Trotting – tests of horses of trotting breeds for agility in trotting. Usually horses are tested harnessed to a trotter, a special two-wheeled carriage designed for trotting. Less commonly, trotting is done under saddle. The person who drives the trotter (in the rocking carriage or in the saddle) is called the rider.
Originally, light-driven horses with a steady trotting course were specially bred for transportation of people in the XVIII-XIX centuries. As the quick trot is considered an artificial allure, which is not capable of every harness horse, people tried to identify horses which were actually capable of a quick trot by testing, so that the animals selected based on the results of these tests could be sent to the breed. The first trotting races were held in the Netherlands in 1554. Then such trials began to take place in England, where they tested the famous and frisky at the time Norfolk trotters and in France, where Norman horses ran. Initially, horses were tested at a trot only under saddle, and in France this tradition has been preserved to this day. The first American trotting races in the United States in 1806 were also held under saddle.
Today, horses of several trotting breeds are tested around the world. In the United States, Canada and most European countries, American trotters are tested. In France, French trotting horses are tested for the most part, as well as French-American crossbreds. In Scandinavian countries in addition to the prize trotters – American and Franco-American, local trotters are tested. These are the so-called Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian cold-blooded horses. The trotting rules vary slightly from country to country, but most of the rules are the same. Trotters come to the racetrack at the age of two, their prime age is 2-3 years (the U.S., Canada), 4-6 years (some other European countries), 6-10 years (France, Sweden). A trotter finishes his racing career at the average age of 8-12 years. Each hippodrome has its own age limitations, for example on Vensen hippodrome trotters can not perform over 10 years old and on many Swedish hippodromes trotters can run successfully at 12 and 14 years old. The competition of a group of trotters on the racetrack is called “race”. The horse in the race should run a clear stable trot. Switching to a gallop is called a failure. In some countries, the failure immediately disqualifies the horse.
Receiving the start in different countries, or even on the same racetrack is different. In the U.S., Canada, trotters mostly take the start with an autostart – a special machine that aligns the race participants behind them, distributes them according to their numbers and accelerates them before the start to the maximum speed. Autostart car was invented in the 1930s in the United States, thanks to this method of starting is almost impossible false starts and loss of time due to poor acceleration. In Europe autostart is also used, but often also trotters start with a voltstart, i.e. they start by running out of the turn. In this case, false starts are much more common, an even start is determined by the laser beam.
The distances at which trotters are tested also vary depending on the country where the race takes place. For example, in the U.S., most of the trotters are tested at a short distance of 1 mile (1609 m). In Europe, the races at such a distance is very small, there trotters are running at medium to long distances: from 2100 m to 4125 m.
Riding horses participate in the race, during the trials they gallop, they are controlled by jockeys, they sit in the saddles. It is impossible to say “this trotter won the race” because trotters do not participate in races.