Tell me about your trotters.....and their trot!

Ginger Bear

Ginger Bear

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Who has a trotter/part trotter horse/pony who could help me out with the TROT?? The one we have at the moment is a bit of a challenge trotting in the school, his walk is very relaxed, calm & he will drop on to the contact, his canter is also pretty nice once you get him into it.. But the trot is big, choppy, full pelt, head up high, legs going.. Out on a hack when he shows off, well he can trot a trot that is so big that he almost looks like he's floating along the field.. You feel as though you have nothing in your hands, he is not a handful, he is owned by my 11 year old cousin & she thinks he's great fun, he's a lovely boy, it's just the trot looks so tense, no relaxation.. Is this just a normal trotter thing? It just can be hard to calm it & steady him for a slower trot although he does do this from time to time. Any advise or general trotter info appreciated.,
 
I've only ever ridden one ex trotter, her trot was exactly as you describe, masses of movement and typically quite forward. Her 'canter' was ridiculously flat in comparison, it was always a 4 time rhythm, not a 3 time, never sat on a flatter canter before or since. She wasn't mine so can't really give any advice, sorry.
 
Yep, that's pretty much what you get with a Standie! That's why they excel at endurance..

The worst mistake people make is to try and slow them down by holding them back, but that just puts the head up even higher.
Lots of gentle circle work with plenty of transitions is much more effective, and the most effective 'cure' for the Standie trot is lateral work as it engages the hind quarters and links them back up with the rest of the body!
 
LittleBlackMule said:
Yep, that's pretty much what you get with a Standie! That's why they excel at endurance..

The worst mistake people make is to try and slow them down by holding them back, but that just puts the head up even higher.
Lots of gentle circle work with plenty of transitions is much more effective, and the most effective 'cure' for the Standie trot is lateral work as it engages the hind quarters and links them back up with the rest of the body!
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Thanks for your advise.. Have had him a year, he was out of work & had the strangest shape body/gut I'd ever seen (we took him on after a trial as was very safe for my cousin & got him cheap) took him straight to our vet, had his back checked, teeth done, jabs started etc etc, vet gave him a trial of different feed & treatment for gut ulcers, a year later & he looks like a totally different horse! He's muscled right up, the stomach has deflated & he's a great little fella.. Just I wanted to be use that this was his way of going with the trot & not that he was uncomfortable etc etc.. She booked a lesson this week with him so will get practicing, we do to ant to change him, he does his job for her & wins gymkahanas lol...
 
sarahann1 said:
I've only ever ridden one ex trotter, her trot was exactly as you describe, masses of movement and typically quite forward. Her 'canter' was ridiculously flat in comparison, it was always a 4 time rhythm, not a 3 time, never sat on a flatter canter before or since. She wasn't mine so can't really give any advice, sorry.
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I rode one like this when I was younger but his trot only showed itself when he was excited so it didn't effect him too much, but his canter but as you describe & he would even canter with the front legs but trot with the hind... Very odd!
 
I have a trotter cross, i use lots of circles and lateral work, dont fall into the habit of tightening the reins when they start to pick up pace that just excites them more, i use my seat and voice and really push her on until she is really working from behind kept on a circle so she can find her own balance and rhythm and plenty of transitions as that really helps as well, it takes lots of time and patience but they do get there, our canter is still a work in progress as she is unbalanced but is a 3 beat canter which is good and her transitions are spot on, have only had her a year but the progress has been amazing but slow, good luck
 
I have a Trotter x Trad. His trot is amazing. He has quite a few trots, he can really extend and also does the high action square trot, normally when excited. Canter is not as balanced and flowing as I would like on the flat at times and he always prefers trot to canter. He has competed upto and inc 65km at Endurance easliy trotting for 5 hrs.
 
It's so hard, mines Trotter x and he started off exactly as you described but with a really funny flat peculiar sort of canter as someone else mentioned. I must say I have cheated and got a professional rider friend to do some schooling and she has really slowed him down and got him stretching across his back. There great fun though as you say. I went for a blast with his tb friend last month and he managed to trot so fast that he pretty much kept up with the TB lol. I was light seat trotting laughing too hard to kick him on into anything resembling a canter. So funny. How fast do we think they can actually trot?
 
