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Re: [RC] Cantering - Joe LongOn Thu, 20 Apr 2006 11:06:47 -0700, Bruce Weary DC <bweary@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: I'm sure some other senior riders are bound to chime in on this question about cantering, but here are my thoughts. In my experience, the staple gait for endurance riding is the trot. Cantering, except perhaps among the very well prepared and experienced front runners, is typically done very sparingly. Usually for short stretches to loosen the horse up or make up a bit of lost time. ... It's not that simple. For a given horse on a given trail, as speed increases the effort required at the trot goes up. At some speed that effort becomes greater than the effort required to canter. From that speed on up, a canter is less wearing on the horse. The key is that the optimum gate for a given speed is different for different horses, just as it is different for different trail conditions. Kahlil is a short-legged fellow who really had to work to trot faster than 10 MPH, but he could canter all day long. Now, not all SE rides are flat (some have very challenging technical terrain), but some are, and we would canter 49 out of 50 miles on the flat rides. On our sub-nine-hour 100 (an honest 100 miles, mechanically measured), we cantered most of it -- doing the last 15 miles in one hour flat (that's the ride where I had a runaway at the finish). Here in the Mountain Region, I find that on our faster 50's Sanshra is cantering more than half the distance. Like Kahlil, he's short-legged and HE is more confortable in a nice rolling canter than trotting from about 10mph and up. It also provides a welcome "change" at somewhat slower speeds. Even on the super-tough and mountainous Big Horn 100 Sanshra and I rode quite a few miles at a canter. ... IMO, extensive cantering should not be chosen simply because it is more comfortable for the rider. Trotting is a symmetrical gait and thereby allows for more uniform muscle use in the horse, whereas cantering is an asymmetrical gait and there is a point in every stride where the horses weight is borne (if only for an instant) on one foot. To canter for the majority of even an LD ride, especially with a relatively inexperienced horse and rider, is a potential opportunity for injury through tendon/ligament overstrain. Presuming my experience is not markedly different from most experienced, moderate paced riders out there, I'll wager that I don't typically canter more than a mile or two total over the course of a 50. Anyone out there having a consistently different experience? Dr Q Just as you should change diagonals periodically when posting at a trot, you should change leads periodically when cantering to even out the stress. When riding along crowned roads I will change sides of the road periodically so that the slope of the road isn't always to one side. -- Joe Long jlong@xxxxxxxx http://www.rnbw.com =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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