Training Video: horse's first real trot.

Charmer learning to trot

This is Charmer's first real trot ride, after being in training for one and a half weeks. I REALLY like this mare and how hard she tries. Not to mention how pretty she is!

We trotted a few steps on Wednesday (her head shot up in shock, we stopped, and I told her how good she was and gave her the night to realize she was ok). She is in a halter because a) she just got her teeth done 2 hours after this was taken, and I won't put a bit in a horse until their teeth are done, b) If something goes wrong, I feel better pulling her up/correcting in a halter than in a bit, and c) I can feed cookies from her back easier!

First trot rides are rarely pretty...unless it is on an arab like Buddy or Beamer...then it looks like they have been doing it for years...but most horses struggle to balance and so put their heads in the air! So often I think magazine articles discussing starting a horse show pictures of horses who are already trained...or they only show the best of the best, so you don't get to see the "real story".

You can see that I am hover sitting; sitting, but slightly tipped forward with my weight in my feet. This is lighter on their back than sitting, but more stable than posting. Near the end I tried posting a few steps, but she broke to a walk in response, telling me she wanted me to stay still!

Charmer was a little distracted by Natalie videoing, but I want to try to record more of my training steps as many of you never get to see what goes in to getting a horse rideable, and I thought it may be interesting to look back on as well.

Karen