Tips for encouraging a horse to track up?

[wellsat]

Can anyone share any good schooling exercises to encourage a horse to track up in trot?

Lil's trot has really come together and is generally lovely and balanced and consistent. She's come on so much, I'm really proud of her but now we just have to get that back end working as well as the front.

 

[Dreckly]

I struggled with the same thing in the past, but I have found the key with my horse! I use lots of supplying work in his early warm-up on a long rein in walk and trot, serpentines, shallow loops etc. When a contact is established I use lots of lateral work, again mostly in walk, leg yield starts us off, on the straight and spiralling on a circle, moving onto shoulder fore and shoulder-in. Anything that gets him stepping under and through with his hind leg, then when I move forward into a good trot is is motoring and swinging like a good-un. Also I find that with the lateral work keep it different, keep the horse guessing it seems to make him wait and not lead through his shoulder all the time because he thinks he knows where he is going -example, half ten metre circle to centre line and then leg yield either way. Sometimes I will do a few steps one way, then staighten and go the other way.

Give it a go!

 

[stencilface]

In lessons I have been made to do lots of shoulder-in in walk and then in trot to get my horse to really use his inside hind leg, which makes him track up more. Also lots of transitions.

Not so much for trot, but in hand work is also useful. I try asking my horse to step forwards with his hind legs before his front by tapping one of them with a schooling whip whilst standing at his head. My instructor can do it quite well, but I'm bit rubbish at it. Another in hadn thing to do is to make them do turns on the forehand around you, again using a schooling whip to tap on their inside hing leg to make them really step under