ridecamp@endurance.net: Re: distance at a full gallop

Re: distance at a full gallop

Nikki Ward (nikkiw@agrecon.canberra.edu.au)
Wed, 19 Mar 1997 18:00:23 +1000

>I have a question...I am asking for a friend of mine who is a fantasy
>writer. The subject is a well-bred, well-conditioned riding horse; how
>*long* can such a horse travel at a gallop before it would have to rest (or
>risk lameness).

This all depends on your exact definition of "gallop". If you mean the
actual 4-beat gallop gait, and run flat-out as they do at the racetrack, I
wouldn't think any horse could go more than a couple of km's without
slowing (never mind the lameness issue which can strike in the first 100m
or after 100km).

If you just mean "running very fast", a good ground covering canter most of
the time, going faster or slower as the terrain dictates, well it's not
uncommon in the flat country around here for endurance horses to cover 40km
(25miles) in under 1 hour. Winning ride times (80km/50miles) in the same
country are commonly under 3 hours, and these horses pass the most
stringent of vetting parameters easily. In rougher or steeper terrain of
course it's a totally different ball game.

Anyone know what times the 40km races in the United Arab Eminrates are won in?

Nik & the Gang (Taaj, Saki & Dippa) in Australia
*********************************************
nikkiw@agrecon.canberra.edu.au OR
nikkiw@science.canberra.edu.au

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