Bumping Up Your Skills with the Jog or Trot

In This Chapter

• Asking a horse to jog or trot
• Riding the “bouncy” gait in different disciplines
• Practicing stops, turns, and circles
• Getting in some exercises

Western riders call it the jog; English riders call it the trot. No matter what you call it, this intermediate gait — between the walk (in Chapter Enjoying the Walk) and the canter or lope (in Chapter Getting on the Fast Track with the Lope or Canter) — is one that every rider needs to master. For most new riders, the jog or trot is the most challenging gait to ride. This gait tends to be bouncy, especially for those who haven’t developed the skills to ride it. However, after you master this gait, the experience can be exhilarating.

When a horse jogs or trots, a front foot and the opposite hind foot come down at the same time, making a two-beat rhythm (see Chapter Head to Hoof: The Mind and Mechanics of a Horse for a figure of a horse at the trot). Most horses travel at around 9 miles per hour at the trot.

In this chapter, you discover how to ride the jog or trot in the Western and English disciplines, as well as how to make the horse change directions, circle, and stop from this gait. At the end of the chapter, I present exercises you can try to help build your riding skills.

Remember

When riding the jog or trot in any discipline, make sure you maintain correct position with your body, hands, and legs. Keeping the proper equitation (your overall position in the saddle) helps you stay balanced and improves the effectiveness of your communication with your horse. Your instructor can help you master the proper form at this gait.

Asking the Horse to Pick Up the Pace

The horse typically moves from the walk into the jog or trot. You can also ask your horse to jog or trot from the lope or canter when you begin more advanced riding, but in this chapter, I discuss only taking your horse from a walk to a jog or trot. As I explain in the following sections, the way you cue the horse to speed up depends on your riding discipline, although the difference are subtle.

Tip

When you give cues, ask quietly first and increase the intensity if you don’t get a response. Each horse is different, and some are more responsive than others. You may find that your cues to ask one horse to jog or trot may need to be “louder” than the same cue on another horse.

Western jog requests

When riding Western, you ask a horse to jog by gently squeezing the horse with your calves to go forward. Maintain this pressure until she breaks into a jog. After you feel the horse respond, relax your calves.

Tip

If the horse doesn’t respond at first and continues to walk instead of jog, increase the pressure with your legs until you get a response, being careful not to lean forward as you do so — continue to sit up straight. You may need to use your voice to encourage the horse to jog. For horses, clucking with your tongue is a signal to increase speed.

When asking the horse to jog, be sure your reins are loose and keep your body position in mind as the horse starts to move forward. I describe correct body position at the jog later in this chapter.

English trot cues

English riders ask a horse to trot using leg pressure. Squeeze the horse into a trot with your calves and maintain this pressure until the horse begins trotting. After the horse responds, relax your calves. Be careful not to take your calves completely off the horse because you want to maintain some contact with your legs.

Remember

When asking the horse to trot in hunt seat or dressage, you should have some contact with the bit, which means you maintain a slight tension in the reins. You can move your hands forward slightly to allow the horse to move on, but you don’t want any swing in the reins. Be careful not to pull back on the reins or raise your hands, which sends mixed messages if you’re asking the horse to go forward.

In hunt seat riding — but not in dressage — you can also use your voice to encourage the horse to trot if you don’t get an immediate response to your leg. You do this by clucking.

Riding the Jog in Western

In Western riding, the jog is a slow, collected (controlled) gait that shouldn’t be too bouncy. The slower the jog, the less bounce you get.

Figure 14-1 shows the jog in Western. In correct position, riders are relaxed and sit deep in the saddle. The reins are loose and the legs are relaxed at the horse’s sides. Read the following sections to discover how to position yourself correctly.

Figure 14-1: A relaxed Western rider sits deep in the saddle during the jog.

Positioning your body

Remember

Before you can tackle more speed and master the lope (see Chapter Getting on the Fast Track with the Lope or Canter), you need to develop your body position at the jog. Here’s how to hold your body (refer to Figure 14-1):

- Even though the horse is moving faster than she is at a walk, your body should stay relaxed. Keep yourself in the proper position without being stiff or unnatural.

- Remember to sit deep. Keep your weight on your seat bones and your pelvis relaxed.

- Sit up straight, but don’t sit like you have a board in your back. Your shoulders should be relaxed, but don’t slouch.

- Make sure you aren’t leaning to one side of the horse or another as the horse jogs. Sit square in the saddle, using the saddle horn as a guide; the horn should be directly in front of you if you’re sitting in the right spot.