I was offered a trotter mare for loan last year but was warned that she interpreted backwards pressure on the reins as 'go faster' but then she'd been used to drive. I passed on the offer :) I really like the look of trotters so I'm finding the posts on here really interesting.
 
If they have been raced in harness they will have been trained to have a full on trot.
I had a trotter cross andalusian who had not been raced, but his hind legs naturally went out to the side when trotting at any speed.
I did a lot of steady hill work, I mean a whole winter just hacking uphill in order to develop the inner muscles, which they did, and so his action became normal in the schooling trot, though he did tend to have a high head-carriage and seemed to be fairly tense. He never offered the canter on the lunge till he was about five, and needed boots, so basically slow to mature and unbalanced in many ways.
In his second winter we were barefoot and did a lot of roadwork mostly at walk and steady trot, one night I had to press on a bit cos it was getting dark, only to discover he has another trot........ big and ground covering.
So really it all comes back to schooling, and I think it is worthwhile lifting the tail and seeing if you can build up the muscles which will make the whole animal a bit more square [I am of course assuming that he is not!]
There are of course different trotters.... in the UK they can often be around 15.00-15,2hh and are used for breeding gypsy type trotting ponies, or there are French Trotters which are bred for racing in harness, and tend to be T.B types
 
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I didn't really sell mine did I TrasaM! They are lovely genuine all rounders in my experience even if their movement is a bit quirky. I think they are quite trainable but it must be hard for people who take on ones that have raced etc and had the canter trained out of them.
 
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I've had my trotter X for four years now, the only way I can slow him down is to slow my rising trot and open my hands, which brings him down from turbo charge, I'm a granny driving a Ferrari but you can really feel his power and the fact he wants to go, he also outpaces our ex racehorse at trot, he's lush
 
Lol perhaps we could put ours in the Derby!
flirtygerty said:
I've had my trotter X for four years now, the only way I can slow him down is to slow my rising trot and open my hands, which brings him down from turbo charge, I'm a granny driving a Ferrari but you can really feel his power and the fact he wants to go, he also outpaces our ex racehorse at trot, he's lush
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samisheen said:
I have a trotter cross, i use lots of circles and lateral work, dont fall into the habit of tightening the reins when they start to pick up pace that just excites them more, i use my seat and voice and really push her on until she is really working from behind kept on a circle so she can find her own balance and rhythm and plenty of transitions as that really helps as well, it takes lots of time and patience but they do get there, our canter is still a work in progress as she is unbalanced but is a 3 beat canter which is good and her transitions are spot on, have only had her a year but the progress has been amazing but slow, good luck
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Yes that's right, short tight reins definitely mean go faster & yet you can trot him a lot better on the buckle..lol.. He does have a very normal comfortable correct canter although he doesn't like cantering for a long time, he'd rather go back to trotting out! Thanks for your advise.. Lesson booked for this week for lots of practice.
 
RaynerK said:
I didn't really sell mine did I TrasaM! They are lovely genuine all rounders in my experience even if their movement is a bit quirky. I think they are quite trainable but it must be hard for people who take on ones that have raced etc and had the canter trained out of them.
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I've a sneaking suspicion that my favourite RS horse part trotter too. He's got amazing stamina and should have been born with go faster stripes instead of brown splotches :D
 
RaynerK said:
It's so hard, mines Trotter x and he started off exactly as you described but with a really funny flat peculiar sort of canter as someone else mentioned. I must say I have cheated and got a professional rider friend to do some schooling and she has really slowed him down and got him stretching across his back. There great fun though as you say. I went for a blast with his tb friend last month and he managed to trot so fast that he pretty much kept up with the TB lol. I was light seat trotting laughing too hard to kick him on into anything resembling a canter. So funny. How fast do we think they can actually trot?
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Yeh, I went out over the weekend on my tb who is little trotters best mate.. He took my young cousin for a nice canter, she finds his trot so much fun.. I was talking to her tonight about getting him to slow it down & she said 'that doesn't mean he'll be slow & lazy if we teach him to slow down?' Lol...
 
