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From: Erika R. Achberger
Email: eachberg@sophia.smith.edu
I thought I'd just add a couple of my sense worth, after reading that one of you said he thought conditioning gaited horses required more work than others. I was told by a friendly old man in Austria with Icelandic horses that to move in one of their gaits requires much greater muscular strength. I guess I would rephrase that to say to move in one of the variations of the special 'gaits' requires greater muscular recruitment or effort to maintain the balance, whereas in the trot and gallop the weight is born body forward. He maintained that when the horse is sufficiently strong, it is easier for it to keep up the movement over time than the other gaits/ other horses in their regular gaits, which are more strenuous on the whole body; require more energy expenditure of the whole body, and I think of this in terms of aerobic activity and like to liken it to going up the stairs two at a time.
If your gluteals and hamstrings are strong you can power up the stairs in a smooth gliding fashion, and with proper muscling could probably do many flights easily; this feels really different than going for a long run.
I don't know if this has interested any of you, but feel free to send copies of anything related that you want to add to me at eachberg@sophia.smith.edu. I am not subscribed to ridecamp at the moment. Cheerio
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