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Re: RC: Efficient gaits question



LIF,
It's always been my training that the extended trot is your "basic
endurance gait" because it is easier on the horse and safer(two feet on
the ground always and I was amazed how fast it is, people wold be
galloping --hard--next to me) but that a horse who does a nice
controlled canter should be allowed to do that also--at least
sometimes--and even a great trotter needs to rest those "trotting"
muscles .  My trotters usually told me when they  needed to change gaits
for a "break" and the mare I had that was a natural cantering mare I let
canter more than I used to, and she seemed fine with it.  She was the
one I did have to ride more like a "driving horse" to get her into and
keeping the endurance trot.
Maureen

Lif Strand wrote:
> 
> The extended trot seems to be a gait that lots of people prefer for
> endurance.  I haven't given it much thought until recently, because the
> trot was "the gait to use" back in the Olden Days, and that's what
> everyone did.  And does.
> 
> Now, the trot is a nice, balanced gait, and if people who post remember
> to switch diagonals, everything is just hunky dorey.  HOWEVER I remember
> a ride at Lake San Antonio (CA) when I was plugging along at a pretty
> nice extended trot at the back of the pack after the hour check, and
> along comes Virl Norton on a leggy grey, loping along real easy like,
> deceptively easy like, since he passed us quite handily, politely
> tipping the brim of his cowboy hat.  He apparently passed lots of people
> that way, that ride, 'cause he finished way ahead of us and we only were
> passed by one other rider!
> 
> That image has stuck with me for all this time.  I have been riding
> horses that preferred to trot, so we have trotted.  However, when our
> herd is moving around, I notice that there are horses that are more
> likely to canter when the others are trotting, and some that will do an
> extended trot when the others are cantering.
> 
> So, my question, at  last, is this:  If a horse naturally prefers a
> certain gait, would it be better to ride using that gait (switching
> diagonals regularly, of course) ?  Would there be some efficiency factor
> involved?  Would an easy, ground covering  lope use less energy for a
> horse that was good at it (preferred the gait) than an extended trot
> (given that all other things were equal)?  Or what?  Lif
> 
> --
>                                     ____________
> Lif & Paul Strand   STRAND ENTERPRISES   http://www.fasterhorses.com
>           Arabian Horses (looking for new homes!)
>          Nutrition for People & Critters * WebArt
>                      Quemado, NM  USA
> 
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