- Have your elbows relaxed at your sides, not sticking out and bouncing off your body. Proper elbow position lets you remain balanced and gives you sufficient control of your hands. Keeping your shoulders relaxed can help keep your elbows in the right place.

- Because the horse is going faster, you may find yourself wanting to look down toward her ears. To avoid losing your balance, keep your chin up and your eyes directed on where you’re going.

Holding the reins in Western

When jogging in Western riding, you hold the reins about an inch above the horse’s withers (where the shoulders come together — see Chapter Head to Hoof: The Mind and Mechanics of a Horse for a diagram of the horse). This position reduces leverage on the shank of the bit (the piece between the bit and where the reins attach) and encourages the horse’s forward movement. Hold your hand forward on the horse’s neck, about an inch in front of the saddle horn (refer back to Figure 14-1).

Regardless of whether you hold the reins in California style or traditional style (see Chapter Enjoying the Walk for details), keep your other hand on the same-side thigh or hanging alongside your leg, completely relaxed, as you do with walking.

Putting your legs in position

In Western riding, leg position is the same in the jog as it is in the walk: When your horse is jogging, you should have the balls of your feet in the stirrup and your heels should be down. Your toes should be pointed forward so each foot is parallel to the horse’s body.

You’ll have a slight bend in your knees if your stirrups are set at the correct length (your riding instructor can help you with this), and your legs should be situated alongside the cinch. Refer back to Figure 14-1 for correct leg position.

Remember

Sit deep in the saddle while also sitting up straight. This posture helps keep your legs from slipping forward and out of place.

Moving with the Western horse

Sit deep as the horse jogs, keeping your arms relaxed, and sink down into the saddle with the horse’s rhythm. Don’t let your body stiffen — relax your lower back, buttocks, and thigh muscles, too. You want your lower body to move with the horse as the upper body maintains its upright position to keep you balanced.

Tip

If the jog starts to get too bumpy, slow the horse down. Put slight tension in the reins until the jog becomes easier to ride.

Riding the Trot in Hunt Seat

The trot is an important working gait in hunt seat. When you’re first figuring out how to jump — as most hunt seat riders do — you take the jumps at the trot (Chapter Making the Leap into Jumping can help you out when you’re ready to start working on your jumping skills). The trot is also used a lot in the show ring and on the trail.

Horses used for hunt seat riding often have big, bouncy trots. For this reason, hunt seat riders often post the trot, which means they rise up and down in the saddle with the rhythm of the gait. Hunt seat riders can alternatively sit the trot (remain seated), which takes both skill and balance. Sitting the trot is something you learn a bit later in your lessons after you’ve mastered the posting trot. The basic position for both posting and sitting the trot is the same.

Positioning your body

Remember

Beginning riders often find maintaining the proper body position while sitting or posting the trot to be a challenge. Proficiency comes with practice and learning to feel the horse’s rhythm. Here are some guidelines to start you off:

- At the trot, your body position is more forward than it is at the walk; you have a greater bend at the hips (not the waist).

- When you’re sitting the trot, your weight in the saddle is on your seat bones. When you’re posting, your weight rises up and out of the saddle.

- You have a slight, natural curve in your lower back, with the rest of your back flat.

- Your shoulders are squared and back rather than hunched forward.

- Your elbows are close to your body, your chin is up, and your eyes are lifted, looking ahead at where you’re going.

Holding the reins

In hunt seat, you hold the reins in two hands. Close your fingers in a relaxed fist, with the reins going between your thumb and your index finger and coming out between your pinky and ring fingers before going to the bit.

Hold your hands 2 to 3 inches apart from each other, about 2 inches above the horse’s withers, which is a bit lower than where you’d hold them at the walk. This position gives the horse more room to extend her neck as she trots. Your hands are also forward on the horse’s neck to allow freedom of movement for the horse’s head. Keep slight tension in the reins.

Positioning your legs in hunt seat

When riding the trot, your leg position is the same as at the walk. In other words, the calf should rest just behind the girth (see Chapter Dressing Up Horses with Saddles for saddle info). The balls of your feet should rest in the stirrup, and your heels should be down. Your toes should point forward so each foot is at a slight outward angle of about 15 degrees.

Tip

As with the walk at hunt seat, a good way to judge how much pressure your knees should apply is to imagine a sponge between the inside of your knee and the saddle. You want to keep the sponge in place without squeezing any water out of it.

Your calves should have contact with the horse’s sides as they do at the walk, with just slight pressure to “support” the horse at the trot. This pressure also helps you keep your legs in position, which can be more difficult to do at the trot.

