I have been reading a lot of Q & A things on Instagram, there is a well knowns NFR qualifiers daughter that said she never trots her horse.  She has noticed less problems with stifles and other lameness issues since she stopped. She said she does a lot of walking and loping.

I like to long trot to build my horses lungs up.  Do any of you NOT trot at all? 

I've been taught not to trot my young ones (2/3 yr olds who haven't seen the pattern yet) because trotting teaches extension while we're trying to teach collection. 
But I'm a terrible listener and I trot them anyways once I get them home. I've been curious about the same thing, because I've read a lot that says trotting can help to strengthen the stifle? 

I saw that post too. I was intrigued by it. I've heard the polar opposite that it helps extend and stretch their muscles and helps keep them from being sore. She's the first person I have heard with that thought. I want to ask my vet about it just out of curiousity. I've always trotted my horses. 

Where can we find this post?

I mostly walk and lope, always have. Never had to inject one... not saying this is why but it makes you wonder.

It was a Q & A on her instagram stories.  You can't see it anymore.

Hmm. I have always walked and trotted most, and loped the least. Interesting.

Interesting. Too bad the post was on her Insta story....I'd have liked to have seen it. Or a vet chime in, for that matter...

I learned that loping circles was the worst thing for stifles and rollbacks the bane of hocks. 

You can find articles with theories claiming anything you want these days.

I will stick with long trotting straight lines and working circles at a hand trot or walk. I lope some, but not much. I'll do start and stops with my stallion when he is already in really great shape because those are bound to be hard on joints and hamstrings and hips. 

I have a mare that gets very tight and sore in the neck and poll if I long trot her a lot and I remember that Ed Wright wasn't too keen on most of our propensity of extended trotting and not doing enough collected trotting or collected loping. 

I don't trot very much in comparison to others.

I trot maybe 25% of the total time I am exercising. Most everything I do is straight lines as well. 

I feel trotting tucks the belly up, but loping is what builds the lungs.

just my 2 cents  at  the track  to help keep 1 sane  i long trot as long as i could then galloped  it helped  had my traines blessing

at home long trot same thing keeps them sane and work everything plus gives my thighs  exercise from   taying off their back

just me

You could never convince me to not long trot. It's how I quickly get.from point A to B on the ranch all day without wearing the horse out. We have horses in thier mid to late 20s still working and roping. 

I can see how it would sore a horse if you picked on headset and did not post properly  though. NOT stating this person (NFR qualifiers daughter) rides like that just saying I can see how trotting could damage a horse. 

What I don't do is lope endless circles ;-) 

Long trotting I think is the best, works alot more muscles then slow lopping and just loping circles.. I'm old school..

 I have no idea who youre talking about and I couldnt careless what her mom runs and wins unless her mom is being interviewed.

 Does this girl train her own and run and win?

 Im guessing she buys trained horses then recycles them after they start not performing up to par...rinse and repeat.

I have a friend who is a trainer in another state, so I don’t get to see her but I often am asking for her advice. I bought a horse from her in 2003 and have looked up to her since. She recently told me she doesn’t trot her horses much because it’s harder on their bodies than loping. I had never thought of it before, but it does resonate with me. 

Bo Hill said in a training video, she doesn’t trot much, but does lope one because trotting hurts her hips.  She seemed to think it was not a big deal. 

I honestly believe it's the quality of the trotting.If someone is long trotting with their horses head up in the air and back hollow they will probably see more soundness problems. If you encourage a horse to trot and extend while stretching their neck down and forward, lifting their back and stepping deep underneath you are actually stretching, engaging and strengthening the correct muscles... 

She buys, trains, wins, and sells her own, as well as jockeying some really nice made ones. Its ok for someone to have something that works for them that you may not agree with, without being snarky about it. 

I agree 100% with this statement!

She also said she lopes circles every day. 

It really is to each their own just wanted to see what others said. 

Also agree with this 100%. 

When I was on the road rodeoing; I became friends of a girl out there who said she never trotted her horses as her Dad was a vet and said it's hard on the body.  I believe it..  I do trot mine but I lope more than I trot. 

In the intrest of discussion, those saying its hard on the horse, have you ever been given an explination of why or shown any studies. I feel like it would be very subjective to how you ride and what you are riding on.  

I've been googling and can't find any acatual facts on this. Other than PETA and a few opinion articles.

I can absoultly see how it is on hard ground, roads, ext. Or if you jam your horses back everystride but I can't find much on the Google.

