Re: A picture is worth a thousand words

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

In a message dated 1/21/00 7:06:38 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
sbrown@wamedes.com writes:

<< I think what you are actually referring to here is a good "working
 trot"...this is a nice, forward moving, engine-in-the-rear, daisy cutting
 trot that can be maintained for long periods of time.  It is a naturally
 comfortable trot for the horse and should have an overstride of at least
 one hoof length -- and the horse's natural gait abilities and stride length
 will really show up here.  An "extended trot" is a real power push from the
 rear with the front legs reaching as far as they are anatomically able to
 (still not elevated in suspension) without the horse's head changing
 position very much at all -- which is (in a horse with a well developed top
 line) just on or very slightly ahead of the vertical.  During the extended
 trot, the nose comes a little more forward than at the working trot but
 only by a couple of inches.  It's not a gait that a horse can maintain for
 any length of time without falling back into the forward working trot since
 it's a pretty demanding gait for the horse's body. >>

Actually, Sue, the gait that so many call a "big" trot is neither of the 
above.  (And you're right that I'm not describing hte "extreme" of a truly 
extended trot--just a very reachy working trot...)  But the "big" trot that 
all too many do has a great deal of "round" motion to it, and a lot of 
concussion, unlike a true "extended" trot in dressage.  The trot which is 
being bred into Arabs for the English and Park classes is more of a "fancy" 
trot like the Saddlebreds, and does not even begin to resemble what it is 
that Arabs do on the trail so efficiently.  These horses are very 
"eye-catching" and many people buy them mistakenly thinking that they will 
have a great trotting endurance horse.  After a couple years of the incessant 
pounding, and after repetitive layoffs for nagging check ligaments, 
suspensories, tendon sheaths, joint pain, etc., many of these horses 
disappear from the circuit.  (Many of these horses also have the elongated 
bodies that we are also seeing more and more in the show ring, and find it 
difficult to utilize their hindquarters effectively--hence are even heavier 
on the forehand...)

Heidi