Once a beginner rider has accomplished walking, the next phase is the trot. Learn how to trot properly from a horseback riding instructor in this equestrian video.
Use both heels to cue horse
Rise with horse
Use various diagonals
Sit the trot
Kathy Kentala has been a horse enthusiast since she was six years old. Kathy owns the Bee Cave Riding Center in Texas and specializes in training youth groups.
Once a rider is accomplished at the walk, then we like to move them onward to the trot. We're going to ask our rider to go ahead and begin her circle and as the horse moves along, her cue to the horse is going to be that both heels squeeze or drive the horse forward into the trot. You see our rider right now is at a posting trot; that is the movement where the rider goes up and down or rise and sit to the rhythm of the horse's strike. As we do our trot, there is such a thing as a correct diagonal. If we look at our rider right now, we're going to see that she is going up or rising when the horse's outside leg is stretching further. When our rider does a sit-a-bounce and she'll do that now and change her diagonal. If you like to sit your bounce and change your diagonal you can see now where it's put her on what we call the "incorrect diagonal." On an incorrect diagonal the rider's going to feel something just a little bit less balanced. She's now changed direction and back on her correct diagonal. Another thing we do in the hunters is we sit our trot on occasion so we'll ask our rider to go ahead and sit the trot where she no longer does the posting rhythm but sits with the movement driving the horse forward at the trot, and she can return to the posting trot and find her correct diagonal. We glance down at the horse's shoulder finding the correct diagonal and continue again at the posting or rising trot. A trot is a two-beated gait. We look for a long, elastic strike, something comfortable and ground-covering for the rider's enjoyment.
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