Trisha wren ~ Connect With Your Horse

November 07 – trot!

We are now doing a lot more 1-line work in trot. In the beginning Hunter would lose the plot as soon as I asked him to trot, throw all his toys out the pram and have a massive tantrum! He really didn’t have a clue how to balance himself, and wasn’t convinced he wanted to try; it quite worried him, I think. With perseverance and short sessions, plus lots of rotations, and combing on the line, he has got to where he has a much better trot rhythm and is even starting to stretch his head and neck down while trotting.

I found that Connecting the back and front ends, by having an equal connection on the line and on his tail and using changes of rotation, really helped Hunter to be more aware of his hindquarters and come through more with them.

In walk on 1-line he is much more relaxed and stretching down more consistently. In trot, he’s getting more consistent, and starting to stretch more…. But still occasionally sticks that head in the air again!

Ridden, in walk he is getting much more ‘together’, and is bending through his body better and releasing the base of his neck - instead of his previous ‘motorbiking’ - as you can see in these next photos. I’m still doing lots of changes of rotations and S-walking.

The last 2 pics show the trot…! Still pretty tense and head high. In the final pic I’m attempting to comb the reins to help him.

So, he’s much more balanced in walk now, but doesn’t have too much clue at this point how to organise his legs and body for a smooth trot under saddle! He was also only managing to trot for about 15 metres max at a time, and initially getting a bit worried about it – lots of lip flapping going on!