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[RC] Pacing - rides2far

?>>>Last year I rode with someone who did intervals of walk and trot over I 
rode with someone else who would walk, then
canter to catch up.   All three regularly top ten endurance rides of 50
to 100 miles.

Can't imagine how you can top 10 walking but anyway, I'll be the bad guy and 
say it drives me crazy when somebody walks then canters back and forth by me.  
The thing is, it's like a giant rubberband is attached to my horse.  The person 
sits there on their walking horse as I trot by, the rubberband attaches from 
their horse to mine.  The farther my horse trots away, the harder that 
rubberband tugs my horse backwards, then at a critical point the pull is just 
too much for the walking horse and he gallops up on us and past us at which 
time the rubberband pulls my horse  faster than I wanna go, and slows their 
horse back down to a walk.  The rider of the other horse seems to just be a 
passenger. I see this technique mostly among people who are unsure about just 
how much is too much for their horse. They are worried that they're asking too 
much of their horse, so they just take what he offers, which is the walk canter 
being dragged along by another horse.  It's just really upsetting to my horse 
to have them going back and forth. If they
want to pass me, fine. If they want to stay back, fine, but the leapfrogging 
is very irritating.

I remember when I used to think I needed to trot/walk.  It was my problem, not 
my horse's. I finally realized that trotting did not affect him the way jogging 
affects me. They have the springy action of the pasterns and it's more like 
jogging on a trampaline.  I highly recommend that you stick to the steady trot. 
If you need to walk, O.K. but if you're leapfrogging  a lot I think it's a 
sign the horse is probably in charge and just drifting along reacting to other 
horses rather than the rider.  Maybe this is way off in your case, but there 
are definatley those who it does fit.  

Angie





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