Moving with the hunt seat horse

When the horse is trotting in hunt seat, you can either post or sit, as I explain in the following sections. Posting to move with the horse is easier, and it’s best used when you’re asking the horse for an extended (longer-strided) trot. You can sit the trot when you’re asking the horse for a more collected (shorter-strided) trot.

Remember

Whether you’re posting or sitting the trot, pay attention to your legs. Make sure they don’t slide forward or backward. They should stay just behind the girth.

Posting the trot

When you’re posting the trot, bouncing does have its advantages. With each trotting stride, one side of the horse’s back rounds as the other flattens. As one front leg moves forward and that side of the horse’s back rises, you can get a nice lift right out of the saddle. When that side flattens out, you make your (gentle) landing.

To post, follow these steps (see Figure 14-2):

1. Place your weight in the stirrup irons and let yourself to be lifted up out of the saddle as one side of the horse’s back rounds.

As the horse trots, the sides of the horse’s back alternately round and flatten, and the movement can help push you up out of the saddle. Allow yourself to rise in rhythm with the horse’s gait.

2. On the next stride, lower your seat back into the saddle as that side of the horse’s back flattens.

Don’t drop your weight; rather, gently lower yourself until the horse’s back rounds again and pushes you up.

Figure 14-2: To post, lift yourself out of the saddle when one side of the horse’s back is rounded.

At the sitting trot, your body position should remain the same as when you were posting. Sit up straight with shoulders relaxed, head forward, and chin straight ahead. Your legs should also be in the same position that they were in at the posting trot (see the earlier “Positioning your legs” section).

Riding the Trot in Dressage

Riders use the trot at all levels of dressage competition (see Chapter Show Off: Riding in Competition for info on shows). The official dressage tests require riders to perform a number of maneuvers at this gait. The trot is also the gait at which you do much of your early training in this discipline. I explain the proper alignment and movements for riding the trot in dressage in the following sections.

Positioning your body

In dressage, body position is very important. The way you hold your body and use your weight sends messages to the horse. At the higher levels of dressage, the ability to communicate with the horse using your body is even more imperative.

Remember

In dressage, the following body position is standard:

- Riders sit deep in the saddle when they’re sitting the trot and when they’re in the down position during posting. In other words, your weight drops down into your rear end. You sit on your seat bones and sink into your hips.

- Your shoulders are open and square yet relaxed.

- Your back is flat — you don’t want any arch.

- Your chin is up and your eyes are forward, looking where you’re going.

Holding the reins

In dressage, you hold the reins in two hands. The reins go between your thumb and your index finger and come out between your pinky and ring fingers before going to the bit.

Hold your hands 2 to 3 inches apart from each other, which is closer than you’d have them at the walk (see Chapter Enjoying the Walk). Your hands should about 2 inches above the horse’s withers and forward on the horse’s neck to allow freedom of movement for the horse’s head. Keep your fingers closed in a relaxed fist, and make sure your reins have slight tension, giving you contact with the horse’s mouth.

Putting your legs in dressage position

Your leg position at the trot is similar to your position at the walk (see Chapter Enjoying the Walk). At the trot, your calf should be about 1 inch behind the girth. Your heel should be in line with your hip, and your knees should have considerable contact with the saddle without pinching the horse.

In correct position, the balls of your feet are in the stirrups and your heels are down. Your toes point forward so each foot is parallel to the horse’s body. You should maintain light pressure with your calves on the horse’s sides.

Tip

At the trot, you may find that your legs want to slip forward on the horse’s sides. Have your instructor help you keep your legs in position by adjusting whatever flaws you have in the rest of your body position that may be causing your legs to slide forward.

Moving with the dressage horse

When the horse is trotting in dressage, you can either post or sit, as you find out in the following sections:

- Posting — or rising to the trot, as it’s sometimes known in dressage - makes moving with the horse easier; use it when you’re asking the horse for an extended (longer-strided) trot.

- You can sit the trot when you’re asking the horse for a collected (shorter-strided) trot.

Remember

As with hunt seat (which I cover earlier in this chapter), pay attention to your legs while posting or sitting. Make sure they don’t slide forward or backward. They should stay just behind the girth (see Chapter Dressing Up Horses with Saddles for saddle images).

Posting the trot

Follow these steps to post the trot in dressage (check out Figure 14-4):

1. Place your weight in the stirrup irons and lift your hips up out of the saddle, pushing your belly button forward and out.

Stretch into your heels and feel your weight in them. Do this in rhythm with the horse’s gait. If you rise at the right moment in the horse’s stride, one side of the horse’s back will round as she trots, helping push you up out of the saddle.

2. On the next stride, lower your seat into the saddle as that side of the horse’s back seems to flatten.

Don’t drop your weight, but gently lower yourself until the horse’s back rounds again and pushes you up.

