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Mary said:
>I believe there have
been studies to show
>that the forces and
pounds per sq. inch are
>much more during the
trot as compared to
>the
canter...
Well, actually, concussion
force is *not* what I
am getting at--although I
suppose it is interesting
that people zero in on
that; maybe that's what
Americans are focusing on
when they decide to
trot instead of canter/hand
gallop.
No, I was getting at
metabolic efficiency: for
any given horse, does
it consume less|more
energy
to travel at a particular
speed at a trot vs a
canter. It is what
people have observed
when
they notice that
their horse's pulse goes
down
when they roll over from a trot into a
canter.
Sports scientists measure
this sort of stuff all
the time in human
athletes. It involves measuring
the air intake and distance
traveled on a
treadmill and heat given
off in the total
closed
system.
Yes, trail conditions will
assuredly affect the outcome;
but as a starting point one needs to
consider what is
true in the perfect controlled system, and not
mistake
the particulars for the
principals. (Galileo's
great genius was in
figuring out what data
to
*ignore*!)
Linda B.
Merims
Massachusetts,
USA
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