Trotting.com

What is Trotting?

Trotting is one of two varieties in the sport of harness racing. This means that the horse does not carry the jockey in a trot race, but pulls its 'driver', as the jockey is referred to, in a two-wheeled cart commonly referred to as a 'sulky'. The 'trot' is a specific gait of the horse, seeing the animal move its legs forward in diagonal pairs. I.e. the horse will move its right front and left hind leg forward at the same time, then the left front and the right hind and so on.

There is an astonishing number of different styles of trotting; ranging from a two-beat 'square trot', which sees the diagonal pairs of hoofs hit the ground in unison, to a four-beat 'ambling gait', meaning each hoof connects with the ground at a different moment. A horse can be trained to use a relaxed 'jog trot' for pleasure riding; yet it can also be taught what is known as a 'collected trot' a type of movement we frequently see in dressage riding. While a regular 'working trot' might see a horse averaging five to ten mph in a normal trotting situation, and up to 12mph in a competitive setting, the speed of the 'racing trot' employed during the harness race exceeds these speeds easily.

A trotting horse used to be required to run a one mile standard course in two minutes and 30 seconds in the early days of harness racing - which incidentally helped coin the expression 'standardbred' used to describe the horses bred specifically for trot and pace races. Today some of these standardbreds are circling the mile in as little as one minute 50 seconds, giving the horses an average speed of 30-31 mph during a full racing trot.

Trotting races are a very popular form of harness racing, especially on the European continent where the trot is the sole gait used in harness racing. However, trotting races can also be enjoyed in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and North America - although the U.S. prefer the gait of pacing, which makes up for 80%-90% of their harness races.

There are two starting techniques employed in trot races: the standing and the moving start. In a standing start the horse and sulky remain stationary behind a tape stretched across the track. This technique is used in handicap races, as the harness race horse is not handicapped by weight but by distance. Different starting lines, marked by individual stretches of tape designate the handicap starting point for each horse. In a moving start the horses trot at relaxed speed behind a vehicle which is mounted with gates spanning the track. At the starting signal the vehicle speeds away, folding in the gate and freeing the track for the accelerating trotters. Modern starting gates require only two passengers: the driver, obviously, and the starter. The starter is positioned in the rear of the vehicle, facing the pursuing horses. It is the starters job to observe the race and call a false start if required. The rest of the required data - starting speed, acceleration, score up and score up distance - as well as the closing of the gate are collected and achieved by a computerised system taking control of the vehicle and providing a print out of all of the above at the end of the race.

Important events in the trotting world include the 'Hambletonian' an annual event for three-year-old trotters, named after the legendary sire of virtually every standardbred horse in the United States; and the 'Breeders Crown' a series of twelve race covering pacing as well as trotting, with categories for all traditional ages and genders.