Horse 'skipping' in trot.....only in arena

L

lindsay1993

Well-Known Member
Joined
3 February 2016
Messages
241
Visit site
The mare I ride has an awful habit. She 'skips' in trot and only in an arena. No-one understands what I mean, but it literally feels like she is striking of into canter but remains at a trot. My instructor has told me it's because she is too tense and to use this 'skipping' to my advantage to push her into canter more easily, but it often leads to her going on the wrong leg, as in her head she's skipping and gets a bit muddled when I apply leg. This horse doesn't belong to me but I am her sole rider. Her owner/previous rider said she started to skip when they reached medium level dressage, some 10 years ago. She had a break of 6 years before I began riding her. She is a very clever horse and learns quickly, she can remember a dressage test after doing it once, but then anticipates the moves and ******* it all up! I don't wish to do dressage with her and her owner feels the same way and thinks we should be out having fun in a less stressful environment. I am having weekly lessons as she is a difficult horse and knows every trick in the book! We are improving greatly together, she's stopped rushing and snatching at the bit, but the skipping is still there.Just wondering if anyone else has experiences with a 'skipping' horse and if there is anything I can do to stop it or manage it better, as it's not something I have ever came across? Thankyou.
 
Skipping is often a sign of something amiss, one of my liveries currently does it a little and is undergoing physio and some corrective schooling to get her through it, it started when she was tight through her shoulders, changing shape and maturing, yours is older so I would be suspicious there is an underlying issue and the skipping is her way of managing herself so it does not hurt, it may be just tension but I would want to investigate it rather than continue, pushing her into canter will probably make matters worse as she will either become more tense in the trot and just end up cantering at every opportunity or, as you are finding, get her legs muddled up and go wrong which then perpetuates the issue and creates more tension.

If you are not bothered about schooling and she enjoys hacking then maybe she would benefit from a break, you can school out hacking and enjoy her without being under too much pressure.
 
One of my horses would 'skip' when asked to trot in the school - especially if on a circle. It was like he was going to bounce into canter but then pick up trot. I got my vet out and he was diagnosed with OCD in his fetlocks. Fortunately he was successfully operated on and is now working at advanced level dressage.
 
Surface isn't an issue. She does it on different surfaces. It is in the back of my mind that it could be pain related. My instructor and the owner think it is just anxiety/stress/tension. She never, ever does it out hacking or whilst being lunged. Her owner had all relevant health checks done when it first happened. She is quite a stressy horse, she wind-sucks and box-walks. All of these habits happened at the same time. Owner thinks she is anticipating the hard work of the dressage she used to do and worries.
 
eggs said:
One of my horses would 'skip' when asked to trot in the school - especially if on a circle. It was like he was going to bounce into canter but then pick up trot. I got my vet out and he was diagnosed with OCD in his fetlocks. Fortunately he was successfully operated on and is now working at advanced level dressage.
Click to expand...

Glad it worked out for you! It's not something I have heard of before but I will mention it to the owners. She is 17, so I'm not wanting to go mad competing her, but I would have liked to do a few local things. If it is serious, then I think she would just be retired to live out her days happily.
 
I have known horses do it as an evasion: a feeble canter is less effort than a proper forward swinging trot. If she's coming back into work after a longish break, could it be that she's finding the work difficult and lacking muscle? I might well be totally missing the point, it's difficult without actually seeing it.
 
My horse used to do something quite similar, but it was a mix of him being very weak behind due to a lot of time off and a lot of condition lost. Hes worked through it a lot now and doesn't do it anymore, and especially not after getting his back done (he was very tense in the hips/stifles)
 
My old horse used to do this, plus always trail a hindleg when asked to stand, turned out his suspensories were gone. Best to get a full work up done and have some scans, you could at least rule it out then..
 
Micropony said:
I have known horses do it as an evasion: a feeble canter is less effort than a proper forward swinging trot. If she's coming back into work after a longish break, could it be that she's finding the work difficult and lacking muscle? I might well be totally missing the point, it's difficult without actually seeing it.
Click to expand...
Yes that's what I was thinking. She is the queen of evasion! We have been working hard in lessons to get her to even listen to me and accept the contact properly. When she's in a good mood and working well she is amazing! I've never ridden a horse that feels so good to ride. But, when she's decided she's not interested she's very hard work. She had been leaning on the bit badly and snatching, but with some serious effort to change my riding style and hand position, she's stopped. She also used to nap in my instructor arena, but now that has stopped too.
 
lindsay1993 said:
Yes that's what I was thinking. She is the queen of evasion! We have been working hard in lessons to get her to even listen to me and accept the contact properly. When she's in a good mood and working well she is amazing! I've never ridden a horse that feels so good to ride. But, when she's decided she's not interested she's very hard work. She had been leaning on the bit badly and snatching, but with some serious effort to change my riding style and hand position, she's stopped. She also used to nap in my instructor arena, but now that has stopped too.
Click to expand...

She sounds SO much like my lad haha
 
I ride a horse that will skip and an evasion if you don't have enough leg on him. He's a clever little snot.

