Trot

“ You will notice in a trotting race in harness that a horse, when put to top-speed, will now and then give a leap forward of perhaps fifteen or eighteen feet, still holding his trot. It was at the moment when the Kimball Jackson trotter, with one of his powerful hind-quarters, assisted perhaps with an extra shove off from the other, would propel himself forward through the air in this occasional leap that I experienced the keenest delight that I ever got from any kind of locomotion. ”

“ The perfection of the trot consists in its suppleness, giving the horse a free use of his limbs; in its union, distributing his labour more equally, his fore legs having more to sustain than the hind, especially when he is disunited, or on the shoulders; and in its action, which should be true and equal, the liberty of the fore-quarters not exceeding the hind, nor the hind the fore—the knee being up, the haunches bent, springy, and pliant, the step measuring exact distances, and marking a regular time. ”

“ In the true or even trot, the action of the horse is regular, all his limbs moving in an even manner, his feet measuring exact distances, his hoof-beats being in equal time of one, two, three, four, and his feet, when moving rapidly, touching the ground only for an instant. There are two ways in which this trot may be ridden: one is to sit closely to the saddle, moving as little as possible, and making no effort to avoid the roughness of the gait. ”

“ For a lady the canter is generally easier with the right shoulder leading, and some horses are much easier with one than the other lead. In fact, on the trot, many horses are easier when you rise with the off than when you rise with the near foot, or vice versa; and some writers have said that a horse leads with one or other foot in trotting. But as the trot should be a square and even gait, the peculiarity in question is owing to excess of muscular action in one leg and not to anything approaching the lead in the canter or the gallop. ”

“ It may perhaps look more sportsmanlike—I don't like to use the word "horsey"—for a lady always to trot; but no lady, apart from this, begins to look as well upon the trot as when sitting the properly timed park canter of a fresh and handsome horse. Moreover, it requires vastly less art to ride the trot usually seen with us than to bring a high-couraged horse down to a slow parade canter and keep him there, not to dilate upon the gloriously invigorating and luxurious feeling of this gait when executed in its perfection. ”

“ But our gallant men, although they have been subjected to innumerable experimental changes of dress, &c., continue not only hampered and imperilled by a hard cloak, holsters, and carbine affixed in front of their thighs, and imprisoned, especially round their necks, within tight clothing, but their travelling pace, the trot (a jolting movement unknown and unheard of in the plains of South America) , gives to their body and limbs a rigidity painful to look at, and in long journeys wearisome to man and horse. ”

“ If he break into a gallop when it is desired that he should trot, he must be gradually reined in to a walk, and then be started again upon a trot, and this course must be repeated until he obeys, stopping him every time he attempts to gallop, and then starting the trot anew. If he trot too rapidly, he must be checked, by bracing the bridle-hand and increasing the pull upon the reins. If the trot be too slow, the hand must relax the reins a little, and the horse be animated by the voice, and by gentle taps with the whip. ”

“ A trot is odious to them, and they express the utmost astonishment at a person who can like that uneasy gait, as they call it. The favourite gaits which all their horses are taught, are a pace and a wrack. ”

“ There are three varieties of trot, namely, the jog trot, the flying or racing trot, and the true or even trot. In the jog trot each foot is placed nearly in the same track it occupied before it was raised, though somewhat in advance of it, and it remains upon the ground a longer time than when raised in the air, thus rendering the gait almost as slow as the walk. If the horse be young and spirited, he will prefer this gait to that of the walk, and, if permitted, will naturally adopt it. ”

“ If, when at the walk, the horse is urged to go faster, it breaks into the trot. The trot is like the walk, except that the diagonal action is more pronounced and more apparent, and that the feet are kept a shorter portion of the time on the ground. In trotting, the horse's spine at the haunches delivers a succession of shocks to the seat of the rider, who neutralizes them by rising from the saddle an instant before each blow. ”

“ When the forces of the extremities of the trotting-horse are as closely united as is compatible with a forward movement, any increased impulses will be turned into height of action under the body, and the animal will seem to grow under the rider, as with curved crest, in which the quivering muscles prove the pliancy of the mass, the horse goes from one pair of diagonally disposed legs to the other in a slow, measured, brilliant trot—the most beautiful effect possible to obtain. ”

“ Here the hand and the heel change their functions; the hand compels the action, and the heel directs it.
THE TROT.
As to the character of the trot, when we urge the horse to proceed faster than he can by moving one leg after the other in the walk, we oblige him to take up two at a time in the trot. Here the off fore-foot and the near hind-foot give one beat; and the near fore-foot and the off hind-foot give another; so [148] that there are two legs crosswise off the ground, and two legs on; the beats being sharp and quick, in proportion to the degree of animation and extension. ”

“ And, sure enough, we calm the free generous horse into a trot, causing him to put his very nose over the obstacle before taking off; when bucking into the air, like a deer, he leaves it behind him with little more effort than a girl puts to her skipping-rope. The height an experienced wall-jumper will clear seems scarcely credible. ”

“ At the turn of road, however, the quick trot stopped, and in a moment a lady on a bay mare came pacing slowly into sight, -- a young and pretty lady, all in dark blue, with a bunch of dandelions like yellow stars in her button-hole, and a silver-handled whip hanging from the pommel of her saddle, evidently more for ornament than use. The handsome mare limped a little, and shook her head as if something plagued her ”

“ The reason is that the military trot is taught upon the principle of balance. The man sits fair down on his seat, and, keeping his knee forward and his heel well down, does not cling to the horse by muscular grasp; consequently the bumping, so terrific to the eye of the civilian, is scarcely felt by the soldier, and in continental armies, where rough trotting horses are exceptional, the motion or jolt is scarcely perceptible. There are a great many popular fallacies about military riding—as, for instance, that a dragoon rides with a very long stirrup ”

