Some horses are trotters and some are canterers.
We've had both kinds. If a horse shows himself to prefer a canter and is
conditioned to be able to do a canter for long distances, I don't think it hurts
him. My husband had a canterer once and the horse cantered the last 25
miles of a 250-mile, 5-day ride. The terrain was easy and the horse just
cantered along as relaxed and as happy as could be.
lately as I work to improve my horse's
conditioning I find I have been riding more with experienced
distance riders and am finding that my 5 yo 14 hand horse does
not have the trot to keep up with a seasoned Arabian distance horse. He
tries to extend his trot but gets all strung out and falls behind and gets
upset. Or, if I let him move up to a canter he can
canter along easily at the same speed as their big trot.
He is still building this gait and what I wonder is if I
condition and ride him regularly at the canter if this is an acceptable
gait (meaning won't overstress or injure him more than a trot would) for
a distance horse. He goes all day at his 6 mph working trot but we can
either ride alone or with the quarter horses at this speed, it seems like
a great trot to me but when an Arab opens up into their effortless
float down the trail big trot we catch a lot of dirt. I also
notice that the more I let him canter and the better he gets at it that he
doesn't even want to try to trot anymore with a big mover but asks immediately
to break to the canter.
Amy and Kobe(who has been watching You Tube of
the Mongolian horse races and saw they all cantered the whole way and has
decided that is the way he wants to go)(he also wants one of those awesome
hairdos they sport with the forelock wrapped and sticking straight
up)
