Can't get a lively trot right away...

[Scarlett 001]

My problem is as follows. To begin, I am riding a really wonderful horse now called Madonna (she featured in the "riding positions" thread!). She is well schooled and if you clearly give the correct aids, she will do her thing. If you don't give the aids correctly, she won't automatically do the right thing. I think this is the best type of horse to learn on. Therefore, I conclude that the problem I am having in the posting trot is likely due to my inexperience.

The thing is I am having problems getting her into a lively trot for the first 15 minutes of my lesson. Her trot is sluggish and going nowhere for the first 15 minutes or so. My leg aids don't seem to work and if I give her a tap with the whip, she will pick up for a moment and then her pace and energy slows down again. Ditto for clucking - she responds at first but then loses the energy again. After about 15 minutes, she will snap into gear and goes great (nice energy trot) for the rest of the lesson with much less coaxing. I know she has to warm up, and I could go into the arena early so I don't have to use up lesson time waiting for her to pick up, but it seems for shows etc. I have to know how to get her into a lively trot more quickly.

Can someone please review for me the various aids I can use (other than a light tap with the whip) to get a more high-energy trot from her without having to wait so long??? Even a review of the obvious aids to do this would be useful, just to make sure I am clear on those.

Thanks!!!

[virtuallyhorses]

So when you go jogging do you sprint as soon as you get out of the house? :D If someone put you in your trackpants when you were in front of the telly, could you instantly mentally and physically turn into a top athlete? no? Well, strangely neither can horses :)

Horses need a warm up too you know and the first 15-20 minutes of your ride should be dedicated to ensuring that your horse has all its muscles (and brain) switched on, warmed up and supple before asking for the real work section of the ride. They also need to mentally adjust from lazing around the paddock\stable to being asked for effort - just because you've been thinking about it for an hour beforehand doesn't mean your horse has ;)

This is actually a really good lesson for you too! For this part of your ride you must concentrate on how the horse feels, work through a series of suppling exercises that gradually increase in intensity and listen to how your horse responds to each aid and devise a response that is appropriate. Sorry, no magic buttons to press or aids to give - this is all about real riding :D have fun!

[Scarlett 001]

Well, I did actually consider what you suggest (i.e., she just needs her warmup time) - so I did check yesterday and there is no lesson before mine, so no problem going in 10 minutes early or so and working through the warmup and building up of energy on my own. So I can certainly follow your advice. Thanks!

But...she still needs a bit of coaxing to maintain the trot even after that first 15 minutes (just not as much), and I think that I am relying too much on clucking away etc. So I would still appreciate a review of aids that can be used to maintain a lively trot (and at least maintain her slower trot at the start of the lesson so she does not slow down to a walk on me!).

[galadriel]

Originally posted by Scarlett 001
I know she has to warm up, and I could go into the arena early so I don't have to use up lesson time waiting for her to pick up, but it seems for shows etc. I have to know how to get her into a lively trot more quickly.

Ah, but you also have warm up time at shows.

[Scarlett 001]

I was just thinking about this and in reality I probably underexagerated how long it took to get things going well at the trot - the lesson was more than half over so it must have been more like 30 minutes. My instructor was not concerned for the first while, but then commented when the low energy trot continued for quite so long. Does 30 minutes seem a bit too long? Could it be me and not just her needing warmup time? Probably horse dependent and all sorts of other factors I know, but does this seem on the long side?

[virtuallyhorses]

Yep, of course you affect your horse :) I certainly am different riding in a lesson or during a test\warmup than when I'm just wandering around in the sunshine. Intent makes a lot of difference to your riding! To make a transition from say walk to canter or back again - its not really about your physical aids so much as your intent - your horse picks up 'ok, not just trot this time' not because you go from squeeze to kick but because the nature of the squeeze and the feel of the rest of your body changes.

The horse always reads every action - so if you go into the arena and wander around, then decide you want to trot and so off you go but the horse slows down and you 'wait' to see what happens - the horse will learn that this is what will occur. If instead you ask for trot and make it clear that your intensity will increase (with breathers, of course) then the horse will learn that too.

You'll find that timing is very important, perhaps more than the aids themselves. You must correct the horse at the very first sign that it is slacking off rather than waiting for the trot to fall away - at the same time rewarding good trot action with praise and by not nagging with the legs.

You also need to be able to accept a mistake - for instance if you ask for forward and the horse canters instead of trotting, you shouldn't immediately ask it back to trot - instead praise the quick response to the leg and then use it a little less for a nice trot aid - otherwise the horse will be confused 'she wanted forward, I gave it then she whacked me in the mouth??'

