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Gaits of Gold Gaited Horse Community Messageboard > Brenda Imus Questions and Answers > 'Ask Brenda' > HELP! My ambling STB has lost his trot |
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Gaits of Gold Gaited Horse Community Messageboard > Brenda Imus Questions and Answers > 'Ask Brenda' > HELP! My ambling STB has lost his trot |
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| HELP! My ambling STB has lost his trot | Rate Topic |
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| Posted: Mon Apr 23rd, 2012 05:04 pm |
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1st Post |
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Lakota Ranch Hand 
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I hear what you are saying, but I blieve that when you achieve TRUE collection with a gaited horse you will end up trotting. SEMI-collection is very attainable and should be the goal of a responsible gaited horse owner/rider. Semi-collection is more difficult than hollowing the back (even if only slightly hollow), but it is all that you can expect from a gaited horse whilst keeping the gait. In true collection the back is so rounded up and it's body length shortened that the horse will not be able to perform an easy gait, but will trot. At least that is the way I remember Brenda's explanation of it. (By the way, I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know you and your husband @ EA.  )
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| Posted: Mon Apr 23rd, 2012 02:26 pm |
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2nd Post |
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TheBlaze G.O.G Community Member 
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Lakota, true collection can come with a correct 4 beat gait. Collection is about working off of the hindquarters, rounding up through the back, and having the horse being able to perform self carriage. ECR, here are some gaited dressage test links. I don't know what's "legal" for you to use in Europe. But, it might help. http://nicholnl.wcp.muohio.edu/DingosBreakfastClub/BioMech/GaitedDressage.html I think asking your horse to trot and rack is possible. But, it is difficult. In order to practice the trot I would recommend having a good, solid rack - meaning your horse should rack on command at any time. If the horse is racking when you ask it to walk it is not responding to your aids. When your horse walks when you ask it to walk and racks when you ask it to rack all the time, every time. Then, you can work on acheiving some degree of collection and asking the horse to work off of its hindquarters while engaging its back and topline. Only then would I recommend asking for the trot. And make sure your trot cue is completely different from your rack cue. For instance, when I cue for the rack I use more contact on my reins and give a gentle, steady squeeze with my legs. I release the squeeze when the horse begins racking. I expect my horses to rack until I cue for something else. For the trot, I use a slightly looser rein and give two bumps with my legs. I have had my Rockies since they were 2. They are now 10 and we just started to work on the trot because they both have such wonderful trots as well. And they are set into their training with their gaits so I feel comfortable asking for a trot from time to time without screwing up the gait training I have put into them.
____________________ ~Tina Wishes are horses, and I fly! |
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| Posted: Sun Apr 22nd, 2012 04:10 am |
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3rd Post |
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e.c.r.klaveness G.O.G Community Member 
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Goranbockman - thanks, that's actually an AWESOME tip! It would be really fun to see my STB along with the little icelanders  I've spent some time long-distance riding in Iceland and I love those little critters, but boy are they small!I really do appreciate your help, and I was super happy to be able to get a trot out of him the other day. Very very relieved. Now I'm on my way to the airport to go back to uni in Scotland, but I'll be back in Norway about a month! For my last days in the stable, I threw a double saddle pad and a sheepskin on him, and went out for a long ride bareback. I LOVE racking bareback - it's the best!! It beats trotting bareback and it beats racking in a saddle  Lakota, thanks for your help, I'll so be having a look at those photographs. Sounds awesome! Sorry about my slow replies here : ) I love this forum, I'm so glad someone pointed me this way!
____________________ Once a word leaves your mouth, you cannot chase it back, even with the swiftest horse. |
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| Posted: Sat Apr 21st, 2012 06:09 pm |
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4th Post |
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goranbockman G.O.G Community Member 
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By the way are you from Scandinavia? If so why not join one of the many Icelandics clubs? I'm sure they'd be happy to have you and your Standarbred and you would get lots of hands on help, courses to attend etc.
____________________ Racking rocks!! |
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| Posted: Sat Apr 21st, 2012 12:00 pm |
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5th Post |
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goranbockman G.O.G Community Member
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Hi I've worked for many years with icelandics and the same problem arises with them after they've been taught to rack. Way to go is to longe the horse in wide circles where it's likely to trot on its own accord. Be very attentive and just as it starts to trot you say 'trot'. An intelligent horse will soon connect the word with what it's doing. After that gradually narrow the circles whilst still maintaining the trot. If it starts to gait just gently go to halt and start over, takes patience and consistency. Soon you can use the command in the saddle while leaning ever so slightly forward in the saddle, shifting your weight forward. Work with that for a few weeks until trot happens every time you demand it. After that gradually skip the voice command, giving only the weight cue. Couple of weeks more of that and start gradually easing your weight back to centre, if necessary aided by voice command trot. Few weeks more and the horse will react to very inconspicuous weight cues and rack or trot at your will.
____________________ Racking rocks!! |
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| Posted: Fri Apr 20th, 2012 02:10 pm |
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6th Post |
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Lakota Ranch Hand
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Wow, I had no idea you weren't here in the U.S. As I understand it, a gaited horse can semi-collect. True collection during gait isn't a reality, but gaiting with a hollow back is a no-no that will harm his body over the long term. If you want to look at some older threads, I posted some pics. in the thread 'conformation during gait'. There are some with hollow backs and some in good form.
