# Random hops at the trot?



## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

If it's a game for her, what is she getting out of it? If it didn't achieve something for her - you stopping work for eg - she wouldn't do it. 

Horses are indeed very stoic & often put up with a lot before we realise, due to obvious signs or 'misbehaviour'. I'd want to get her checked out by a good choropractic vet, because it sounds physical to me. Not that it's necessarily a pain thing either though, it sounds like it could be a 'locking stifle'... of which I just wrote a thread on in the health section.


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## TXhorseman (May 29, 2014)

I agree with loosie that intermittent hops while trotting are likely a sign of pain. I would assume a sudden pinch of a nerve which can't be ignored rather than a chronic soreness. Again, agreeing with loosie, I would think an equine chiropractor the best qualified to diagnose such an issue.


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## DuckDodgers (May 28, 2013)

I agree with the folks above. If she's doing it completely out the blue when you're not giving her any "go forward" cues then it may very well be pain related. That possibility doesn't mean that it's NOT a training issue, but as in all cases I'd rather rule out the pain possibility. I know the action you're talking about as my horse will do that sometimes when I'm asking him to pick up his pace in the trot. He'll get excited and act like he's going to pick up the canter, but backs off immediately when I ask. It's one thing if he's just getting too excited or I bumped him up a little too much, but if it's coming at random when you're calmly (or calmly for her!) trotting along then I'd be a little concerned.


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## PrivatePilot (Dec 7, 2009)

Okay I will breach the possible pain issue more with her owner and get her thoughts. I'm also not going to rule out that it's a training issue as she does have some vices for sure which is one of the reasons that it seems I'm the only person that rides her anymore... as well as the fact that she's too strong/fast for a lot of the younger kids. 

As for it being an incomplete upwards transition, I'll do some more experimenting when I ride her next and see if I can get into her head a little bit more. It's entirely possible - she's not a big fan of maintaining a nice working trot during flatwork - she'd much rather break to a canter. Perhaps it's a bit of impatience mixed in there as well - we're both all about the canter which is probably why I love her so much despite our faults. 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

does she do this for all riders? it could be the way that you are posting.

you say she seems more comfy when you intentionallly take the wrong diagonal. that would mean you are rising off of her inside hind leg's push, instead of the outside hind's push. h m m .. . . . could that have anything to do with this?


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## PrivatePilot (Dec 7, 2009)

tinyliny said:


> does she do this for all riders?


I've been told yes, but like I said, not a lot of people ride this mare anymore - she's below the high level riders but too much for the beginner or even low-intermediate riders. Add in her vices and she spends a lot of time hanging out with her buddies in her paddock. 

I know of one lady who started riding her early in the winter as a prospect for showing her this year, but moved on to another horse - I'll ask her when I see her next and see if she experienced it as well. 




> it could be the way that you are posting.
> 
> you say she seems more comfy when you intentionallly take the wrong diagonal. that would mean you are rising off of her inside hind leg's push, instead of the outside hind's push. h m m .. . . . could that have anything to do with this?


Hmmm. I hadn't comtemplated that. As mentioned she'd always rather go faster than slower, but she is responsive and slows town at the trot if you intentionally slow your post. Speed up though and she'll happily speed up with you. 

Perhaps I'm so aggressively trying to maintain a slower pace than she'd prefer that I'm more out of sync with her than I realize. 

Food for thought.


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## ecasey (Oct 18, 2013)

My half arab does this. I don't remember ... is your girl an arab? After about 15 months of riding her 3-5x a week, I can honestly say this is not a mean things she's doing. I notice specific times she'll do it; for example, when she sees a horse poo she doesn't want to step in, when she knows there's no transition coming soon and we're on the long side of the arena, when she's nervous because she heard a big noise somewhere. It's super bouncy and used to throw my rhythm off big time, but now I'm used to it and hardly notice it.

Recently I started working on lengthening her trot and shortening it, and I noticed when I do the part where we keep the trot very energetic but slow, this bouncy thing comes with nearly every stride, but more comfortably. So my amateur analysis tells me that weird bounce she gets every once in a while is when she shortens her stride herself, for just one or two steps.

ETA: I thought for a long time she was doing this on purpose to throw off my rhythm and I got mad at her for it, but I eventually did realize that wasn't it at all. Now that I know her better, I know it's not in her nature to be a butthead like that. She just lived a very long time without someone teaching her consistent gaits. We're still working on that.


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## ecasey (Oct 18, 2013)

Okay, I'm adding to my above post again. As I picture my last lesson with her, I'm thinking of other details! 

When we are specifically working on managing the speed of her gait, keeping it energetic, etc, she doesn't do this. It's when she's not being drawn into my control of her speed and is left to her own devices when she does this special little hop thing.

My girl has a clean bill of health from the vet and the osteopath for her back, and her saddle and bitless bridle are great, so it's not a pain issue. I'm writing it off as a half-Arab issue. 

Also, I thought it might be that she was collecting herself more for those strides, hence the very different feel of it. ??? I'm not experienced enough to know this, but that's what it "felt" like to me.


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## PrivatePilot (Dec 7, 2009)

Updating my thread. I've rode her a few more times since my original post and observed (and had others observe) things.

She shows no outward signs of pain at the trot. At the canter there's good clean movement on all legs, no hopping or favoring any one leg, pricked ears and lots of enthusiasm - basically, no outward signs of any pain there either.

It's _front legs only_ generating this hop, which would seem to eliminate a locking stifle as the possible cause. It seems more and more like a desire to make the upward transition that I'm preventing by asking to maintain the trot instead. As an experiment I intentionally slowed her trot down (using a slower post which she readily matched) to the point where she could barely maintain the gait (I didn't think it was possible for her to go that slow, I learned something new about her :wink and the problem disappears, so it only appears evident at a more energetic and forward trot.

If I sit-one during the hop (the same as one would switching your diagonal) she doesn't bump me onto the wrong diagonal like she was, so I was concentrating and making sure to sit them to avoid being dumped onto the wrong one. The more I refused to be knocked onto the wrong diagonal, seemingly the less and less she did it, leaving me wondering if it is indeed some sort of game for her...the same as knocking over coffee cups and cellphones left perched on jump standards is a game for her when you're not paying attention. :wink:

But the earlier question of "what's she getting out of it if it IS a game" question is not without merit...so this still remains a bit of a mystery.


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