Building Stamina at the trot

[Tiger Lily]

Hi guys, I've switched onto a new horse and we work fabulously together. However I've run into a few problems at the posting trot. When I go to trot during my weekly lessons, my horse rushes down the long sides and slows to a walk in the corners.My trainer tells me to put more leg on him, but I don't have the stamina to do this in every corner for a whole lesson. Do you guys have any suggestions on building stamina and a steady pace in both of us? Thanks!

 

[Jessey]

Is he possibly unbalanced, hense rushing on the straight and walking corners? focussing on getting the trot active but controlled on the straight using half halts will set him up better to manage the corners in the same steady rhythm.
In terms of building your stamina and leg strength, practice makes perfect

 

[Skib]

I had great difficult trotting round corners - and for many years.
Even out hacking. There are a few things to consider - from both horse and rider.
First you are on a four legged animal and he has to get those four legs and a long body round a "corner". Sometimes we do ask our horses to turnj a sharp right angle but we usually do it by rotating the front legs round the hind legs which stay almost still. The corner of the school as you ride round the outside of the school is more like the arc of a circle. And it may help you go round it if you think of it like that.
Even going round the arc of a circle can be complicated for a horse. Our RI told us to picture 2 railway lines going round the corner. The outside railway line is of longer length than the inside one. The outside legs of the horse need to travel further when going round a corner than the inside ones.

So think of those school corners as part of a circle. You will need to picture the front of your horse leaving the outside track a little way before the corner and then retuerning to the outside track some way after it. I have a great DVD on dressage by Davison and from this I learned that when you picture the curve, you should make those two points equal. And that the longer the curve is, the easier it is for the horse.

So much for the horse - Then there is the rider. We are taught to touch the rein to turn the horse. And it is true that where you put the nose of the horse, the body will usually follow. But I reckon that without meaning to the thing most likely to stop the horse as it goes round the corner is our tightening one or both hands on the reins. You are far les likely to do this if you think of that arc of the circle. It takes more energy for te horse to move on a circle than on a straight line so yes, you do need to create the energy - but try to do that in advance, before you get to the corner.

As a student you will be told to ride close into the corners (and use your inside leg to keep the horse out ) but I wouldnt try that till you can trot easilly round corners, more a question of allowing the horse to do it easilly for himself, possibly on quite a long loop. Once you are going easilly and your horse is happy too, you can add the refinements.

 

[Tiger Lily]

I had great difficult trotting round corners - and for many years.
Even out hacking. There are a few things to consider - from both horse and rider.
First you are on a four legged animal and he has to get those four legs and a long body round a "corner". Sometimes we do ask our horses to turnj a sharp right angle but we usually do it by rotating the front legs round the hind legs which stay almost still. The corner of the school as you ride round the outside of the school is more like the arc of a circle. And it may help you go round it if you think of it like that.
Even going round the arc of a circle can be complicated for a horse. Our RI told us to picture 2 railway lines going round the corner. The outside railway line is of longer length than the inside one. The outside legs of the horse need to travel further when going round a corner than the inside ones.

So think of those school corners as part of a circle. You will need to picture the front of your horse leaving the outside track a little way before the corner and then retuerning to the outside track some way after it. I have a great DVD on dressage by Davison and from this I learned that when you picture the curve, you should make those two points equal. And that the longer the curve is, the easier it is for the horse.

So much for the horse - Then there is the rider. We are taught to touch the rein to turn the horse. And it is true that where you put the nose of the horse, the body will usually follow. But I reckon that without meaning to the thing most likely to stop the horse as it goes round the corner is our tightening one or both hands on the reins. You are far les likely to do this if you think of that arc of the circle. It takes more energy for te horse to move on a circle than on a straight line so yes, you do need to create the energy - but try to do that in advance, before you get to the corner.

