RE: Disunited Trot

Flemmer, Linda (LFlemmer@CHKD.com)
Fri, 20 Dec 1996 14:50:50 -0500

Linda,

You wrote:
>When you ride this gate, it is like a shift into 'overdrive' from the
>extended trot. You don't post this gate, per se, because the diagonals
>are
>not in rhythm. You just sit back a little and stay in rhythm with the
>hind
>legs and ALMOST post, so you, as a rider, don't interfere with the
>horse's
>front end rhythm. It's a hard gate to ride at first, you really need
>to
keep your hips and back loose.

You just described my husband's horse to the "T". He rides a 15.3 QH/TB
cross who "discovered" this way of trotting years ago. He actually
prefers this trot (we call it the 'road trot" or "overdrive") to
cantering. None of the smaller Arabs that I ride have "discovered" this
gait, so we gallop madly along to try to keep up! (And eat a LOT of
dust!) Major is not a typical looking QH cross, and he <really> fools
folks wiith this trot of his. When people ask what breed of horse he
might be, our joke is that he's a "mystery horse", or that he is a
"Texas Warmblood".

He has racked and paced occasionally near the end of a long, tiring
ride, but I think that that is an exception. We believe that he is
compensating for muscle fatigue rather than truely "trying" to gait.
This is infrequent and does not correlate with his "road trot" at all.

It really <is> fun to trot along with folks, look at your watch and say
"Oh, dear! I need to make up some time!" Then, just shift your weight
slightly back, loosely "sit" the trot, and take up a bit of contact on
the reins. Away Major goes into overdrive, leaving everyone behind.
The speed of his leg movement doesn't increase, but the stride lengthens
even more, he brings his rear end under him, and DRIVES from that rear
end. It is a very powerful feeling gait and deceptively fast for the
rider. It is DEFINITELY not a gait for the downhills, though. Major
has yet to interfere at this gait like you had described. His back legs
track slightly wider than the front and he oversteps by 4-5 hoofprint
lengths. He has been clocked in this gait at 22-24 mph on a flat road
after about 40 miles of fairly grueling trail! Not bad for a "jig jog"
QH cross that we bought 11 years ago!

Linda Flemmer
Blue Wolf Ranch
Chesapeake, VA