Re: RC: Re: Fox Trotting Arab

["Duncan Fletcher" <dfletche@gte.net>]

I am getting a bit out of my league on this issue, but my understanding of
the mechanics of gait is that the more hollow (or less bascule) the back,
the more pacey the gait (complement of Lee Ziegler who hangs out on the
gaited horse list). The more bascule the back, the more trotty - extreme
bascule in dressage horses produces a dissassociated trot with a foot fall
sequence the reverse of the walk. Different horse may give the same gait
with different degrees of hollow/bascule and there is a contiuum of flexion
from hollow to neutral to bascule. The fox trot is on the trot side of
timing and there on the bascule side of flexion - but less so than a trot.
The rack (tolt) is an even 4-beat and would require a more neutral back.
Again, the degree would depend on the individual horse.

Duncan Fletcher
dfletche@gte.net


----- Original Message -----
From: "Jana Crewett" <jfcr@ceh.ac.uk>

>
> Maggue Fleming wrote (on how to teach a horse to foxtrot):
> >If foxtrotting is anything like racking, sit back and deep in your
> saddle
> >with your feet a little forward, tighten your reins so that you are
> in his
> >mouth a little and hold your hands so that he raises his head and
> hollows
> >his back. This is supposed to encourage him to get his back end
> under him
> >and his front end up free to move.
>
>
> Had a bit of a culture shock when reading this - if anyone within the
> Icelandic Horse world told me to get my horse to hollow his back in
> order to gait, I'd chase him off the yard! There are already too many
> horses around who gait with their backs hollow and stiff and while
> this might be desired in the American Show world, I doubt it is a good
> thing for horses who are supposed to gait for hours on end out on the
> trail and be sound at the end of it.
>
> Jana and Gola - working hard on getting that back rounded and
> swinging in rack/tolt
>