Quote:
Originally Posted by RiosDad  Horses that bounce back and forth between a lope and trot on the trial are a pain. If you ride with anyone else this constant breaking pace makes it difficult for those following you. If you are all working at a trot you want the horses to maintain this constant trot, mile after mile, no speeding up on downhills, no slowing down the up hill grades.
At times while running endurance I want a fast trot and I can push him to any speed I want without his breaking to a lope.
On other occassions I want a long lope, one that he maintains for 10 or more miles, I don't want to bug him, I don't want to have to remind him to keep the pace easy, laid back and on the hind end. I want flying changes for the curves/corners but if the pace slows down for a tight spot, a ditch, crossing a road I still want him to maintain the motion.
If the horse is not rock solid on his gates he will break. |
Again, RiosDad, it is a lack of training that causes horses to "bounce back and forth." My horse will walk to canter, as well as trot to canter, but if I don't give her a canter cue, she won't canter. I have trained her to respond to certain aids, I have aids for a slow, easy trot, I have aids for a quicker, longer trot. I also have aids for canter pick up, as well as aids for nice collected canter or a full blown run. It's TRAINING. The horses you have experienced that are breaking pace is caused by improper or inconsistent training. If the owners had taken the time to teach their horse that trot means to trot and only to trot, the horse wouldn't try to canter. I'm sure if you had trained your horse to canter from the trot, he would do so when you asked, not just because he felt like it. I'm sure your horse doesn't start trotting unless you ask him to, correct? The same examples that we've both given of trot to canter transitions can be just as easily placed with walk to trot transitions. So by your logic, should horses be taught to trot from the halt and only the halt? It's a simple matter of correct VS incorrect training, rushing into the canter is not caused by teaching canter from trot, but rather, the horse has not been trained to make the transition appropriately, or the more likely scenario, he is not balanced enough to make the transition smoothly.
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