the rhythm. No rhythm, no beauty.
Every horse has his own cadence, his “interior music”. Feel the music of your horse and let him express himself.

While looking for the right cadence, be careful not to confuse slowness and laziness, or speed and impulsion. It will be a big mistake.
Lots of horse go too fast when trotting. They stiffen, their stride shortens and they lose relaxation. They progress very little. See if you should not slow your trot down, without changing your impulsion.
Look for an elastic and rather slow trot.
 
 

Please your horse by letting him put all the energy and joy he can in his trot. Simply control his balance and his posture and above all… never let him lose his relaxation and rhythm.

Look for the optimum forward thrust that lets the horse stay relaxed, keeps the stride at its biggest and the movement round.
Do not confuse impulsion and speed.

At the trot, you must first seek balance and relaxation to allow impulsion to develop. It is much more efficient this way, less tiring than squeezing your legs at each stride.

If you constantly keep your legs or your spurs on the horse he will hold back and stiffen. Apply fast, electric touches, with your leg soft and with a smooth touch.

Impulsion in the trot and in all the other gaits, results from the frame of mind of a horse, a desire to carry himself forward. Not from the jiggling of a rider.
 
 

In the transitions walk/trot and trot/canter, prepare your horse well by increasing impulsion and vibrating your fingers so you do not surprise the horse.
Never go from trot to canter in a circle if the horse is not perfectly bent in the channel of the aids.

Know how to alternate resting periods, trotting periods, and walking periods. Also know when to trot with your horse well on the bit and rounded, or trot with semi-loose reins or long reins. The essential is to preserve a good balance, an equal rhythm, to have good control and eventually a slight increase of speed when the reins are loose.
 
 

At the medium trot, to not let the horse’s head move away from you. Keep him well on the bit.

At the extended trot, give the horse his head a bit, follow and push with your lower back, but do not push with your hand. Simply let your hands go toward the horse’s mouth, forward and down.
You can warn your horse with a slight touch of the switch.
Do not make big leg actions during extensions, just make sure to always increase impulsion before asking.

To succeed in your extensions, think about a pressure cooker!
It is useless to shake a pressure cooker to get the steam out through the valve! All you have to do, is to drastically increase the heat (forward thrust) first, and then slightly open the valve without shaking it, and the steam will rush out.
It is the same with a horse. Increase the impulsion, open your hands (move them forward and down) and let the horse extend, following his movement with suppleness… without shaking him with your legs!
 
 

Try to win in height what you loose in length to collect your horse and manage to reach the School Trot.
Collect your horse progressively. Win a thousandth of a collection every day and you will obtain the School Trot in three years! It is a little joke, but think about it!
 
 
 

Frequently encountered problems

 I cannot find balance and rhythm in a rising trot.

Your are behind or ahead of the horse. You make efforts to rise, you rise your shoulders, and you fall back in your saddle at the wrong time. Your legs and feet move.

The problem is simple. Your are not in balance on top of your points of support. Your center of gravity absolutely has to be at the vertical of your points of support - your two feet in the stirrups. Your heels have to be under your buttocks.

Try to rise off the saddle at a halt, with your legs very forward or backward. It’s impossible. Then, put your heels under your seat bones, put your chest slightly forward. You will rise with no effort.
Once up, you will stay in balance. If you put your heels forward again, they will not be under your seat bones anymore and you will fall back heavily in the saddle. If you put your heels back, you will fall forward.

Then do the same at a trot. The heels down, exactly under the buttocks, the chest slightly forward. The horse will lift you up on one diagonal, and you will land in the saddle softly at the moment that diagonal re-touches the ground. You are in dynamic balance, you control your hands and your chest, and follow the horse’s movement with limberness.

You bounce in the saddle, your hands, shoulders and chest move. You are stiff, your back is sore and you tire easily.
On top of that, you keep your horse from going forward, you hurt his back…. He fights back or gives up.

