how do you get a horse to trot beside you?

My morgan did the exact same thing for the longest time. I do Natural Horsemanship with my horse but this technique will work for anyone. :) And remember, if he starts to trot, STOP asking him to trot or he will think that he is doing something wrong.

First Prepare your horse for the trot. When you know that you are going to trot, inhale deeply. Get you energy up and send your energy forward. Get really excited and very forward. As you are doing this, start to trot in place. This is what we call phase one meaning you are giving your horse warning that it is time to trot. If he trots with you, great, if not, then you will move on the the next step.

Second begin the process of moving forward. Carry out your warning and beginning "trotting" yourself forward. Continuing trotting. If he trots with you, keep let him have a break and pet him just to show him he did the right thing. If not, move on to phase three.

Phase three, Increase your energy a lot. Get really big and overly exaggerated with your trotting motions. Take whatever you are using, ( I use a natural horsemanship stick and string but you can use a lunge whip instead if that is all you have as long as the horse is accustomed to it and not afraid of it, if it is let him get used to it before you being this exercise.) and tap your horse on the shoulder but this is really important; do NOT look at him when you do this. THis makes it personal and will entice him to be dominant and compete with you. Also, if you look at him, you are begging him to trot with you which will only make him be more dominant and less apt to trot along with you.

Phase four. Again, do not look at the horse while doing this. Tap him hard on the shoulder until he trots. Do not "hit" him with it. Keep a steady rhythm while tapping the shoulder with a good amount of force. Eventually, if you do this correctly he will trot.

Remember: when you move on a stage, you still continue the other stages. you just add to it. i.e. keep making the trotting movements while you are tapping.

The second your horse trots, allow him to come to a walk because that is a great reward for doing what you have asked. Each time he trots you can gradually increase the amount of time he trots. Make sure you give him several seconds to understand what you are asking before moving on to the next stage and reward him a lot when he trots.

My horse used to do the same thing yours does now all I have to do is inhale when I want to him to move up a gait and exhale when I want him to go down. It was a matter of suggesting, asking, telling and THEN carry the promise you made to him, "we WILL trot." It is a great method and it teaches your horse to do it when you suggest. Eventually you will never have to get to phase four because he knows what is coming. A lot of the problems we have with our horses is that we don't ask them to do it first, we demand and then get angry when they don't do it.

Good luck to you!

When you tried running, were you pulling her and ending up ahead of her? Every time you try, you must be standing at her side, not ahead of her, which can make the lead reign too taut and just encourage her to pull back against you.Each time she refuses, you need to reposition yourself so that you are never standing in front of her, always at her side and have a loose contact. Any voice commands she responds to when ridden should also work when led. Schooling whips are useful, just long enough to flick lightly behind you as you begin to move into a trot. If possible, have her follow another horse the first few times... have someone walk ahead of you also leading a horse and when they move into trot, ask your horse to also. When she has understood the connection between the commands and the action, you can remove the other horse. In the worst case, try her with a bridle first until she understands, before switching to a headcollar/halter. Good luck.

Like the above person said. Take a lunge whip and put it in your left hand and you jog off and gently tap your horse with it behind your back, the horse might try to move away, and in the process will more than likely start to trot, and when your trying to get him to trot kiss or smooch to him that way he knows when you kiss or smooch that he needs to speed up as you are doing.. Once your horse trots go a few steps with it, and stop and give your horse a treat and tell him good boy. Do this about 5 times then take a break.

GOOD LUCK!

Never look back at your horse. I won't go into why but it is counter-productive. Like chasenrodeo said, the tap on the hindquarters is effective if you have not already dulled the little guy. It's like this: You pick up your life and fully expect the horse to be in tune with you. If you step off at a walk, he steps off at a walk. If you burst up into a trot, he bursts up into a trot. And so on.

I would suggest you go back a step or two in his training and teach him it is his job to not allow you to take the float out of the rope. One easy way to do this is stand squarely in front of him. Pick up the leadrope and ever so carefully give him a direct rein. (Glide and guide the lead line so it goes very smoothly from nuetral (slack in rope) to taught. As you put the feel on the rope do not look at him. Look where you want that inside foreleg to go. One step is all you need. Then release. Do not throw the rope away like it's a hot potato. That can unsettle him and you may or may not be surprised by his response. Just release the rope back to the nice float. As he gets more sure, you can allow the belly of the line to rest on the ground between 'direct rein' guidings on the line.

Next, stand beside him. (Many people like their horse's shoulder even with their shoulder. I prefer to begin with the horse's poll even with my shoulder. This gives him confidence. So he is learning not to allow you to take slack out of the rope. When you step off he will follow. When you go up in gait, he will know it is his job to not allow you to take the float out and keep up with you. Slowing, transitioning down is the same. It first comes from your intent and energy. You use your tools, (leadline and whip) to be extensions of your arms. You do not use them as punishment. Pressure motivates but it is the release that teaches. Also know that you do not want to dull your horse. Keep him light and responsive by understanding the threat of pressure (showing the tool) is more powerful than the pressure itself. If you smack him too many times he will quickly learn he can handle that and it can turn into "Yeah. So what. I don't feel like it." Then you are stuck in a situation where you start upping the pressure. Nothing screams amature like that.

Horses like this, not spooky at new things, can lose their confidence so be very careful you do not assume too much. Introduce him to everything as if he could spook and he will repay you a thousand fold for taking good care of him.

how I do this is I carry a lunge whip and jog beside him and tap him on the but with it if he still wont go tap him harder and dont just work on this he will get board of it and wont want to do it any more so do other things to. Remember once he starts going when he\she stops praise and try again but dont keep doing this all day.

In order to get your horse to move "with" you at whatever pace you set he needs to "join up" with you. That means that he needs to bond to you like a dog bonds with its owner but please do not mistake a horse personality for a dog personality as they are completely opposite. There is an excellent DVD by a renowned equine trainer Chris Irwin called "Roundpen Redefined" and it is an essential tool in training both in hand and joining up. This DVD is absolutely essential for anyone who is starting out a young horse. I am able to call my horse in from the field and walk/trot him at any pace I set. He will even "join up" with me and follow me in to the barn from a training session without a lead rope. I rarely recommend any type of training video because most of them are just a ploy to make money but this DVD is different and I give it my full recommendation. Truly believe you will absolutely agree. I don't sell them nor am I connected in any way to Chris Irwin but I do have several of his DVDs and think he is way better than Parrelli or any of the other "natural" horse training ploys that are out there. I think you will really be glad you got it.

And the fact that there are a ppl on here that disagree with this is clear evidence that there are way too many ppl out there that own horses and yet know absolutely nothing about training or working with horses, which is so, so very sad for their horses, as it is the horses that suffer from their owners lack of equine training education. Whacking your horse unexpectedly with a lunge or dressage whip when he does not even know you have it will cause additional behavior problems, including distrust in you and possible bolting or rearing. You should never have to startle or frighten a horse in order to get him to comply with your request to increase his pace.

Carry a lunge whip with you and without turning around start jogging and with your left hand go behind your back and tap him on the butt.

I second what cr said. Also, you could have an assistant follow behind (and to the side, in case he decides to kick) and tap him with the whip for you.