how to teach them to trot inhand?

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pegasus1986

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Ive got a 9 month old new forest colt foal thats so laid back i have no idea how im going to teach him to trot inhand for shows he just plods along like all the time in the world but i really wanna do inhand shows this year any ideas to get him trotting?
 
It takes practice but always stand at his shoulder and use a schooling whip to tap him with as well as your voice, praise him when he gets it right and he will be running with you in no time you can use treats there handy for getting them to stand up for the judge.
 
Get someone to gently shoo him from behind. Lots of praise once he's trotting. Once he's done it once he'll click that trotting is actually possible!
 
Whatever you do,do it gently and with kindness. You are lucky to have a youngster that hasnt learnt to mistrust humans. He will get the message eventualy.
 
I would just get an older horse he's turned out with to trot infront, when he prepares to trot after to keep up I would use the phrase 'trot on' & run alongside whilst keeping up a rythym of 'trot on, trot on'. Until eventually the youngster responds to the 'trot on' or me running without the other horse in front. Only a few strides at first though, & obviously over however many days & weeks it took for it to understand what I was asking. Even the laziest horse will muster a trot after its older friend if heading towards something it wants, eg coming in at regular feeding time or similar.
 
It's a nightmare LOL.

You'll need to do loads of practice, ideally with a helper who can "chop chop trot on" him from behind if necessary to help him get the idea. I did loads of practice with my yearling in his field, he never got the idea (or pretended he didn't understand), but I took him to the breed show anyway and thought what will be will be. Anyhow, we got in that ring and the penny dropped for him, and he actually trotted and kept on trotting round 3 sides of the ring. I've never been so happy in my life, even if I was half dead! Apparently this is quite common with babies and they do come through when you need them too. A helpful hint for you would be to have him on a very long rope. I had 2 rope halters tied together (he was wearing one of them) and it was very handy when he trod on my foot outside the ring and I went flat on my face. I didn't lose him because of the length of rope.
 
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