And you have been working hard for months or years, you trot with no stirrups, you try to do a longer sitting trot and to relax your upper body… it is exhausting and useless!!!
You are discouraged, you avoid sitting the trot!

You bounce and you move because you are supporting yourself with your thighs, your knees, and your calves… and the more you squeeze them not to come off the saddle, the more you will stiffen up and the more you will bounce.

Suppress these points of support, they launch you upwards.
Simply relax your buttocks, your thighs, your calves and your heels… in very little time, you will have surprising results.

It is sometimes difficult for a beginner, or a rider who had bad experiences to deal with their fear and to physically relax.
The relaxation of the lower body also happens in your mind. One cannot work without the other!

I currently have a problem to solve that will condition all the following work: it is to put the horse on the bit, to stabilize the positioning of my young horse. I only manage to do it at the walk, but he does not stay on the bit because my technique is uncertain. I start a circle and bed the horse toward the inside. I use my inside leg, my inside hand and then my outside hand, playing this way with both reins to lower and place the head of the horse. When this is done, I give in, the horse stays in place for several seconds and then puts his head up again.

Your horse is young. It is of utmost importance to put him in the right posture, on the bit, and in a stable and relaxed placement.
To place a horse (put him on the bit) is not the result of tricks, miracle recipes, mechanical actions of the hands or any other miscellaneous means used by all kinds of people.
It is the result of the general balance of the horse, of his forward thrust, of the engagement of his hindquarters and of his relaxation.
To have your horse on the bit with more stability, look for all that as a priority.

Work your horse on the lunge at the trot.
After he is warmed up, use the side reins to place him (see TROT… what to look for… work on the lunge). Do several workouts just on the lunge and always lunge before riding.
Your horse is young, do not ask for the poll to be too high, but find the position in which he feels good, and relaxes. Feel, think… Frame your horse well in the channel of aids. Take care of the bend on the circle (see the WALK… how to better… the corners… the circle).

Pay lots of attention to your posture. A horse cannot place his head if the rider is not in balance and relaxed.

Keep your hands fixed and rather low. Above all do not try to use the right hand, left hand, right hand… and making the head of the horse swing.
Do not move your hands, but play with your fingers.
Steady your inside hand and use more your outside hand, softly. Keep your legs relaxed but aware.
Work a lot on circles, half circles. At the change of bend, make him lower his poll.

You will see that your horse will start to come on the bit.
Act with softness, do not ask much, and keep him in a rather low position. The shoulder-ins will help.
First, ask him to come on the bit in a walk and a trot. Confirm it.
At the canter, let him relatively free for the moment, in a slightly open position, but always in balance.

There! This is how to put a horse on the bit.

 

When I ask for extensions at the trot, my mare forges. To what is this due? How can I fix it?

When a horse extends his trot distinctively, the hind legs hit the ground well in front of the prints of the front legs.
The toe of the right hind leg can hit the heel or the ends of the shoe of the right front leg. The horse "forges". He can hurt his heels, or even sometimes pull off a front shoe.
Some horses have a tendency to forge, especially the newly shoed youngsters who lack balance and engagement, and the horses who are not in balance…

Therefore, be very careful to keep your mare in balance on her haunches when extending the trot, with her hind legs well engaged.
The extension has to come from an increased impulsion and a strong engagement of the hindquarters… not of a weight transfer to the horse's shoulders and a quickening of the strides.
Keep the contact with your mare's mouth by taking it forward and down, but without letting her come out of the bit and/or put herself on the shoulders.

The problem should disappear.

If it continues, you can modify the shoeing of your mare.

First, have the toe of the hind legs squared off ("square toe").
You can also shorten the end of the front shoes slightly.
Talk to your farrier, but act carefully and progressively.

For extreme cases like race Trotters who amplify their strides a lot, they use modified shoes (the outside branch of the shoe is longer) to try to spread their hind legs.

But we are outside the subject of classical riding…

Posture-position / Walk / Trot / Canter / Shoulder-in / half-pass /Flying change of lead/ Tempi changes / The canter Pirouette / Piaffe

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