Ridecamp: RE: [RC] Born to Trot?

I've observed this since I started doing endurance 5 years ago. My horses appear to cool down best moving from a good working/extended trot to a much more relaxed canter. When I was bring along my now 9yo I was advised to not let him break into a canter as he would have preferred long ago, but to keep him working as long as possible in his trot. I think this is still good advice for youngsters coming up and not "racing" yet simply because of the reduced injury factor the trot gives and it's good conditioning effects.

 

I am letting my guy have his own gaits more and more now that he is mature and hardened well to his training. His recoveries have improved dramatically now  as well.

 

Happy Tails!

 

Susan  & Fly Bye

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of JUDYK89@xxxxxxx
Sent: Sunday, May 26, 2002 9:12 AM
To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [RC] Born to Trot?

Article in this months Equus from a 
study done at Cal Poly.  Brings up the whole gaited issue again along with 
Arabians bred to produce a faster trot.  Very 
interesting.

"Cantering at a speed of 15 miles per hour requires less 
energy than traveling the same speed at the trot...."

"The average 
[metabolic] cost increase between the regular trot and extended trot for 
Arabians was 32 percent...."  

"...trotting at a high rate of speed 
is very challenging for any kind of horse.....If you've got a long distance to 
travel in a short time, trotting fast probably isn't the most efficient way to 
do it, even if you're on a horse bred for 
it."