Figure 14-4: When posting in dressage, place your weight in the stirrup irons and lift your hips up.

Knowing when to rise and when to sit when posting in dressage takes practice. Check out the tips that I give in the earlier section on posting the trot in hunt seat; they apply to dressage, too.

Sitting the trot

Begin with posting the trot (see the preceding section). To sit the trot, slow the horse down by adding tension on the reins and sinking your weight in the saddle. Keep your hips open by rounding your lower back. Sink deep into your seat bones so you can absorb the impact of the horse’s trot and thus remain seated. (See Figure 14-5 for the sitting trot.)

Figure 14-5: Sink deep into your tailbone when sitting the trot in dressage.

Maneuvering the Horse at the Jog or Trot

Riders often change direction or circle at the trot (otherwise, the horse would just run into things more quickly!), so you have to know how to ask your horse for this cue. Stopping from the trot is also important, and it requires more finesse than stopping from the walk. I explain how to perform all these maneuvers in the following sections.

Stopping the horse

Although you’re moving faster at the jog or trot than you are at the walk, the horse should still stop for you on command. Remember that the cue to stop a horse differs slightly between disciplines, as you find out in the following sections.

Stopping a horse from a jog or trot looks just like stopping a horse from the walk; check out Chapter Enjoying the Walk for figures depicting the stopping maneuver.

Western stops

Most Western horses perform a simple, quick stop without sliding. To stop a horse from a trot in Western riding, following these steps:

1. Say “whoa” as you put tension on the reins while moving your hand backward toward your belly button; sink deep into the saddle and release all leg pressure from the sides of the horse, all at the same time.

2. When the horse comes to a stop, release the tension in the reins.

English stops

In hunt seat and dressage, the horse walks before coming to a complete stop from the trot. Here’s how you stop a horse from the trot in English riding:

1. Sink your weight into the saddle.

2. Increase tension on the reins.

Sit tall with your heels down and your lower back and hip muscles relaxed. In hunt seat, put more tension on the reins while moving your hands backward and saying “whoa.” In dressage, where you already have considerable contact (tension) on the reins, further increase that tension.

Protocol

In dressage, don’t use your voice. The horse should stop without your using this aid.

3. The horse breaks from a trot to a walk and eventually stops; when the horse stops walking, release the tension on the reins.

Tip

When the horse stops, try not to let your weight come forward in a whiplash effect. If you’re sitting deep in the saddle, you’ll be more likely to hold your position as the horse stops.

Turning left and right

When you master turning at the trot, you know you’re really advancing in your riding. Turning the horse at a trot is a bit more challenging than turning at a walk because the additional speed requires you to remember how to cue your horse more quickly. Making tighter circles is easier for the horse if she’s trotting.

Remember

In an arena, the side of your horse next to the rail is called the outside, and the side away from the rail is the inside.

Western turns

In Western riding, you use neck reining to turn the horse. Turn your horse either to the left or right, using your reins and your legs, in the following manner (see Figure 14-6):

1. To turn your horse to the inside of the arena, away from the rail, move the hand holding the reins to the inside so that the outside rein is lying across the horse’s neck.

2. At the same time, apply more pressure with your outside leg than you would at the walk.

This leg pressure encourages the horse to turn to the inside while staying at the trot (and not breaking into a walk). The amount of pressure you apply depends on how the horse responds. Start with the least amount of pressure and increase it until the horse responds.

3. When the turn is complete, move your rein hand back to the center of your horse and release the pressure from your outside leg.

Figure 14-6: Turning the horse at the jog requires more leg pressure than you’d apply at the walk.

English turns

In English riding, when you want your horse to turn either to the left or right at the trot, use your reins and your legs in the following manner (see Figure 14-7):

1. To turn your horse to the inside of the arena, increase tension on the inside rein.

If you’re riding hunt seat, pull the rein out slightly to the inside. If you’re riding dressage, pull the rein back slightly.

2. At the same time, apply pressure with your outside leg.

You should use more pressure here than you did at the walk to encourage the horse to maintain the trot as she turns to the inside. The amount of pressure you apply depends on how the horse responds. Start with the least amount of pressure and increase it until the horse responds.

3. When the turn is complete, release the pressure on the inside rein and return it to its normal position; release the pressure from your outside leg as well.

Figure 14-7: When turning at the trot in English, use your legs to maneuver the horse’s body.

Circling the horse

Most of the circling you perform in riding lessons is at the jog or trot. Circling is an important maneuver because it helps you build communication with your horse as well as your riding skills. In the following sections, I explain the subtle cues you use to circle your horse in a Western jog and an English trot.

