What is a trotter?

[Desperado]

Ive heard people saying their horses are part trotter, but what defines a trotter?
i know there are breeds like orlov trotter, and of course the standardbred that trot, but what do people actually mean when their horses are trotters?

[emmalouise]

I think!!!...............they are horses who tend to be high stepping and are good in traps etc because of thier flowing high stepping motion !!! I think that is it anyway!
they also trot very quickley

[pip]

I would think it meant part standardbred?

Of course, years ago people used to keep trotting ponies for pulling small carts, like having a "run around" car. There was the Norfolk Trotter, and the hackney ponies.

My husband's grandfather used to drive his pony down to the station, load it on the train and then drive it round his land in Nottinghamshire, and then load it back on the train and back home again at the end of the day. It was supposed to be a grand little pony that could trot very fast, sadly I don't know if there was ever a picture of it.

[jollyjoo]

Hi

My mare is a French Trotter, I have had her 18 months, don't know much about her history other than she was imported from France as a 5yr old (now 9). She has very high leg action and I did have problems when I first got her getting her to canter, she seemed to prefer to trot very fast!
Have overcome all this now thankfully but I do wonder from her actions etc if she was used in the trotting races at some point in her younger life.

[marty]

Here in the states standardbreds are raced in two different gaits, either pacing or trotting. Pacers' times are usually a little faster than the trotters. Generally they are bred with one gait in mind and are known as either pacers or trotters but I have learned that in a few cases there are standardbreds that can race in either gait and do well. My daughter's horse is a pacer, although he never raced as he kept breaking into a canter.

My horse, Reba, is a trotter and raced for 4 years. I have only seen her pace once for a few strides when she was scared by a unusual noise while we were driving.

Don't know if that helps as I am sure there are other breds that the term can refer to but when I hear Trotter what it means to me is a standardbred that is bred to race as a trotter, not a pacer.

[Desperado]

We have a few standardbreds here in the uk aswell, but usually when i think trotter i think of horses usually associated with travellers that trot in carts up and down the roads, sometimes coloured and usually of light to middleweight, with a few feathers, they seem to go hell for leather at a trot.

[jollyjoo]

Hi - Yeah I know what you mean - I too used to think that. I didn't even realise my mares breed until I looked at her passport. I thought she was a middleweight TB type when I went to see her (she is a 16.1 chestnut). Her parents also raced in France previously.

[aceofspades]

I too have a pacer and the problems ive had with canter have been a real nightmare,They tend to have a 4 beat gate in canter which is realy hard to correct.Which we have no found out this was the cause of Aces bucking.
But i can confidently say it can be sorted lol

[knk]

I absolutley adore Trotters, there are 3 at my yard. I have had a couple in the past that paced and I loved to ride them, I never had any real problems with canter and they all also proved to be very very good at jumping. It depends if you can get used to them Pacing or not.

[lisap]

We also had a Trotter and although we did not have papers he certainly looked standardbred. He had a freak jump, but his canter was almost non-existant.

It was a peculiar experience to be going along at a good strong canter and have Jensen trotting alongside - and then accelerating away - still in trot!

Jensen was 16.1, bay, and anyone who wasn't familiar with standardbreds would have thought he was TB'ish.

[aceofspades]

Ace too has shown his ability to jump.
We have only seen him freestyle and he will jump a trotting pole.I CANT WAIT TO START JUMPING HIM

[Val (Toons&co)]

Guess it depends where you're from. Over here "trotteur" refers to the French trotter like jollyjoos'