Any tips for MEdium Trot???!!!

[Dressagefreak]

Does anone have any tips for doing medium trot? I am hoping to start doing novice dressage but most tests require some strides of medium trot. My horse used to be terrible at canter transitions but do a lovely medium trot everytime you asked her to canter, now her canter transitions are so good, everytime I ask for medium trot she breaks into canter!!!!!!!!! Help and advice would be much appreciated! Thanks x x x

[RachelEvent]

A good medium trot will be acheived through preperation and a good quality trot.

It's best to think of your aims first.. so with the medium trot you want the horse to work from his hindquarters and to have a slightly longer stride, whilst still maintaining the suspension and uphill quality of the trot preceeding it. You don't want the rhythm to change, it should just be a natural extension from the working trot. It sounds so easy written down, but it's not always all that easy, a lot depends on the horse.

If your horse often breaks into canter when you ask for lengthened strides, there are a few possible things which I can think of which may be causing that...

1) If you are giving the reins away as you ask the trot to lengthen. It's a really common problem, I did it for ages without realising it! It helps me to think about not letting the power escape through his front end, and remembering to sit up and keep the contact CONSTANT.

2) You may not be making a really clear distinction between your canter aids and your lengthening aids. Try and make your aids a little more defined, when you ask for canter sit to the trot, and be quite distinct about putting your outside leg behind the girth and inside leg on the girth, that way when you ask for lengthening by maintaining the contact, still rising to the trot, and riding through from both legs on the girth, there is a clear difference to your horse. After all, you know that she can do a medium trot - she's shown you before :D it's just a case of her learning to know what you want.

3) Poor quality preceeding trot... if you ask for lengthening from a trot which is already a little on the forehand, then the horse cannot push off from his hindlegs, he is more likely to just break into canter.


remember, don't ask for too much at once to begin with, keep it gentle and build up gradually :)

Good luck with your tests!

Rachel xx

[Dressagefreak]

Thanks for that advice,I know its purely a rider fault that we can't do it, but I think we're improving! I THINK! The thing is it's difficult when I can't see it myself, I just have to rely on yelling at friends "is this it???" LOl!:D

[RachelEvent]

LOL! I know how it feels to be going 'MUM was he doing it?' 'Katey was he tracking up?' and them going... well I don't know.. you're the one riding! But it is very hard to tell from on top what is going on. Is there anyone that could video you so that you could have a little look at whats happening when you ask for medium? Videos really help me.. Mum will say to me that my reins are too long, or I was tipping forwards, or he wasn't working from behind properly, and I won't beleive her until I see the video, and go oh no WE LOOK DREADFUL.. guaranteed to make me ride better though :D

Rachel xx

[galadriel]

I usually post a link to her page, but this was just in last week's list mailing, and isn't on her site yet.

In response to a question about trot lengthenings and medium trot:

There's a logical progression to dressage training, and there's a very good
reason for you to begin working on lengthenings early (First Level) and
leave the medium trot until later. At this stage in your horse's
development (physical and mental), lengthening is quite enough work! A true
medium trot requires a lot of pushing and carrying power. These will come
with time and correct training - the system is progressive, remember? - but
pushing and carrying requires muscular development that your horse simply
doesn't have at this stage. The beauty of dressage training is that each
step prepares the horse, both physically and mentally, for the next step,
so that the process of learning is a pleasant one, and progress comes
easily and naturally. The process is simple: preparation, suggestion, and
discovery. That is, you prepare your horse for each new step, and when the
horse is ready, you suggest and indicate what you want, and allow the horse
to figure it out and discover that he can do it. Then you develop the new
skill, amplify it, refine it, and build on it until the horse is ready for
the next step.

So - you're ready for a trot lengthening. This isn't complicated - you
simply begin with your horse's working trot (a tempo with which you should
be quite familiar by now), and without changing the tempo (or, heaven
forbid, the rhythm), you ALLOW (not force!) the horse to stretch a little
so that his stride becomes longer. His frame will become slightly longer too.