MrsD123 said:
If they have been raced in harness they will have been trained to have a full on trot.
I had a trotter cross andalusian who had not been raced, but his hind legs naturally went out to the side when trotting at any speed.
I did a lot of steady hill work, I mean a whole winter just hacking uphill in order to develop the inner muscles, which they did, and so his action became normal in the schooling trot, though he did tend to have a high head-carriage and seemed to be fairly tense. He never offered the canter on the lunge till he was about five, and needed boots, so basically slow to mature and unbalanced in many ways.
In his second winter we were barefoot and did a lot of roadwork mostly at walk and steady trot, one night I had to press on a bit cos it was getting dark, only to discover he has another trot........ big and ground covering.
So really it all comes back to schooling, and I think it is worthwhile lifting the tail and seeing if you can build up the muscles which will make the whole animal a bit more square [I am of course assuming that he is not!]
There are of course different trotters.... in the UK they can often be around 15.00-15,2hh and are used for breeding gypsy type trotting ponies, or there are French Trotters which are bred for racing in harness, and tend to be T.B types
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This is very interesting.. Thanks for your reply.. His body shape has changed completely, he was a slight thing when he came, now he's a solid thing with a thick neck. His back legs are set quite wide apart and seem to go out to the sides a bit when he trots. He's 12 yrs old. We have no history except think he was bred by gypsies & owned by them till he was 5/6.
 
TrasaM said:
I'm curious about their trot and how you ride it. At speeds of 35mph I'm guessing you don't sit to it? Visions of teeth shaking loose :D
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I had a trotter cross on loan about 5 yrs ago, he could trot as fast as my mums tb cantered. I could sit happily to his trot, it almost felt like I was being swung from side to side, the faster his trot, the flatter it felt. My relative has a hackney riding horse & his largest trot felt like an arm chair...
 
Ginger Bear said:
I had a trotter cross on loan about 5 yrs ago, he could trot as fast as my mums tb cantered. I could sit happily to his trot, it almost felt like I was being swung from side to side, the faster his trot, the flatter it felt. My relative has a hackney riding horse & his largest trot felt like an arm chair...
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Thanks GB. That's more reassuring :) I so nearly bought an ex brood mare last year but the timing was bad ( trubble at yard!) so I left it. I've ridden a hackney x and he's got a nice trot.
 
Ginger Bear said:
I had a trotter cross on loan about 5 yrs ago, he could trot as fast as my mums tb cantered. I could sit happily to his trot, it almost felt like I was being swung from side to side, the faster his trot, the flatter it felt. My relative has a hackney riding horse & his largest trot felt like an arm chair...
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I have a slipped disc right above my tail bone so definitely don't sit to it. I just go rising or if too fast ask for canter! But as previously stated I sometimes get the giggles and trot really really fast in light seat. He's so funny he would very happily trot all day long without so much as a bead of sweat appearing.
 
I am quite lucky as Pru doesn't pace anymore unless she gets confused, the first time on the beach when i asked for canter she paced 4 strides and then went into it, i find with her if you ask her on a circle she is fine with transitions. I also found recently that she is very sensitive through her back (chiro out today) i added a gel pad under her saddle which has really helped, i have also just changed from a french linch snaffle which she started to get hold of and hollow to a myler comfort snaffle with no hooks, oh my god the change is unbelieveable, relaxed, soft and happy
 
I have an ex racing trotter...

My horse of a lifetime! He was my first horse, I've had him 18 years and he's now the grand old age of 31.

He's now fully retired and has been for about the past 3 years, although he's still loving life.

In our years together we have had a go at pretty much everything. In the early years I tried to school him out of his trotting ways but in the end decided to just let him be as he was. Dressage was always a bit of a problem due to the canter issues and he was never particularly talented at show jumping, however we did have a go and successfully jumped up to about 2'9. XC was his thing though and he always made the fence judges laugh when he came trotting across the field full pelt and then threw himself over the fences!

My most amazing experience with him was going to the beach - all the other horses were flat out gallop! We were flat out trot and keeping up! He just used to stretch his neck out and go. His trot was so flat and almost motionless I didnt rise or sit, just kind of hovered!

He really is one in a million!! :)
 
MissGee said:
I have an ex racing trotter...

My horse of a lifetime! He was my first horse, I've had him 18 years and he's now the grand old age of 31.

He's now fully retired and has been for about the past 3 years, although he's still loving life.