Its all good stuff to learn - don't worry if you don't get it straight away :)

[FreedomStar]

it sounds like madonna is distracted and not focused at the beginning of your ride, and then her mind drifts to the task at hand. You need to get her focused and working right away. when you ask for trot, you are supposed to get it, and the kind of trot you want. If not, then stop, wake her up, and then go back to what yo uwere doing. My trainer, she's a natural horsemanship major and is very good with horses, told me that the horse I was riding, which happene dto be one of her horses, gets distracted and not focused on the task at hand sometimes, so what she told me to do isi to halt her and smack her on the hindquarters with my hand to wake her up and immediatley go back to what I was doing. It works. But i'm not saying you should stop madonna and wake her up. Carry a long dressage whip and when she seems to need some coaxing, just flick it so that it wakes her up a bit.

gosh, i have so many spelling mistakes from typing fast! I hope you can read it cuz i'm too tired to go back and fix my mistakes...

[elise]

one of the horses i ride for lessons is almost the same way. his deal is that "if you're not gonna push me, i'm not gonna give you any more than you ask for." so we warm up by walking around a few times and making sure i'm the boss and we get in all the corners, then we get a more collected walk, "march on" as the instructor calls it. then we work on getting the trot going. he gets 2 squeezes, if that doesn't get him going, a kick, and if that fails, a tap with the stick. he usually picks it up once he figures out "oh she's not gonna let me be lazy" and the more consistant i am with my cues (squeeze, squeeze, kick, tap) the less i need to cue him to get him into a nice trot.

[kelsey]

Kyra Kyrklund has an excellent section on making your horse more responsive to the aids in her book "Dressage with Kyra".

(Excellent book all around - I am trying to find the videotapes now!)

[Torny]

Practice Transitions ?
That could help.

Remember:
An energetic trot doesn't mean whizzing around the arena kicking up dust. The trot should neither be too slow (sluggish) or to brisk. It should feel as though the horse is really powering beneath you at a nice steady beat. ;)

[Scarlett 001]

Thank you for all the great tips everyone!

Went for a ride yesterday (not a lesson) and got a lively trot yesterday from Madonna without too much work on my part! Madonna may have been in heat as she was kinda cranky when I was getting her ready :( but her riding was wonderful! She was quite lively right away. Perhaps I sent her a more confident body language last night and that helped too. Not sure why she was livelier. I'll see at my next lesson I guess...

May sound like a naive question to you more experienced riders, but are mares generally more energetic to ride when in heat? She sure was grouchy in the stall - did not want to be groomed at all!

[FreedomStar]

That's great news!! And how do we get answers if we don't ask questions? It's not a naive question at all. It really depends for each mare, but some get grouchy when in heat, some become very sweet and gentle, some don't change at all. They can also act differently when being ridden, but it's just natural. some mares react to being in heat wihle others don't.

[Alex]

Originally posted by Scarlett 001

May sound like a naive question to you more experienced riders, but are mares generally more energetic to ride when in heat? She sure was grouchy in the stall - did not want to be groomed at all!

It's not at all a naive question, and it's great that you asked :)
Some mares can be very moody when they're in season - this can vary from them seeming to have excess energy, to them being downright naughty and cranky! Milly, for example, is a real handful to ride when she's in season. She's hard to keep focussed and she gets cranky VERY quickly, which tends to lead back to her habit of pigrooting/little bucks, and believing that the only two gaits are walk and gallop. :rolleyes: She also gets abit nippy when I'm grooming/tacking up etc. Once she's out of season, and her hormones have settled, she's back to normal. :)

hehe welcome to the joys of spending time with a hormonal mare! :D :D :D

[Scarlett 001]

Okay, just an update on this trotting thing. Madonna gave me a bright, lively trot last night! Felt so much different than the sluggish trot. My balance was better, turns were better etc.! Great feeling!

I attributed it all to her and her mood (and giving her a gentle tap a couple of times). However, my instructor says I was being a better rider tonight - more confident and assertive - and that because of that she followed my lead and gave me what I wanted. I'm still inclined to believe it was her (too humble perhaps?) and that my instructor is being nice and just trying to build my confidence ;) but maybe he is right??? He said my riding was just fantastic last night and that felt so nice to hear - all in all, a wonderful lesson!

[galadriel]

Confident riding can get you far :) :) Congrats on last night's progress.