Trotters

[sarahmagic]

I've just started riding an ex-trotter. He has a lovely walk and trot and will go in an outline in both paces but he just doesn't know how to canter! He starts to canter when you ask but it feels like he's getting his legs mixed up and then he breaks into a fast trot. I'm in the process of finding an instructor but in the mean time I wondered if anyone had any experiences with this type of horse or had any excercises I could try. Cheers!

 

[moodymare1987]

Not really sure, my friends horse was like this who i used to ride occasionally, she only worked in an outline for me and not for friend, The horse wasnt really bad trotter, as i managed to push the pacing out of her, most of the time, and found that if i asked her to canter up a hill usually helped sort herself out.

I dont know if that will help, but i didnt canter up hill to sort herself out, it just generally worked. I would like to know what people put though. Sorry i wasnt much help.

 

[GatefieldHorses]

To be honest if you want a horse to canter round nicely, your wasting your time on a trotter as they are not meant to canter. You will have to do everything at a walk or trot lol
Good luck!

 

[suebingham]

We have standardbreds (not sure if the breed is the same in the UK or not) here that are either pacers or trotters. They are lovely big horses (and often incredibly kind for a race horse breed). I have seen them rescued off the track and retrained -- but they needed a lot of ground work to reclaim their canter. FWIW -- Trotters seem more amenable to this than pacers. Echoing the previous post -- Good Luck.

 

[sarahmagic]

Thanks for your replies - looks like I've got my work cut out!!

I'm gonna try lunging him in canter as his owner says he will canter on the lunge and see how I get on.