Freezing greetings from Scandinavia :D Temperatures range from -10C(14F) to -30C (-22F), which is quite normal at this time of year. There's a lot of snow this winter, awesome environment for training in the snow, both horses have developed a lot of muscle and strength :) When I'm dressed warm enoug...

Our goals depend a lot on weather conditions. The roads and the arena surface will freeze in the next few weeks and horses will be given a vacation. Both horses are barefoot, so the weather conditions are even more impressive than those with the shoes. Lloyd: When he doesn’t understand what I'm aski...

piedmontfields wrote:I also find that if I can get to canter fairly early in the warm up, the motion of the canter releases my mare's back and her trot is much better after some cantering.

That's true, canter releases Cody's back too Sometimes I start with canter if he feels sticky.

Hi, welcome! A few thoughts: sometimes doing a bit of forward and back in the warm up can help get a horse that likes to go up to go through instead. Nothing major, but start at whatever trot they ask you for, ask for a bit more for a few strides, ask for a bit less for a few strides, and so on and...

Sounds like your coach has great suggestions. I've ridden and trained dozens of ex trotters and pacers. I've found that their biggest issue is balance and rhythm (not necessarily in that order). I would bet that the smaller trot is just difficult at this point. He most likely does not have the hind...

The other thing is to re-train to the whip to go forward. So keep tapping behind your leg (not hard just constant) until they go more forward. You'll get them trying to 'passage' harder and all over the place, but they get the hang of it to go again. Just do it patiently. Thanks for your tips :) My...

I did the same thing as you, developed a 'passage-y trot'. To get him out of it, I just speed everything up, but more in my seat. If I use my legs more, or tap him with the whip, he tends to give me a bigger 'passage trot'. So, I may go to rising trot and speed up my rise and take him on a straight...

It may be a good idea to hack out for the next couple of weeks and leg-yield him out of that state of mind each time he gets too much upwards? I have tried in this way in the arena but I find it difficult to leg-yield there as often as the situation requires. If the wall/fence is in the way shoulde...

Nice to have you and your two lovely horses! Chisamba I am sure will be lots of help for you. To me the video shows the horse in the canter losing the regularity of the gait. Not uncommon in a trotter type breed. Hopefully chi samba can give you some ideas on how to help your horse keep the regular...

I think I made a mistake about six months ago. He accidently took some steps more upward (kind of passage-steps) and I praised him. We practiced it a few times, but I noticed he was thrilled to offer it too much. So I decided that it is better to continue that exercise later. After that "pony t...

Thank you very much for your warm welcome!
Pictures of my boys <3

First at all, sorry my rusty english... I'm tired of Finnish horse forums, there has been such a bad spirit in recent years. Maybe I can find better company from another country :D I have two standardbred geldings (Lloyd 10 yo + Cody 19 yo), ex-trotters. Last few years I've been improving Cody's str...