I'm aware what I said above but I'm acatualy interested in facts on this. I'm honestly surprised so many won't trot a horse and want to know why other than somebody said it was hard on them. 

I’ve always thought that too many small circles at a lope puts a lot of unnecessary strain on hocks and stifles.  I think that straight line work with extended trotting and loping is the best form of keeping them conditioned. I try to cater to what the horse seems to like.  One of mine seems to like to lope, as opposed to long trotting, and his trot is more bouncy to me, which is harder on my old man knees, so I just sit back in the rocking chair and lope him for 2-3 miles.  Another seems to love long trotting, and I do that on him for the same distance.  He really stretches out and reaches, so for him I think that is excellent conditioning.  As to circles, I will lope, including a few circles at a reverse-arc, but usually no more than maybe 5-10 minutes.  Every 1-2 weeks I breeze them for about 300-400 yds. 

I used to long trot a lot. Until I had an arthritic gelding that would sore up from long bouts of trotting. Now I mostly do what I call "long loping" or slow gallops when I need to put miles under one. My long trotting is confined to about 1/4 to 1/2 mile at a time.

Trotting puts a lot of concussion force on your horse's leg joints, and is especially aggravating to SI injuries. It's a great tool in moderation, and as WetSaddleBlankets said, when the horse is carrying themselves properly. But after developing different fitness programs for different horses over the years, I no longer feel long trotting for extended periods of time is all that beneficial, especially for mature and older horses.

That said, few things will get to a frisky colt's brain faster than a nice long trot through a sandy river bottom, lol.

I trot a lot because my mare is usally humped up when I first get on (almost every ride) and if I try to go straight to a lope she will kick up.....so we trot until she chills out a bit. When I was growing up we lived way out in the country on dirt roads, not gravel, we would long trot for miles.

I walk, trot, lope and run pretty straight and on both leads then do tighter circles to be sure each muscle is used and warmed. But I am not a professional and never will be

I don't really think it matters a whole lot...I believe this is just individual between horses and riders preference! There are so many trainers at the track with polar opposite training methods...and all of them have winners and losers. As long as you keep your horse fit, and are doing what that horse can handle, that's all that matters! Wether that's long trotting, loping, breezing, swimming, eurocising..if the horse is sound enough for the training and barrels, I don't think how you get there matters as much. We have some that we long trot only, and some that gallop for miles..both run the same race 

The two best barrel horses I've had, were opposites too! One I long trotted only, because she was so lazy and it was a chore getting her to lope, haha. The other I did a bit of everything on, she was more catty and agile. 

She must not have very many cold-backed colts haha!  I have rode several that I would trot for a LONG time before letting them lope, so I didn't hit the ground :) 

One of the better known horse chiros in our area worked on my horse. My horse was really sore and Butch asked me if I trot him, "yes", and he told me to stop it.  The horse is amazingly better!  Walk a lot and then lope.  It has taken a couple of months to recover, but he is obviously moving way more freely, and started getting better the first week.  

Wow this really blows my mind. Do you see endurance riders loping their horses 100 miles??  NO! They trot, long trot! I can't believe someone would say that trotting is bad for the horse, good grief!! 

This is super interesting to me because I have always been told and thought trot trot trot. Since reading this a few days ago I took a clients horse to the vet for EPM progress exam and he said to build back up the muscle he lost LOPE! I would have assumed long trotting up into the bridle but I am glad I asked - and I only asked because of this post! I agree it depends on situation and horse but this was a post that made me think and ask questions for sure. 

Just sharing a link to an old 2015 thread where we also discussed trotting. Some more good info and experiences there as well:

How far do you long trot?

I think to find actual scientific studies on the impact of the trot, you'd have to research Standardbreds. They've done a few, but not many. Unfortunately most studies are done on the gallop (because that's where the big money is). It's difficult to find in-depth studies on any of the other gaits.

Just my 2 cents here

I grew up in the english/dressage world as far as my own personal riding. I was surrounded by TBs(family were breeders) and later made the jump to barrels. I have spent time working for both Standard bred breeders and Arab breeders. I have worked for 2 different vets and think to paint trotting as bad is entirely too broad. .

We are taught long slow distances build stamina, endurance and strength in bone.

I feel that the way you trot, be it in frame or reaching out and stretching definitely impacts how effective or damaging your trot work is.The stage of training or retraining can cause one to become sore much like someone learning to jog correctly can cause soreness. As does saddle fit, and how the trot is being ridden by the rider. I have seen horses so sore from trotting under one rider and free moving and fine under another.Frankly i have seen WAY to many barrel horses that I have no doubt are sored by trotting with gear on them that the rider does not understand the purpose or intent.

