FWIW I had one of the best endurance vets that ever vetted the sport
who also lives between Murfreesboro and Nashville (in the heart of
walking horse country) and has seen plenty of walking horses both in
his practice and on the trail tell me the following.
"In his experience the TWH that trots tends to do much better in
endurance than those that won't."
Like everything it probably depends on the horse. I don't know about
anyone else but if I had a good TWH with an easy trot that could move
on down the trail at a low heart rate - I'd let her trot.
Truman
A. Perez wrote:
A prior post saidf racking was 'hard on the horse' and gaited
horses should be taught to trot. I beg to differ. Apart from
the exaggerated 'big lick' rack, any four-beat, no-suspension
gait (running wlak, single-foot, fox trot, tolt, etc) should be
less impact on the horse, just as it is less impact on the
rider. My TWH will get 'pacey' if not collected or when tired,
and I think that is harder on him than his four-beat running
walk.
FWIW.
Amanda
-- We imitate our masters only because we are not yet masters
ourselves,
and only
We
imitate our masters
only because we are not yet masters ourselves, and only
because
in doing so we
learn the truth about what cannot be imitated.
