My question is how do you capture that springy wonderful feeling that you get when going over Trot poles and get the same feeling without them? How do you recreate that movement when not using poles? My understanding is that we use Trot poles to improve the horses way of going, to use his back, to articulate the joints, to encourage more reach / lift in the Trot. There are all sorts of wonderful ways to work with Trot poles which I think are great but I feel like there is no explanation of how to transition that movement into changing the way your horse goes around in the working Trot. Hope my question is not confusing.
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The work over trot poles can teach you a lot about how your seat is feeling - you are lightened in that upward spring. Try to continue that same feel in your seat, and see if the horse takes you up on the opportunity you are offering.
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This is a great question! I’ve just started incorporating cavaletti into our work and I’m curious about this too. From what I can tell, a good chunk of it is just helping the horse develop the right muscling and fitness to move that way, then under saddle, when starting to work with more collection, you can just ask for more suspension and activity through half halts, and since the muscling is there, you are more likely to get better results. (But I would love for others with more knowledge to also chime in!)
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I would recommend the Cavaletti books by Ingrid Klimke and there are some videos of her too… She is the expert on Cavalettis and is extremly successful with incorporation it into her training.
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@Manni, sure I have those, but the question still remains - how do you get that same suspension once the cavaletti are removed? (I don’t remember it being discussed in the books.)
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^^^ this is how you start to re-create it.
Pretty much all we do in dressage is trying to re-create it. Working on opening the back with lateral and longitudinal work each ride will help.
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what do you mean …once the cavaletti are removed??
In fact I did have a horse some years ago whose trot was totally improved by cavaletti work. He did have a lot of suspension but was rushing. With the help of the cavaletti he found his rhythm…
I started to feel the rhythm while going over the cavaletti and tried to keep it as long as possible, once we lost it, we went over the cavaletti again. over the time he was able to hold the rhythm longer and longer. And finally we could do it without the cavaletti.
Its dependent on your ability to focus on this perfect feeling and very important to be very very loose on your horse at the same time. You really need to try to not hinder your horse from moving his back freely. And if you loose it go over the cavaletti again without getting tense or frustrated…
It will be very rewarding once you feel it over longer periods…
at least that was my personal experience. No idea whether that is correct. But Good luck with you and your horse!!!
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One exercise I have seen Ingrid do is to work on a smallish circle (10-15 meters?) with four poles. Two poles are set at 12 o’clock and 2 poles are at 6 o’clock, spaced for one trot stride. You ride the circle and get the trot going nicely over the two poles, then use the space in between to work on keeping the feel with the half halts and your seat. You need the poles to get the horse bouncing but without too much time in between them that you lose the quality of trot. You can set up a repeating pattern other ways, but you need to have some poles + some strides without poles + poles + strides without poles. The circle works better because it helps keep the horse engaged.
Eventually the space between the poles can increase as you learn to maintain the quality of trot longer. In theory :lol:.
Try the set-up with a 15-meter circle and longe your horse first to get the height and spacing right. You’ll be amazed how his trot improves after a few minutes of this pattern.
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So glad to get some ideas / responses to this question thanks all who thoughtfully responded and I hope we get more.
@ Manni01 regarding the removal of Cavaletti we mean that the horse has a level of suspension while trotting over the cavaletti but that once you are not actively going over the cavaletti that suspension is lost. My original question is how do you keep that suspension how do you teach your horse that yes this is what I want from you.
Manni01 in your description you mention keeping the rhythm as long as possible what are your aids at this time? Do you give the same aids while going over the Cavaletti, and dose that then keep it going as you stride off?
When I am going over cavaletti I had been taught to really allow the horse the freedom he needed to navigate and get over them so very much keep out of his way and don’t interfere. So I am light in my seat and very giving with the reins letting him have some length and if he needed to he can reach forward and down as we go over. Maybe this is ok to start with but at some point I need to be more of a director while going over them?
@LarkspurCO I love that idea for the 4 poles exercise you mention ill definitely be trying that.
and @ Feathers I agree that the strength / fitness/ muscling are a huge part of this. 
I am confident that once that is built it is probably much easier and more likely to continue that movement.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ba8rnKizm_c not sure if Larkspur was talking about this video, but I think it shows the set up for the circle. And I think you can do all cavaletti in one round or skip two of them by riding the circle smaller or bigger. So a lot of varieties…
And regarding your question… I don’t know your horse. As I said my horse had big suspension but chased… And if I look at the Klimke videos her horses are not keeping the suspension after going over the cavaletti, but you can see how they loosen up in their back. So I think it depends on the horse… you have to be patient and take whats coming I guess…
And no, I don’t think you need to regulate the horse over the cavaletti watch the video, I think I.K. shows it perfectly. But you can still try to keep that feeling even with the longer reins after your horse went over them…
@Manni01 So my horse has pretty good natural rhythm in the trot though you need to be careful not to rush him which leads to quicker steps not bigger steps. He can do a very quality medium but we keep that to just a few strides right now because he is building strength like many horses hell get wide behind if you don’t bring him back after just a few strides. Having said that and its obvious strength is a big part of where we are at I am so impressed with the way the trot feels when going over trot poles on him its such a awesome feeling. His normal trot is lacking suspension and though has good quality it is as they say grounded. I am sure with time, strength, training the trot suspension can be built and improved just look at Valegro 
so I was trying to figure out how I might capture that feeling even if its only for one stride without the pole or cavaletti and then I can build on it. No one has ever really explained how to make that growth / transition to me before. I don’t think I am doing anything incorrectly now just that I wish to better understand the process and what my goals / direction might be. Maybe these details will be helpful.
Good luck with your horse!! Its always a great journey!! It doesn’t sound like you are doing anything wrong. Sometimes you just need patience and one day everything is there as you wanted it. And your horse sounds lovely!!
And something else, which might be helpful with rushing horses… Really try to keep the slow rhythm after the cavaletti. Slow rhythm makes it easier for rushing horses to relax. But really you need to be relaxed too… Most of the time the rider causes the tension… I don’t want to say you do it, but I know thats my problem… And sometimes when you ride slow you can feel how the horse starts to work loose over the back.
But this is really a lot of experimenting and feeling on your part. Riding is feeling!!
This is the video I had in mind when I wrote the other post. About 20 minutes in is the exercise I was thinking of (I forgot about the walk steps) but the whole thing is worth watching. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H-eg8C_4-w
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I forget who it is but some eventer had the brilliant idea of building a round water jump type of pond mainly for trotting the horse sthrough knee deep water around in circles to build strength. You could always try that!
An exercise that might help is trot poles with gaps. Set up a line of six poles. Move the third pole to the end (pole 7), then move the sixth pole to the end (pole 8). Your line now looks like pole 1, pole 2, missing pole, pole 4, pole 5, missing pole, pole 7, pole 8.
When the trot is the same all the way through you can double the gap. Pole 1 & 2, missing 3 & 4, pole 5 & 6, missing 7 & 8, pole 9 & 10.
Vary the poles and gaps. 3 poles, 3 missing, 3 poles. 3 poles, 2 missing, 2 poles, 3 missing, 2 poles. Use as many poles as you’re willing to set up and put away.
Do remember this is just as demanding as Medium trot and will take time to build the strength and fitness required, so be careful not to overdo it.
I didn’t realize this post was 8 years old. 
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Yes This is 8 yrs old I was like why am I getting a notification I haven’t been in here in probably over a year. But I do think there is great material in here that can help others work through their riding challenges. So the horse this post is about is now 14 and does some really sexy trot work including Piaf and Passage. Go figure.
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It was so weird - it came up to the front page even before anyone commented. So no wonder you didn’t notice!
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