“ In the racing or flying trot, the horse is allowed to step out without the least constraint, the legs being extended as far as possible, and [199] moving straight forward, while the animal spiritedly enters into the occasion and gives out his full power. In this trot all the legs are moved very rapidly, and the hind ones with more force than the fore-legs, in order that the horse's body may, with each bound, be propelled as far forward as possible. ”

“ In that arm of the service, trotting according to regulation is quite a different thing to the easy rise and fall seat practised by civilians on horseback. It is a necessity in cavalry, in order to preserve the dressing in line, that a man should sit down in his saddle at a trot, and allow the horse to shake him fair up and down in it. ”

“ Sometimes they got on a hard piece of road, and had a good trot for a couple of miles, and then they reached some fine open downs, when, giving their little steeds the rein, away they galloped as hard as hoof could be laid to the ground, with the fresh pure air circulating freely round them. ”

“ When such horses change to a trot they should be stopped for a minute or two, and then allowed to proceed again. If the animal carries his head well, ride him with a moderately loose rein, raising the hand when he tries to break into a trot. ”

“ The Trot is very efficacious to bring a Horse to this Union so important, and so necessary; I speak of the Trot, in which he is supported and kept together, and suppled at the same time; this compels the Horse to put himself together: in effect, the Trot in which a Horse is well supported partakes of a quick and violent Motion: It forces a Horse to collect and unite all his Strength, because it is impossible that a Horse that is kept together, should at the same time abandon and fling himself forward. ”

“ The small beast, after much whipping, would break into a trot, and go pattering over the hard, white road, with his long ears wagging, and his tiny hoofs raising a great dust for the benefit of the other turnout just behind. ”

“ In the flying trot the horse leaps a considerable distance through the air at each stride—evidently a mode of progression unsuited for ladies, who must attain speed in trotting by quickening the step without undue lengthening of the stride. ”

“ Now she picked her course dexterously down the hillside with the cream-colored mare of Pierre following half a length behind.
After the first down-pitch of ground was covered they passed into difficult terrain, and for half an hour went at a jog trot, winging in and out among the rocks, climbing steadily up and up through the hills.
Here the ground opened up again, and they roved on at a free gallop, the black always half a length in front. ”

“ In the trot, there is a leading foot, either right or left, by which the corresponding side is a little more advanced than the other. This leading with either foot is valuable, as, in horses that have not been thus suppled, if chance or fatigue makes them change their leg for that which they are not accustomed to, the action is stiff, confined, and irregular. ”

“ It has been proved satisfactorily to the French, who have always been "close" riders, that to rise in the trot saves the horse to a very great percentage, put by some good authorities at as high a figure as one sixth. Moreover, it was not a strange step forward. That it is natural to rise in the trot is shown by there being to-day many savage or semi-civilized tribes which practice the habit in entire unconsciousness of its utility being a disputed point anywhere. ”

“ Under certain circumstances, it will also enable a lady to ride a man's horse, which will be very apt to have this trot in perfection, and but little knowledge of, or training in, any other gaits. In the country a regular and sure trotting horse may often be readily obtained, while it will be much more difficult to procure one with a light, easy canter or gallop. This trot, when well cadenced and in perfect time, is very captivating, as the rider escapes all jolting, and feels more as if she were flying through the air than riding upon a horse. ”

“ This trot should never be ridden by ladies after their first lessons in riding, unless the horse moves so easily in it that his rider is not jolted in the least. To trot so softly that no shock will be experienced by the rider as the horse's feet touch the ground will require a thorough-bred of rare formation. ”

“ It is very excellent practice, especially in teaching the rider to rise in unison with the horse's trot, whether he leads with the right or left leg. For first lessons, the pupil must commence by circling to the right, as this is the easiest to learn, and will teach her to bear toward the right side of the horse. It is very essential that in first lessons she should do this; because in the English trot she will have to guard carefully against inclining [215] to the left in the rise and descent, a fault common to all beginners who are not better instructed. ”

“ The men mount, wheel into column; I order "trot," "trot out," and we move rapidly up the fourth road. No sooner out of sight of the houses at our starting place, than we come down to the slowest of walks. Whenever a house appears, we are seen on a trot; and whenever the house is passed, we find ourselves on a walk. Thus we appear to be going rapidly up this road, when we are in fact moving slowly. Some three miles up is a watering place, the only one, and there our thirsty horses must drink. As we pass the last house, its pack of dogs bark, and its inmates come out and look at us go by. ”

“ To teach a colt the true trot, the reins should not be held slack as in walking, but should be well gathered up to make the animal place his hind legs well under him, and also cause him to lift his fore limbs higher, thus giving him knee action; the great beauty and comfort in the trot being free action, and as an extreme pace is not required, comfort and looks are placed in the scale against flying speed. ”

“ The action in single-foot is a slow trot in front, and a fast walk behind. It is exactly the movement of a horse thoroughly tired out by a long journey, which is nevertheless being urged forward by its rider. Such an animal, again rested, will return to his normal walk and trot. ”

“ Riding along at a hard trot, we required to be ever on the alert, and to maintain an incessant motion of the feet, in order to avoid collision with the irregular surface and the projecting stones on either side of us. ”

“ To make the horse advance from a walk to a trot, draw upwards the little finger of each hand (or that of the left hand only, when the pupil has advanced enough to hold the reins in one hand) , and turn them towards the body: an animation of the leg or whip should accompany this motion. The trot [80] should be commenced moderately: if the horse start off too rapidly, or increase the pace beyond the rider’s inclination, she must check him by closing the hands firmly ”