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Just had another really helpful clinic lesson with Kaitlin Blythe, JJ Tate's assistant. Could we have actually produced an Emi-version of medium trot for real?!? It sure felt different than anything I've gotten before---a real sense of shoulders lifting and firing and a feel through the sit bones.

I await video confirmation (thank g-dess I had witnesses, too!) and will share if provided. FYI, the set up was just shoulder in on a circle, shoulder out on a circle, renvers (ditto), travers (ditto). So simple yet my mare delivered. Wowza! I have hope again. Such a good girl.

p.s. I will share other insights from the clinic this week.

Wow, that must have felt super! I really struggle with medium gaits on my big Friesian/Perch gelding. He tries, but ends up all "carriage-horsey" instead of sitting and lengthening his frame.

I hope you're able to share the video. I'd love to see it! Congrats!!

Good mare!

Yes, I want to see this too. We are a bit hit and miss on this--a bit too good at the running sprawl version... there are very few decent examples of medium trot online to emulate--and precious little actual literature explaining the mechanics and processes of it. I spent some time last week going through my books and searching online, but everyone seems to avoid anything more than a rather vague description, let alone a bit of instruction.

I too have found that focusing on the lateral work prior, so they get the idea that they can get their front legs out of the way of their hind legs, helps a lot.

My biggest thrill is getting more power with no rushing.

What did I change? zero leg to aid- organically flows as part of my work. Leg just goosed my horse and caused the reaction which resulted in flinging and rushing. I already have power, just now I choose to release it for a larger gait.

Well, I will see how "real" it is when I see the video. My horse is not a particularly talented trotter to start with, so this may not be very exciting to others with more capable movers!

We never had a rushing or running problem---we had a shoulders not rotating and reaching challenge! I'm not totally sure why yesterday's lateral work on a circle was different than other days---other than we stuck with each exercise a bit longer and demanded more throughness each time. That was a good lesson in training: Wait it out and get enough of a change!

Nice update, Piedmontfields! It will be interesting to read your comments after you've seen the video.

My experience is that usually, if it feels good, it IS good. On the other hand, sometimes things that haven't felt especially good to me have appeared good to whatever trainer I was working with. I specifically remember this with trot work one time at a clinic. The trainer asked me for a medium trot from my arab gelding. I had never even worked on medium trot but I tried. I remember thinking it barely even felt like a lengthening. The trainer however, said it was very good, in fact, better than many that he judged at shows.

So...developing feel, I think is so important.

demi wrote:So...developing feel, I think is so important.

Oh yes, SO important!

I've never sat on a horse that has a strong or powerful medium trot (or canter), so trying to feel it from my big Friesian/Perch is difficult for me. I sometimes think "wow that felt big" and the judge gave me a 4 and said "barely shown". Other times, especially his canter, it has felt big but not huge and I've been given an '8' with a "wow" from the judge. His trot is almost always a 4-6 at most for his medium gaits. He gets more up, not longer.

So anyway, yes, feel is huge!

OK, so here's a correction: It's not a real medium trot (after video review). It's just work towards it--and this time on a circle (which I think is harder than motoring around the arena). For those of you with lovely horses who can easily extend---be grateful. My mare can collect on a dime but extensions are great work for us.

I'll try to post some images this week that show warm up, collected and first stage medium trot. I have to say after seeing my mare on video, she is such a little chunk of a horse! Short necked, a bit thick and genuinely hard to get truly through. The only good thing after looking at video (my first in years) is that I am doing an okay job. But I need my mare to do better, so maybe not such an okay job on my part!! Stay tuned....

Trying for a few steps of medium on a circle seems to help those horses that struggle because the outside of the horse has to travel further (more reach) than the inside if the horse is straight on the circle. So, while harder to ride, the circle can help horses access that movement a bit easier.

I always find that things that feel amazing don't always look as impressive on video!! Sounds like you're on the right track though

Dresseur wrote:Trying for a few steps of medium on a circle seems to help those horses that struggle because the outside of the horse has to travel further (more reach) than the inside if the horse is straight on the circle. So, while harder to ride, the circle can help horses access that movement a bit easier.

Agree, Dresseur. This has been my experience with other horses. Somehow, my mare had been struggling to find the next gear on a circle, but at least we know we can add this tool to the kit.

