Slowing Down the Trot

This is from the Mugwump Chronicles that was posted on Monday the 11th. It's kind of long, but I found it fascinating.

I've been having the exact same trouble with my horse lately. Over the winter her training and my riding has slid a bit, and we're having these "slower-faster" arguments at the trot. She has this lovely "bareback trot" and the horrible bone-jarring death trot as well as this awesome ground covering trot. I want to keep her in the bareback trot without feeling like I have to hang on her face all the time.

Q: My question is about the "death trot". I'm struggling with my Arabian mare on rating. She has a go-a-holic trot...I'm desperately wanting her nice little ground work trot to occur under saddle. You know, the nice little soft pitty-pat trot that doesn't rattle your teeth. Would you care to help an aspiring endurance rider smooth out the trot? I'd be ever so grateful. I find myself all to often in the reins, as she pushes faster and faster. I need a loose rein, and a collected trot.

Mugwump's Answer:

"I work on rate initially in the arena or in an area both my horse and I feel safe in. I ask for the trot and the second it gets bumpy or unpleasant I pull my outside rein (rail side) and turn the horse the other way. I pull hard enough to make the turn unpleasant, but I'm not tearing up the horse's mouth either.I just want to pull hard enough to pull my horse out of the death trot, change the direction of her feet and her forward motion.

I immediately relax my rein and ask for the trot again. As soon as she gets bumpy I pull and go the other way again.
Eventually, my horse will hesitate before slamming into the horrifying trot, because I have been yanking her around every time she sped up.
When I feel the hesitation I'll give her a big "Good Girl!" and pat on the neck then just sit quiet until the trot speeds up again, then I'll pull her around again. I keep this up until she'll hesitate or slow down for at least a couple of steps from just a lift of my rein before she speeds up again. Then I quit for the day.
If I practice consistently and religiously she will learn to hold a steady trot.
The key here is to expect your horse to beat you to the punch and slow down before you pull her around. I am very slow with my hand when I'm doing this. I bring up my hand slow enough for at least two beats before I even make contact with her mouth.

I use this same approach to cure jiggers and chargy horses. I don't give them anything to pull against. The reins are loose until the horse goes beyond the speed I ask for, then I change the direction of their feet. I've never had it not work as long as I was consistent.

This can take awhile, it all depends on how ingrained the horse is with her expectations of being held."

I tried this out today in the indoor arena, and it really seemed to work! Now, my horse is old and broke, and catches on quick, but every time she upped the trot to bone-rattling, I pulled her into the wall to turn around, relaxed, and asked her to move off again.

We worked on it for about 10 minutes, and by the end she had her ears fixed on me, and when she felt unsure of what I wanted, she slowed down. I'm going to keep working on it, but so far I think it's going to work well for us

Tried it again today, and I must say I think I screwed it up a bit. Last time we were in the indoor arena, with is small and enclosed. Worked great there.

This time we tried it in the (much bigger) outdoor arena, which still lacks a fence. Horse seemed to be a bit confused.

My fault probably. I have yet to determine the exact speed at which the trot is "too fast". It's not the spreed really, it's the bumpiness. If she busts out the ground-covering trot, it's fat, but not unpleasant to ride.

If she gets tense and bumpy, the trot sucks, no matter how fast or slow we're going. Maybe we'll work up to that. For now though I think I need to stick with speed. Once I have her staying slow without half-halting every other stride, we'll work on "faster is OK as long as you're not rattling my bones".