I rode Cisco a couple days ago and encountered the “hard trot”. We were doing a fast turn and run exercise and we spun into a hard trot. Us gaited horse people call the trot, a hard trot…maybe to distinguish it from the fox trot. But we also like to emphasize the hard part of it. When you are not used to “bounce”, bounce is a shock to our bones. It’s the suspension that we are not used to. I don’t believe Lucky Star has ever hard trotted. He paced once and I was bounced. I rode Nova before Lucky Star and never experienced bounce. JR used to pace, and then hard trotted on his way to refine the fox trot. I do remember Velvet hard trotting. When I rode Velvet, I didn’t understand how to turn her more “square diagonal” fox trot into a smoother less square diagonal fox trot. When Velvet was allowed to go fast in the trot gait, I bounced. Bouncing for a full figured woman is “upsetting for the user.
Cisco’s hard trot brought me back to the Velvet hard trot days. The difference is that Cisco’s trot seemed to be much longer. I had to relearn how to post and it seemed like I went up and down in the post every 5-10 minutes…that’s how long his reach is. I am impressed. He can stretch out those long legs!