I found a similar outcome from starting a medium on a diagonal and then transitioning to leg yield for my big carthorse-bred gelding. He was all about the up and down and not so much the out and forward, and that exercise really helped him connect the dots that he could, in fact, reach forward under himself with his hind end and keep his front end out of the way.

But I sympathize with the WOW-THAT-WAS-AWESOME...until-you-see-video feeling. Story of my life.

I'm actually glad not to be in more despair after seeing myself on video. Reviewing again, I think it's fair to say that I did see and feel a change in her trot. It just isn't a medium lol!

Here are some photos pulled from the video of our various trots

Here is the trot during warm-up.


Here is some work on the circle (more towards collected trot)


And here is the trot after that circle work (more towards big trot---for us!)

Ponichiwa wrote:But I sympathize with the WOW-THAT-WAS-AWESOME...until-you-see-video feeling. Story of my life.

Here I'll be all excited because I felt a difference, and then when I post the video of it no one even notices.

Photos look great! Looks like you'll end up with a really nice medium, because you've got the collection/lift there to start with.

Do you have a picture of her stretch trot for comparison? I think you have so much working toward your medium. I think to genuinely improve, the horsr needs to reach out from the base of the neck, not simply the nose. In yout three trots i see changes in carrying, and the front of the neck, but if the base of the neck is not elongating, there is a pause between back and bit.

You obviously have good on the ground help, and my observations are limited to a few pictures. Just offereing a thought.

a comment Khall made on my medium trot photo helped me look at it with new eyes and learn,

Chisamba wrote: I think to genuinely improve, the horsr needs to reach out from the base of the neck, not simply the nose. In yout three trots i see changes in carrying, and the front of the neck, but if the base of the neck is not elongating, there is a pause between back and bit.

I think that is a very accurate description. I always feel like I want to draw Emi's whole neck out from the base another notch! And this is also a place where I can feel a block or a gap---depending on the moment.

piedmontfields wrote:

Chisamba wrote: I think to genuinely improve, the horsr needs to reach out from the base of the neck, not simply the nose. In yout three trots i see changes in carrying, and the front of the neck, but if the base of the neck is not elongating, there is a pause between back and bit.

I think that is a very accurate description. I always feel like I want to draw Emi's whole neck out from the base another notch! And this is also a place where I can feel a block or a gap---depending on the moment.

well in experimenting with it myself, i have found that if I do smaller circles, focusing on being able to keep the bend through the horse between inner leg and outer rein, releasing the inner rein for a moment or two, three or four times on the circle, then changing and doing the opposite in the other direction, again focusing on carrying the bend from the rib cage through the base of the neck inside leg to outside rein, until there is a suppleness through the shoulder to the front, and then working on the medium.


I also experimented with collected, to semi stretch trot, back to collected, back to semi stretch, on the circle, until i could feel, again, an elasticity through the shoulders, base of the neck to rein.

then the transition from collected trot to medium trot, for just maybe ten steps, then back again, focusing on the elasticity of the transition.

Medium before: Khall pointed out that she was uphill but not really reaching from behind ( she was more polite but i think that is what she meant

medium after: Look at the activity from behind, please ignore my hands i let my reins get too long and end up high handed,


my goal is to keep the activity and then bring her a little more uphill again.

Looking good, Piedmont. I get the feeling you are really, really close to a good medium. Just keep working at it and be very patient.

This is a good discussion. Chisamba, I can see the difference in your two pics and get what you're talking about. This is why I like pictures so much.

One trick I learned about lengthening that helped one of my horses was to do shoulder on the long side for several strides and then shoot across a short diagonal. For some reason it worked well on my particular horse. I had been trying lengthened trot with a trainer and she just wasn't appreciating that my horse didn't understand what I was asking. Over a period of several weeks, she had me doing all sorts of different things and I knew my boy was just getting frustrated. I quit lessons with her and didn't even try a lengthening for a few weeks. When I did try again, it was with the shoulder-in to short diagonal exercise. He got it the first time! I didn't push it and within a few weeks he was consistently giving me very nice distinct lengthening trots. Looking back, it may have been a true medium trot but I didn't show him and never rode him with a trainer again so I didn't have an outside opinion. I also didn't have mirrors or video.