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| Posted: Fri Apr 20th, 2012 07:32 am |
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7th Post |
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e.c.r.klaveness G.O.G Community Member
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Gaited dressage sounds super interesting! Sadly I live in Northern Europe, the land where no other horses but Icelandic horses can rack (when I tell people I've taught my STB they don't believe me!!) and I don't think it would ever catch on here. I am trying to start up a gaited STB movement over here but the going's tough. I tell people they have the genetic ability to rack and they say "oh, you're mistaking the pace for a rack!" ....you get my drift. Anyway, I'd be interested to see how gaited dressage would work. My horse has a raised head and concave back when he racks - the true opposite of "good carriage" in classical dressage. I'm thinking teaching him to work with a nice convex back, good collection and all, and it all seems to become a little difficult when he's still at the stage where he uses the rack to avoid the walk because I'm tightening the reins.... Oh well. I'm sure we'll get there somehow : )
____________________ Once a word leaves your mouth, you cannot chase it back, even with the swiftest horse. |
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| Posted: Fri Apr 20th, 2012 03:30 am |
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8th Post |
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JessiFK G.O.G Community Member 
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if you're trying to have a trot and a rack -- then yes, a cue for the trot ideally would be posting and then once you have it you can lightly sit and maintain a sitting trot without loosing it and remembering not to shift your weight back too much or you'll cue them back to rack or other gait. Gaited dressage is becoming more popular --- I wish we had some shows in WA, I might even give it ago! I should look online, see where the closest one would be!  Last edited on Fri Apr 20th, 2012 03:33 am by JessiFK |
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| Posted: Fri Apr 20th, 2012 01:23 am |
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9th Post |
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Lakota Ranch Hand
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Why would his chances for dressage be gone if he won't trot? Wouldn't he be able to do the dressage moves in the rack?
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| Posted: Thu Apr 19th, 2012 06:32 pm |
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10th Post |
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e.c.r.klaveness G.O.G Community Member
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Thanks for your posts, guys! I appreciate the input. The deal is that my horse is a bit confused. He's racking really well but it's kind of the only thing he wants to do now. I'd like to remind him that it's not the only thing he can do. And it's also something about ... well, I didn't know it was a game of swapsies when I taught him to rack. I didn't want to introduce one gait to lose another, if you see? And for a last one, I'd like to expand my horizons with him when it comes to dressage. He has some pretty lovely prospects there (not really for competitions as I'm not the competition type, but more for self-development) but if I can't develop a good, sound, slow TROT in him then those chances are GONE! I would never get rid of my baby just because he couldn't trot / just because he couldn't rack. The racking's a huge bonus and I LOVE him for it, but I couldn't get rid of him =) We have too strong a bond. The GOOD NEWS is that I took him out on the roads today and gave him a bit of tweaking - and he sang. He's confused, but I got him into a good working trot. Now I'm onto basically teaching him that the trot still EXISTS, and that there are specific signals (for me right now; lots of rein + posting) that mean trot and not rack. Now that I know it's not "goneforevarrr" I can relax a little more. Still loving the rack 100%.... Slipslider - are you having trouble developing the rack? If so I'd LOVE to help out! Thanks for your input! : )
____________________ Once a word leaves your mouth, you cannot chase it back, even with the swiftest horse. |
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| Posted: Thu Apr 19th, 2012 02:42 pm |
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11th Post |
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slipslider G.O.G Community Member 
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I am with Lakota on this one. As i have a stb and am working hard to teach to rack. but I am going to assume here that you have taught him to rack and now want to be able to switch over to a trot if you so desire, for whatever reason. There are some that have taught there horses different gaits and can switch them over with certain cues. However, it can be quite confusing for the horse to do this and sometimes cause more problems that it is worth. So i would suggest you leave a good thing alone. But that is completely up to the owner and perhaps someone else can give you some insight of how to do this, if this is something you feel you really need to do.
____________________ LaVonne Summertime Stables, LLC Life's journey is not to arrive safely in a grave in a well preserved body But rather to slide in sideways, Totally worn out, Yelling......What a Ride ! |
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| Posted: Thu Apr 19th, 2012 04:33 am |
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12th Post |
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Lakota Ranch Hand
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Not Brenda, but I will respond to your question. Firstly, most people buy a gaited horse to enjoy the smooth intermediate gaits that they perform. If you have a Standardbred that racks, you have a great horse. I personally do NOT want my horses to trot. If I wanted to ride a trotter there are plenty of nice breeds that perform it well naturally and I would aquire one of those. I really am confused as to why the lack of trot is of concern to you.  More info. may be helpful here....
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| Posted: Wed Apr 18th, 2012 09:09 pm |
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13th Post |
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e.c.r.klaveness G.O.G Community Member
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I've worked pretty hard and managed to teach my Standardbred ex-racehorse to rack. Now, however, I'm completely unable to find a trot in him. He's confused and stressed and will break into a rack at the slightest provocation. It's like he's buried his trot somewhere and I'm unable to dig it up. Any tips on how on earth I can handle this debacle? I'm really losing faith in myself here. Thanks.
____________________ Once a word leaves your mouth, you cannot chase it back, even with the swiftest horse. |
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