As a student you will be told to ride close into the corners (and use your inside leg to keep the horse out ) but I wouldnt try that till you can trot easilly round corners, more a question of allowing the horse to do it easilly for himself, possibly on quite a long loop. Once you are going easilly and your horse is happy too, you can add the refinements.

Thank you so much for the reply, I'll take this into consideration

 

[domane]

I can trot round an arena all day on a pony, rising 19 to the dozen. But put me on a long-striding horse and I am shattered after half a circuit. Do you ride a tall horse?

I ride ponies much better.

 

[Tiger Lily]

Is he possibly unbalanced, hense rushing on the straight and walking corners? focussing on getting the trot active but controlled on the straight using half halts will set him up better to manage the corners in the same steady rhythm.
In terms of building your stamina and leg strength, practice makes perfect

I don't know. My RI says he has some problems with exercises that require him to loosen up his hips and lower back,as he's very locked up in that area. Could this be contributing?

 

[Tiger Lily]

I can trot round an arena all day on a pony, rising 19 to the dozen. But put me on a long-striding horse and I am shattered after half a circuit. Do you ride a tall horse?

I ride ponies much better.

He's not particularly tall, your standard 15.1-15.2hh Quarter Horse.

 

[Hailz22]

Also are you slowing down towards the corners anticipating him slowing down? When you ride next think about what your body is doing, are you pushing him on, are you pulling backwards to turn him, are you rising slower at the corner cause you think he is slowing down? All this will contribute to a change in pace! Also sometimes when learning you rise faster in the long sides of the arena and kind of rush the movement, and rising faster will make the horse trot faster to keep pace with you. Can you get someone to video you?

But all the suggestions aside, it could be as simple as he falls in the corner and loses momentum so needs your leg to keep hi going, thus you needing to build up stanima as you say!! Have you spoken to instructor about ways to fix whats happening?

 

[Tiger Lily]

Also are you slowing down towards the corners anticipating him slowing down? When you ride next think about what your body is doing, are you pushing him on, are you pulling backwards to turn him, are you rising slower at the corner cause you think he is slowing down? All this will contribute to a change in pace! Also sometimes when learning you rise faster in the long sides of the arena and kind of rush the movement, and rising faster will make the horse trot faster to keep pace with you. Can you get someone to video you?

But all the suggestions aside, it could be as simple as he falls in the corner and loses momentum so needs your leg to keep hi going, thus you needing to build up stanima as you say!! Have you spoken to instructor about ways to fix whats happening?

We haven't talked in depth, but my understanding is that my lesson horse is lazy. however I'll think about your advice. Thanks so much!

 

[KP nut]

If he's lazy why is he rushing down the long side! Seems much more likely to be a balance issue. Or anxiety. Or pain if he's locked up across back and hips. What's he like on a circle? Or on the lunge? Or with more experienced riders?

My guess is he is stiff and unbalanced and needs suppling exercises.

But it's difficult as he's not your horse and your trainer is going for the easy assumption of laziness and the easy solution of increasing the pressure on the horse. Neither of which seem particularly helpful to your development as a skilful rider or to his problems with bending.

 

[Tiger Lily]

If he's lazy why is he rushing down the long side! Seems much more likely to be a balance issue. Or anxiety. Or pain if he's locked up across back and hips. What's he like on a circle? Or on the lunge? Or with more experienced riders?

My guess is he is stiff and unbalanced and needs suppling exercises.

But it's difficult as he's not your horse and your trainer is going for the easy assumption of laziness and the easy solution of increasing the pressure on the horse. Neither of which seem particularly helpful to your development as a skilful rider or to his problems with bending.

Yeah I'm not sure. I'm only walk-trot and normally he's pretty good there, if I can keep him from running me into the corners. Sometimes it's a fight to get him moving. I have seen him canter, and he often kicks out when asked to canter, despite being normally well behaved ( he ran over a jump and didn't care). He also doesn't like to turn off the wall to change directions, usually slowing to a walk. So I'm not sure, he may just be stiff...