Western jog...

So I've been attempting to teach Lacey how to jog since she has an absolutely killer trot. She makes pretty much anything else's trot easy to sit, it's kinda crazy. Anyway, so I've been using smrob's method of having her stop and back up as soon as her jog gets rough, as smrob's put it "trotting with her brakes on".

But I've been noticing that she doesn't track up when she's jogging (and she does when she's trotting well). Is tracking up not necessary/good for a nice jog? I mean, I could tell today when she was pushing off her rear (going uphill) because it was so much smoother than when she was on her forehand (going down said hill) but she wasn't getting her legs under her.

Needless to say I'm very proud of her because she's definitely picking up the "slow and smooth is good" idea. Today I got her to jog a circle so slowly that it was basically walking speed only jogging. It was intense. No worries though, I'm not encouraging her to go that slowly I'm looking for something that's as fast as she wants (which is generally a notch below her normal trot), just smooth.

Glad to hear improvement! =] Can't really answer your question though :/

I'd love to see some pix.

^^^Of her not tracking up? I can see what I can do. =)

I am glad that she is learning that slow is good . And forgive me of my ignorance about some horsey terms that most people learn in lessons. What exactly do you mean by "not tracking up"?

Haha yeah, it's kind of more of an english/dressage term...I should have explained it. =) It's when the horses back foot goes into (or in front of) the hoofprint of the front hoof at the trot. I have pictures.

Tracking up pretty well:



Not tracking up at all (but it's even less than this when she's jogging):




I hope that helps explain what I mean more.... Haha Sorry for being confusing!

Oh, Okay!!! I get it now. LOL. Yeah, it is pretty common for a horse that is jogging slow to not track up like that because they aren't moving out as much as a horse in a long trot. Their strides are shorter and therefore will not be as "under" as the longer strides. If you watch any horse that has a slow western jog, they don't track up so it's not really something to concern yourself with. So long as she isn't pulling herself along with her front end (which I bet she isn't) then you have no problem and are doing exactly what you need to do.

BTW: I would love to see some video of her new and improved jog. I am so happy that I could help a little. :)

Awesome. That's kinda what I was thinking but I wasn't sure. Haha Thanks!

I'd love to get a video of her doing her cute little jog as well. I have a really hard time finding someone who's available to be a camera person but I'll ask around, maybe I'll get lucky.

Thanks for answering that, I wasn't sure what 'tracking up' meant either! I just didn't want to be the first to ask.... lol

Extended trot you want that tracking up movement, but in a jog, no.