20/10/2023
Another visual for you all piggy backing on the last discussion of rhythm vs. tempo. Once you understand tempo (the speed of the rhythm) you start to understand that you have to find the *ideal* tempo for your horse. Most horses tend to go too fast or too slow, and they all vary in their tempo. Finding that sweet spot is hard and keeping it is harder.
So here’s an equation to help. Longest possible strides plus slowest possible tempo equals the ideal working trot. A good way to visualize it is a Venn diagram - where is the confluence of those two things. ONLY asking for the longest possible strides from your horse will get you a horse who is just running - out of balance, pushing out behind and hollow in the top line. ONLY finding the slowest possible tempo will get you a toe dragging, shuffling trot that is maybe relaxed but definitely not pushing and swinging.
To find that “sweet spot,” you might need to experiment between the two. If the tempo feels nice and steady and fairly slow, can you ask for longer and longer strides without quickening it? Or if the trot feels big and ground covering but a bit quick, can you slow the tempo down incrementally but still cover a lot of ground?
This is definitely an oversimplification. There are many factors involved with finding your horse’s ideal working trot. And each horse is different. But this is a good place to start. If your horse tends to be too slow, work more on finding the length of stride, even if the horse rushes a bit at first. And if your horse tends to rush, work toward a slower and slower tempo, even if the strides get too short to start with.
Hat tip to my mom, Cindy Sydnor, who always taught the idea of this Venn diagram. And thanks to the amazing Susan DiFelice for bringing it to life with her amazing artistic skills.