As spooky season approaches we thought we’d delve into the world of the truly monstrous for this week’s archive video. What could be monstrous about horses you ask? Well when it comes to our dressage horses, the monster in question is the Monster Trot, and this is a monster we idolise, not demonise!
People looking for a good dressage prospect will always tell you, “look for a good canter and walk, because you can always make a trot”. And thought it sounds crazy, it’s true. Developing the trot from a flat shuffle to a big expressive swing is one of the true magical transformations of dressage, but as with everything in dressage, it takes time, consistency and hard work.
In this week’s video I’m taking you through my work with two PRE horses who are currently developing the trot. It can be a bit of a challenge to get the PREs to learn the elevated work, but these guys are doing a great job!
The first horse is Mercurio (who is 9 at the time of the video), who has a talent for the piaffe, I use this to help get his hind end underneath him and then work on getting more of the cadence.
Check out this older video of Mercurio to see how far he has come.
The second horse is only 7 and much further behind but will end up being able to trot like Mercurio!
It’s great to watch the level they’re both at and remind ourselves that great trots are made, not born!
Have a look at the video and see how I ride both horses so differently and the things I do to bring them both along the path to eventually having the true monster trot!
Thanks for watching!