You also must take into consideration the horses own build. We have spent so much time trying to create the perfect barrel horse by crossing short stout lines on tall leggy sprinters that we have created other issues. Like it or not we have changed the locomotion of the animal in an effort to advance ourselves. I personally do not like certain lines at all (ASOF, CC to name a few) You can look at the structure and see the potential failures and issues if put to work as a barrel horse. If you study certain lines you learn what is congenital and what is form & function for the purpose. 

Our current TBs are faster than ever before. These guys are bred to be sprinters. The push to repurpose & retrain Tbs is fantastic. No one warns these people who are rushing to grab them up & retrain them (most are heading to the english world) the struggles they will face with feet. Here you have an animal who spends most of his time galloping is one carriage and now due to not knowing how to carry himself has to learn to move in a different fashion and reaches so far under and some times past their front feet at a trot that they clip and pull shoes quite frequently. I have seen several TBs sored at the trot during retraining as they learn to move differently.

All that being said, I just feel the statement "trotting is bad" is way too vague and not one I can agree with.

Went to a clinic from the mother of this daughter, and she also prefers loping. IMO they ride a lot a like (no surprise) but mother is also successful so it must work for them. I will say I've started trotting less and loping more since then. I have an OTTB that is naturally super slow legged, and I would long trot a lot to get her to stride it out and move, and she suggested loping. I try to lope half of my lope time as collected, and then throw her the rein and ask her to move out. Mare drops her head on the loose rein and just moves out. She also suggested that if trotting, the carriage is important, long/low was her recommendation for me because one of my other mares is naturally high headed...

Exactly! Just see how winded and sore your horse is if you lope all day long on the ranch gathering cattle. My show horse is the only horse I have ever had that is back/body sore and we and my vets contribute it to so many other factors. 

I don't think there is a real right or wrong, because a lot of the barrel racers etc that this works for, don't get out of the arena and a 20 minute ride is a normal outing. So they may not need to trot. But if you are horseback for 4-8 hrs. They better be trotting or they will be so sore and tired not to mention what it will do to the lungs. 

I will compare it to feeding grass hay or alfalfa hay. No real right or wrong. Depends on the individual horse and what it needs.

All this ^^^^ When you are moving cattle or going from point A to point B you need to do alot of trotting, not the flat footed jaw jarring trot but the long/extented trot, theres a big difference between the flat footed trot and the extented long trot, I can see just trotting can mess with joints for a long period of time.. when I move out on a horse I do alot of posting.. I have see people just sit a trotting horse and it just hurts to watch them beat the crap out of their horses back..

I will continue to long trot my horses..... when riding and checking cattle (on the barrel horse) pasture riding... it is easier on them trotting then continuely loping them.  If you do need to go gather one - you still have some gas if you need to shut down the bovine.... my barrel horses get rode up and down

hills, thru the brush and are pasture rode, rocks, no rocks, up and down the pens.... etc. they get worked so they are aren't nuts (so when you show up at the barrel race, we just need to warm up they already have the edge off)... they get to do different things.  At our house if they can't go gather a steer or throw a rope off them, or help gather, or whatever ranch work needs done, they don't stay long.  

My knees are on their last few years by now so I 2 point instead of posting. For some reason they don't hurt as bad if I hold the up position over the posting move. But yes, long trot makes you do one or the other, imo. I'm sure there are a few riders able to sit a real long trot but I never have, even when I was young and invicible.

Agreed with all of you!!  I used to compete in endurance riding...we covered a lot of ground in a short amount of time. I'm not talking about dirt roads, more like mountains, washes, rocky trails. Horses can handle a lot of different terrains if they are trained too. We did all of this at a long fast trot. Best conditioning ever.  

and they are still sound at the end of the day. That is the main thing!

 I don’t know if I can explain this very well, but I’ll give it a try.  I think there’s a right way to long trot and a wrong way.  You still need to maintain collection. if your horse is long trotting and throwing his hocks out behind him too far without reaching up and under himself, that’s not what you want.  You still want to keep them lifted up and keep them from rooting into the bit.  I hope this makes sense. Maybe someone else can explain better.

In my dressage traing we were taught 2 point, then post and when your hourse was muscled and conditioned properly then sitting trot as it is stress full. I was also taught to sit the trot correctly. Not flop around like a bag of hammers up there which is what some people do fo whatever reason.