I would think it might be more comfortable for some horses, maybe
even most horses, to canter over a trot.
Certainly seems to be the case for my boy...his heart rate drops when he
moves up to a canter, whether it's from a trot (over rough terrain) or from
his rack (on smoother surfaces). Thought my HRM was screwy at first!
Then start cantering, this will take practice to get the
horse to carry itself in a collected manner
Comes more naturally to some than others...especially many of the gaited
horses I've ridden, they can canter in a rounded frame with less time (not ALL,
by any means, but enough so that I have noticed a difference). My THEORY
(OK, GUESS <grin>) is that this may be partially due to the fact that to
gait PROPERLY, in a rhythmic, 4 beat gait, a horse cannot be front end
heavy-they MUST use their hind end more (hence, EVEN timing of all 4
legs...)
As the man says...this is just my experience, your mileage may vary!