In our years together we have had a go at pretty much everything. In the early years I tried to school him out of his trotting ways but in the end decided to just let him be as he was. Dressage was always a bit of a problem due to the canter issues and he was never particularly talented at show jumping, however we did have a go and successfully jumped up to about 2'9. XC was his thing though and he always made the fence judges laugh when he came trotting across the field full pelt and then threw himself over the fences!

My most amazing experience with him was going to the beach - all the other horses were flat out gallop! We were flat out trot and keeping up! He just used to stretch his neck out and go. His trot was so flat and almost motionless I didnt rise or sit, just kind of hovered!

He really is one in a million!! :)
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What a lovely story, they are all so versatile and genuine even their movement is a bit quirky.
 
RaynerK said:
What a lovely story, they are all so versatile and genuine even their movement is a bit quirky.
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Thank you RaynerK - he really is my special boy! My husband and I have 4 other horses, all quite conventional show jumpers but this quirky lad will always have a special place in my heart, all of my friends at some point have ridden him, he's looked after lots of beginners and tested lots of talented riders.

He's a true legend!
 
MissGee said:
Thank you RaynerK - he really is my special boy! My husband and I have 4 other horses, all quite conventional show jumpers but this quirky lad will always have a special place in my heart, all of my friends at some point have ridden him, he's looked after lots of beginners and tested lots of talented riders.



He's a true legend!
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What a fab story... It think we need to start posting some photos?. Anyone agree???
 
Ginger Bear said:
What a fab story... It think we need to start posting some photos?. Anyone agree???
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Defo. I would also love to know where you all got your trotters from. Mine was RSPCA and all the others I have come across seem to have been rescued some how. Does anyone in this country breed them to ride I wonder???
 
I'd never come into contact with trotters til I worked at a trekking centre in NZ, when I was presented with about 15 bay standardbreds amongst the herd of 30 (the instruction 'bring in Seth, the bay standardbred' not helpful!). I remember taking one trek out and heading off for a nice canter along the flats, only my lad picked up his trot and flew! It was like nothing ive ridden, it was a challenge not leaving the canterers for dead! He was strong and opinionated and I called him the bulldozer, he would go anywhere and over anything. I jumped him over whatever we found on treks, swam him across rivers (he had great sixth sense for quicksand), you could stand on him to take pictures of the guests. He was so ruddy strong you couldn't give him to a guest to ride, so I guided on him a lot. 10 years on and I'll never forget that trot!
 
RaynerK said:
Defo. I would also love to know where you all got your trotters from. Mine was RSPCA and all the others I have come across seem to have been rescued some how. Does anyone in this country breed them to ride I wonder???
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Well the little fella we have is a trotter x something..lol apparently a sec d.. Can't see it but hey oh, his lovely photo copied paper gypsy cob society passport doesn't help a lot but it does show that he s bred/owned by people on a traveller site. We took him on trial for a month & he did his job for my 11 yr old cousin so we took him... I think I need to find a before & after pic of how much he's changed.. So no real rescue story but we knew he had things wrong when we got him, teeth were one thing & the huge bloated odd shaped belly was the other so we know we've given him a better life & got him over his major fear of whips & being head shy.. Poor little thing..
 
I have a trotter X, he turned up a weedy little runt, very odd looking with a head too big for his body! he has grown into his head now, but is not showring material, I had him in px for a nutty welsh pony with the intention to sell him on, long story short I backed him and did around 18 months of hacking with him and grew to like him very much!

me and a friend have now taken it upon ourselves to do some dressage with him - yes, we like a challenge!
Teaching him to canter has been interesting, he didn't really get it at first, but he has cottoned on to the idea now, the pony (approx 15hh) that everyone laughed at is now scoring mid 60's in intro dressage classes, His trot has taken alot of work, at first the head went up then the knees come up and faster and faster we went! It took lots and lots of transisitions, circles and serpentines plus a VERY light hand, you CANNOT pull a trotter down, he has to be ridden from the seat, but he is a very responsive and eager to please young man, when we started him I didn't believe he would be able to stretch but with time and patience he is getting more and more relaxed - he scored an 8 for a dressage movement that requires trotting a 20mtr circle while allowing the horse to stretch, so it can be done!!

He still shows his trotter side when he gets excited - his trot can keep up with other horses cantering, and he has masses and masses of stamina too. I would love to get him upto Novice level, maybe and Elementry but we will see what he can do and you can never tell with horses!!
 
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