Teaching to trot in-hand

[michellev123]

Hi
I have been leading Oscar (nearly 2yo) out in hand for months now (once or twice a week) and he is completly brilliant in traffic now nd will walk out alone!!

My new issue is I cant get him to trot in hand!! I am running along pulling him (which isnt easy as he is a huge lump lol) and he just walks faster!!! I dont think he understands lol

He has troted in-hand before but since having him "chopped" in march I am unable to get him going!!! He runs round the field like a maniac so I know its not pain its stubboness or confusion!!!!

How did you get yours to trot in-hand? And when he is troting how do you get them to stay at the shoulder as we are wanting to do some small shows over the summer.....

I now think I sound really stupid *runs and hides* but I have never had this before and dont want to do it wrong!!!

Thanks in advance!!

 

[moses06]

I taught Alfie to trot in hand by getting a freind to flick a schooling stick with a little bit of plastic on the end across the ground behind him as I said "trot on" in an enthusiastic voice!! The idea is not to scare them, but just a little encouragement to get them forward, make a big fuss of him so he knows he's done what you want - I just have to say "teeeerooooot!!" to Alfie now and he pings into a lovely trot - as to whether he will do this at the show next wee, time will tell!!

 

[Blaise]

I really struggled to get my girl to trot in hand. Think we've finally cracked it now but has taken a couple of months. It's only since she's mastered lunging from voice commands that i can get her to do it though, i can just tell her to trot on now and she'll go. It drove me mad though, oh and aiming her at something she really wanted e.g. bringing in from field in the morning for breakfast, i left the bucket outside her door so she could see it and would break into trot much easier if she was going towards something she wanted to get to Then got her to walk before we reached the gate & really praised her for trotting. Bribery is ace. lol I tried someone behind her with a lunge whip encouraging her forward but she hated it & bolted off every time, pulling the lunge rope out of my hands on several occasions. Keep persevering, you'll get there!

 

[michellev123]

Thanks for the replies!!! I will try encouraging him with a friend behind and his feed!! I dont want to start lunging him yet as he isn't ld enough (23 months)

Thanks again..... wish me luck!!

 

[Kub]

Ditto the flick, this is how I got my boy to start trotting in hand and now he'll do it on voice command or if I pick up the pace for trot. I just used the end of the lead rope to gently flick his bum, worked wonders.