Horseback Riding 101

Lesson 8: Getting Good at Trotting

Exercise Three

Perhaps there is just one more thing. Place a pole on the ground where it will be easy for you to trot over it. Sometime during your exercises for the day, get into two-point and trot over it.

Place the pole about halfway down the long side but not near a jump the horse might think you want. When you turn the corner coming toward it, in two-point, look at it and plan your path to it (your approach, in horsey terms). Now use your body to set the horse on that path and look up at the horizon. Be sure to grab some mane for this exercise.

When the horse goes over the pole, he will very likely change his gait just a little, since you don’t know how to stop him doing that yet. Don’t do anything different. Just hold your two-point and continue holding the mane…and keep your eyes on the horizon. When he has cleared the pole, go to the posting trot and continue around the arena, and repeat.

Again, do this several times, but no to the point of pain. But make sure you do it in both directions.

The point of this? To get your body used to the horse taking steps that are not perfectly even, in preparation for the three-beat canter. And one other exciting thing: learning to plan your approach to an obstacle is one of the first steps in learning to jump!

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