At this point - fairly early in the horse's training - making a nice,
clear, balanced transition into and out of each lengthening should be your
main goal. Don't push for too much of a lengthening - keep the rhythm and
tempo steady, keep your horse balanced, and try to create enough interest
and energy in him that he will lengthen automatically when you increase
your leg pressure slightly (and briefly) and allow your hands to move very
slightly forward. Keep your own position steady as well - your horse won't
be able to lengthen if he falls on his forehand, and he WILL fall on his
forehand if you ask him for a lengthening and then drop your head in an
attempt to see whether he's given you one. Trot lengthenings are like
touch-typing - you have to look straight ahead and feel what's happening
underneath you, because if you look down, whatever was happening will stop
happening. ;-)

The best advice I can give you is to keep your horse sufficiently balanced,
energetic, and forward (in body AND attitude) that he feels good in himself
and WANTS to lengthen his stride. When that's the case, a slight squeeze of
the leg and a little more rein will be enough to tell him that he has your
permission to lengthen (nice forward transition), and a closing of your
fingers will be enough to tell him that it's time to come back now.

When the time comes for you to begin working on a medium trot, you'll be
glad that you spent time working on correct lengthenings! Every good
lengthening will help your horse become stronger and better-muscled, and he
will NEED those muscles in order to perform a medium trot. Lengthening
involves a longer stride and a longer frame; medium trot involves much
greater power from behind, because in medium trot the horse does more than
just lengthen frame and stride! It also has to PUSH much harder from
behind, not just to send its body forward in a longer frame and with a
longer stride, but also to send it UPWARD in a longer frame and with a
longer stride.

Next time you're watching upper-level riders, pay particular attention to
the physical development of the horses that are performing medium trot, and
notice how their bodies differ from those of the horses that are still
learning to perform lengthenings. It's a whole different phase of muscular
development, and you'll see that those horses are not only "in more of a
frame", but that they are, overall, balanced differently, carrying more
weight behind, and moving more uphill.

It all begins with correct lengthenings, so have fun, and congratulations
on your move up!

Jessica


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[IrisSilverMoon]

you should be able to feel a medium trot if its actually medium, the horse will loosen up his shoulder which makes it very different to sit from a regular trot, you feel the front end more. the back end will be giving a bigger push and you will be covering more ground, but the horse really won't be moving any faster.

[Dressagefreak]

Thanks for the advice. Hmm, it's great but one problemo, I have to be able to do it by Sunday!:D Oops! I think what we do at the moment would be classed as lengthened strides, do you think it will do? I guess it's only one movement and I may just get a 2 for it but hey!
RachelEvent, I have asked both Shaka and Rosanna if they can video me but none of them ever has a camera on them! Argh! If you're reading this guys, BRING YOUR CAMERAS DOWN! Lol!
I have a lesson tomorrow, so hopefully we will improve a bit before sunday! Still open for advice though. What does everyone else do?

[RachelEvent]

Are you doing a Novice test? If so.. then they are only asking for a couple of lengthened strides.. at least that was what I did at the weekend and it got a seven!

The answer for me, lies in balancing and collecting in the turn before the diaganol, and then allowing the built up energy to release into lengthened strides across the diaganol.. whilst maintaining contact and rhythm. It worked for me! Just remember that you don't have to show a really dramatic change at novice level.. it is literally a lengthening stride not an actual full blown extended trot :)

Rachel xx

[Dressagefreak]

Hmm...we got a 5! hehe!!!! However, we got 60% and came 6th!:D :D :D :D :D Our first ever novice comp! I was soooooooo proud! In our prelim test we got 70% and came 2nd, only 0.14% behind first! I was sooooooo pleased!

[DITZ]

Well done!!:D I bet with some practice now you'll do really well!

[Dressagefreak]

Yer, She's being great now, had a lesson on thursday and she's definately getting more elevated strides already i think.