hall@cc.denison.edu (Jude Hall) wrote:
>Hi "Satori" -Well, i sure wish Truman Prevatt was
>on-line, as he has competed successfully
>for several years with a TWH mare in
>50, 75 and 100 mi. rides.
>When you are on the
>trail for miles and miles, it is
>helpful to switch gaits. There is
>*nothing wrong* with letting a TWH
>canter! (After all, it is a required
>gait in the show ring where the
>running walk is judged for perfection).
At an endurance ride once (25) I made my horse trot the whole way, and she
came up
slightly lame. The next endurance ride I picked the speed and I let her pick
the gait and she slow cantered practically the whole way--at the end she had
excellent scores and no lameness and I noticed that her heart rate was lower
at the canter.
So this method worked for me.
Tammy Stucki
Lakeport, CA
Well here are the posts from Truman, and from others that I have saved--->
___________________________________________________________________
From: prevatt@lds.loral.com (Truman Prevatt)
There are a lot of riders who are moving away from the long trot as the
standard gait. A fast extended trot tends to put more stress on the legs
that a gallop at the same speeds. Many riders are now galloping more and
trotting less. But of course if you don't train with the gallop don’t use it
in a ride.
What I have found that works for me is to pick the speed and let the horse
pick the gait.
Truman
____________________________________________________________________
From: Joe Long
I want to say that I agree 100%. Too many people think that a trot is always
less tiring than a canter -- tain't necessarily so. At some speeds, yes, but
as the horse's speed increases you come to a pont where the horse will use
less energy (and have less stress on the joints, ligaments and tendons) at a
canter than at a trot. This speed is different for different horses, and for
the same horse at different degrees of fitness or tiredness.
A relaxed canter is better than a strained trot. The rider chooses the
speed, the horse knows which gait feels better for him. Kahlil spent many,
many miles cantering beside horses that were trotting, and out lasted them.
Joe Long Rainbow Connection Arabians
jlong@hiwaay.net 11,475 miles completed
____________________________________________________________________
From: Dave Bennett
I agree with you guys. This is one place where I had a startling revelation
when I began using a heart monitor. Ben Amil has a big trot and can
literally do it for an entire fifty. We started cantering some because I
needed a break! Anyway, I found that if he was doing an extended fast trot
at a pulse of say, 140, we could change to a hand gallop and his pulse would
drop 10 to 15 beats and we were going faster! Now, if the terrain and
footing allow it we use a fast canter or hand gallop as the gait of choice.
I suspect that he would have been changing to a canter on his own when he
felt like it if we had not done our first six 50's at a trot alone. Also, we
did ALL our conditioning up to that point at a trot (literally, no
cantering). He developed a very strong trot because of it but then, it took
some effort to develop a relaxed, steady canter. I don't regret all the
trotting when he was green because I think I have a stronger horse because of
it. But I am not so insistent that my young horse stay in a trot all the
time, either....
Dave Bennett
e-mail: idj3q.office@mhs-tva.attmail.com
____________________________________________________________________
From: prevatt@lds.loral.com (Truman Prevatt)
>From what I have seen in the East, the top 10 100 mile horses tend to spend
most of their time on an easy rolling gallop - dropping to a trot when the
terrian calls for it.
Of course there are those rides where it is a 100 mile gallop. Look at
some of the times 8 to 9 hours for a 100. That is mostly a gallop.
Truman