Jogging around in Western

When circling a horse at the jog in Western riding, you neck rein, using one hand on the reins. The following steps take you through a circle at the jog (see Figure 14-8):

1. To circle your horse to the inside of the arena, start along the rail.

Move the hand holding the reins to the inside so that the outside rein is lying across the horse’s neck.

2. At the same time, apply pressure with your outside leg.

This pressure should be greater than what you’d use when circling at the walk. The horse moves away from the pressure, which encourages her to turn to the inside while maintaining the jog. Start with light pressure and increase it until the horse responds.

3. Continue to maintain the rein and leg pressure as the horse turns.

When the horse is moving into a circle pattern, apply pressure with both legs to guide her through the circle and keep her from making the circle smaller than you want it.

4. When the circle is complete (you know because you’re back where you started, on the rail), move your rein hand back to the center of your horse and lighten the pressure from your legs.

Don’t release the pressure completely or the horse may break into a walk.

Figure 14-8: For Western riding, maintain leg and neck-rein pressure when circling.

Rounding out English trots

When circling a horse at the trot in hunt seat and dressage riding, you use direct reining, with two hands on the reins. The following steps take you through a circle (see Figure 14-9):

1. To circle your horse to the inside of the arena, (the only direction you’d turn in a circle), increase tension on the inside rein.

If you’re riding hunt seat, pull the rein out slightly. If you’re riding dressage, pull the rein back slightly.

2. At the same time, apply pressure with your outside leg.

Use more pressure than you’d apply when circling at the walk. The horse moves away from the pressure, which encourages her to turn to the inside and maintain the trot. Start with light pressure and increase it until the horse responds.

3. Continue to keep rein and leg pressure as the horse turns.

When the horse is moving into a circle pattern, apply pressure with both legs to guide her through the circle and keep her from making the circle smaller than you’d like.

4. When the circle is complete (when you’re back where you started), move your hands back to the center of your horse.

Reduce the amount of pressure from your legs only slightly, being sure not to take your legs off the horse completely. In both hunt seat and dressage, you need to maintain some contact with the horse’s sides.

Figure 14-9: In English, apply pressure with both legs after the horse has begun the circle.

Trying Some Exercises

A good way to develop your jogging or trotting skills is to practice turns and circles. I give you some exercises to try in the following sections. You can suggest these to your riding instructor or do them when you’re riding on your own in an arena.

Following a serpentine pattern in Western riding

Western riders can develop their skills at the jog using a winding pattern. This pattern allows you to change directions and straighten the horse often in the confines of an arena so you can become coordinated at using your reins and legs together.

Tip

This exercise has you and your horse jog up and down the arena, performing a serpentine pattern (see Figure 14-10):

1. Start at one end of the arena, on the rail, at the jog.

2. When you get to the rail at the other end of the arena, turn the horse to the inside and make a half-circle (or as drivers like to call it, a U-turn).

3. As soon as the horse is facing opposite direction, ask her to go straight so you’re parallel to the rail you’re next to but farther away from it.

4. Jog down the length of the arena, and when you reach the end, turn the horse to the inside again so you complete a half-circle.

When the horse is facing the way you just came from, straighten her out and jog her forward.

5. Complete this pattern up and down the entire arena until you reach the other side.

Then repeat and go back the way you came. I recommend doing the serpentine as many as five times.

Figure 14-10: Jogging a serpentine pattern is a good way to practice turning and straightening the horse.

Circling jump poles in English riding

Remember riding the horses on the merry-go-round? Well, here’s your chance to put all that circling to good use. A good exercise for hunt seat and dressage riders to practice at the trot involves moving over jump poles laid on the ground.

Warning!

Before you do this exercise, talk to your instructor to make sure you’re ready for this level of riding. Ask your instructor to help you with this exercise and supervise your progress.

By laying jump poles on the ground and trotting over them in a circular pattern, you can practice turning and keeping your horse straight at the trot. You can perform this exercise at either the sitting or posting trot:

1. Lay four poles down in the center of the arena so they form a cross shape but don’t touch each other.

The ends of the poles that are across from each other should be about 10 feet apart. In other words, you should have a 10-foot hole in the middle of the cross.

2. Approach one of the poles at its center, trotting over the middle of the pole.

3. Turn the horse so she trots over the center of the next pole.

4. Repeat for the next two poles and then go back to the first pole (see Figure 14-11).

Continue the circle about five times. 

Figure 14-11: Go in a circle as you trot over poles set up in a cross shape.

Figure 14-12: Trotting over poles in a circle.

by Audrey Pavia with Shannon Sand