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We find that our horses who work almost entirely on sand, and deep sand 
at that, prefer the canter or the walk as gaits in the desert. Trot is 
ok if we can find a packed surface like one of the roads created by the 
illegal sand miners and/or antiquities miners.

My guys who spend about 3/4 of the time on dirt roads and 1/4 of the 
time in the desert really notice the difference and they are simply not 
as fast in the desert as many other horses but can really burn through 
the countryside because it's more mind work.

Maryanne

On Feb 1, 2005, at 2:51 AM, Truman Prevatt wrote:
> > 5. During the time in Florida, some horses that weren't used to sand 
> > may have had enough time to get a little sore, but not really 
> > aclimate to sand. If on the other hand they could have been on sand 
> > for 6 months that may have made a difference.
> In my experience it takes about 3 to six months for a horse to 
> acclimate to slightly sandy conditions and more to acclimate to 
> moderate sandy conditions. They tend to use different muscle and 
> muscles differently in sand. Horses that have a nice natural canter 
> seem to do better since the canter gets them up and out of it instead 
> of plowing through it. Six weeks is not near enough.
Maryanne Stroud Gabbani
miloflamingo.blogspot.com
http://www.alsorat.com


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