Re: Efficient gaits question

["Susan Evans Garlinghouse" <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>]

>Lif Strand wrote:
>>
>> The extended trot seems to be a gait that lots of people prefer for
>> endurance.
>> 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?

Hey, Lif---
Cal Poly's been doing some pretty extensive research on this the past few
years, and the conclusions so far is that horses have a preferred speed
within each gait, based on oxygen consumption and (they think) joint strain,
concussion, etc.  As you extend that gait without allowing the horse to
break into the next higher gear, then the "costs" to the horse increase
beyond what they would be at the same speed in another gait.  For example,
let's say a horse trots comfortably at 8 mph and normally wants to break
into a canter at 12 mph.  If you force him to extend his trot until he was
trotting at 15 mph (just an arbitrary number), then the oxygen consumption,
concussion and joint strain is going to be higher than if you had allowed
him to change gears where *he* wanted to, at around 12 mph.  The same
general model holds true at the lower end of the gait as well---costs are
going to be higher if you force the horse to remain in a canter at 10 mph,
than if you allowed him to change gears downward into a trot.  Same holds
true for the walk/trot transition.

So, there's going to be a "most efficient" speed within each gait for each
individual horse and the trick is to find out where that is (intuitively,
you already know where that is) and keep your horse within it as much as
possible.  If you change gaits for the sake of using different muscle
groups, then you need to let the horse slip into the most comfortable speed
for THAT gait as well.

Of course, there are exceptions to this---you wouldn't force your horse to
remain at his most efficient speed when for safety's sake, you need to slow
down for whatever reason.  Also, these rules probably don't apply in a
practical sense until your horse has stopped his
beginning-of-the-race-squirreling-around trying to convince you that really,
Mom, he NEEDS to be blasting along at 80 mph.<g>

BTW, this same model works for humans as well.  Notice that when you start
walking and aren't really thinking about how fast you're going, you'll slip
into the most comfortable speed for you.  Now try extending your walk faster
and faster.  Force yourself to keep walking, not jogging.  You'll start to
notice that even though, you're still "just walking", your muscles aren't as
comfortable, joints have alot more concussion on them, etc.  Let yourself
change into an easy jog and your legs are happy again.  Same thing as with
horses.

Hope this helped?

Susan G



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