I fix it by playing with his flexion and getting his neck to soften while really pushing him forward into the bridle off my leg. Nearly to the point where he is rushing (he is very lazy and behind the leg), once I have him forward I play with the speed of his trot, moving up and down gears in trot while still playing with his flexion. After 5 mins of this in warm up, he is fine and will work properly. However, put someone new on him, who doesn't use enough leg, and boom... he's right back to where he started. :(
 
My mare skips into trot if she is tense and not working through from behind, I have to wait until my mare is settled enough in her work for the trot to have slowed down and be big and swinging, I also have to be concious not to push the contact away as I ask for the upwards transition.
Try spending longer warming up, lots of shapes in the school to get her bending and flexing, use half halts and if she skips into trot come back to walk, I spent 3 months of lessons last year just in walk and trot to establish those before doing any canter as the canter was making her tense up and we would then go back to a very tense trot.
how long have you been riding her and how log has she been back in work?
 
I had this issue develop in my horse after a bad landing over a big jump. I had a McTimoney chiro out 5/6 times and she found nothing nor did the vet. Rested the horse for many months and still no different. Tried a different McTimmoney and she found and treated the issue in one session and the horse remained sound after this.
 
twiggy2 said:
My mare skips into trot if she is tense and not working through from behind, I have to wait until my mare is settled enough in her work for the trot to have slowed down and be big and swinging, I also have to be concious not to push the contact away as I ask for the upwards transition.
Try spending longer warming up, lots of shapes in the school to get her bending and flexing, use half halts and if she skips into trot come back to walk, I spent 3 months of lessons last year just in walk and trot to establish those before doing any canter as the canter was making her tense up and we would then go back to a very tense trot.
how long have you been riding her and how log has she been back in work?
Click to expand...

She has been back in work for just over a year, I have ridden her for all of that time. It's only in the last 3-4 months where we have really been working her hard. When schooling we do loads of transitions, half-halts, shapes and circles. My instructor thinks she's just taking the mick and not wanting to work properly. When she is worked on a tight circle she doesn't do it as she has to concentrate so much on balancing herself she forgets about the skipping. We have been doing some grid-work that really makes her think and she doesn't skip then either. We haven't been doing much canter at all and are concentrating on getting the trot sorted. I'm going to school her tomorrow and use some more of the tips I've been given on here and I'll try to get a video of her doing it.
 
this happened with a fellow liveries horse and was due to her horse changing shape and the saddle no longer fitting and causing pain to her horse. Chiro and physio and 6 weeks off work and a new correctly fitted saddle sorted the issue out.
 
She's 17, had a hard competitive life, become sour by the sounds of it and still is.

If you were 55 and had worked hard all your life, would you appreciate someone hounding you to "be your best" on a regular basis, or would you like to be left in peace to slow life down a bit because you're 55 and feeling it?

Leave the poor thing alone, hack her out and have some fun.

Your instructor is right about the horse avoiding work by skipping, but so are other posters who say something is wrong. She's avoiding work, but *why*? Whether she's just sour or its something physical, leave her be with all the work work work and if she needs to skip, let her.
 
It does sound like she's simply had enough of being asked to work correctly, and she's earned the right to an easier life. Of course it could be physical, but I would be inclined to think that she is just saying "No thanks - done my time".
My boy is 19 this year, and has worked hard all his life (PSG dressage horse). He came to me because he started broncing people off - and it took me a bit of time to convince him that he didn't have to throw a wobbler every time I got on. He had a full lameness work up, and although he had issues, his behaviour was extreme. I took the pressure off, and he very quickly came right. Nowadays, he rarely goes in the school, and when he does, I don't school as such. He just plays around doing the party tricks, because he enjoys that bit - but I cant remember the last time I did anything related to impriving his way of going. He's vey happy and relaxed, and hasn't even thought about broncing when I get on for years. The only wild behaviour I get nowadays is out hacking, and it's because he's fresh and cheeky.
 
Haven't read all of the posts but my horse used to and still does this sometimes.

He is a large, long horse, and it very green too. He has previously been ridden quite constrictively (not a real word but I hope you know what I mean) and so when asked for trot, he doesn't have the 'space' to go forwards, and has been blocked from doing so, so skips to get some space and the room to begin some momentum.

That's an awful explanation, I'm sorry!
 
My Mare was very difficult to school, snatching, evading, rushing, tried every trick, it was pain, Suspensories & multiple issues with her back, taken along time to get everything right but the difference, even in walk, is a relief to us both.
 
Yes I understand she has worked very hard and I'm not planning on working her into the ground! We did some schooling on Friday and she was amazing. No skipping and worked well. I only did about 20 minutes of actual work and she was great. Far less tension and was very chilled. I would happily hack her out everyday, but I definitely needed the lessons to improve my own riding and will be continuing them as I'm learning a lot. The only difference with our work on Friday was that I was on my own and just had a quiet relaxed morning with her, doing everything in my own time. I normally have her owners mother stressing around the place and causing chaos! I'm starting to see a pattern of the tension only showing when certain people are present. She's great for me on my own, but her owners mother says she's a nightmare and won't stand still, barges her out of the way and kicks out while doing anything with her legs or tail. This never happens when I'm on my own with the horse, but does when the owners mother is around :-/
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top