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RE: [RC] ] gait vs leg stress - Stagg_NewmanAm not an expert on dynamic confirmation of the horse so this is based more on experience and observation than analysis. My experience is that some horses are built to be trotting horses and some are built to canter. One way to find out in addition to "listening to the horse" is to ride the horse with a heart monitor and see what happens as you change gaits say from a good working trot to an easy canter. For both of my prime two horses, Drubin and Super the pulse stays about the same. Since the easy canter covers a bit more ground than the working trot they actually are more efficient at the canter. My wife's horse Strut whom had done over 15 100s was definitely a trotting horse. His pulse would go up at least 5 beats when he went into a canter. Interestingly at a steady trot he could go up a 5 to 10 mile several 1000 foot climb (when we lived out West) without slowing. On the other hand Drubin's son, Bahrain, whom we had before Ellen Tully, is a cantering type of horse. His pulse would go down at least 5 beats when he switched from a trot to a canter. That said one has to be very careful not to pull a horse along at faster than his comfortable middle gaits, otherwise you asking for potential lameness or metabolic problems. One of our challenges when we rode Drubin and Strut together in 100s (they finished many together) was to not let Drubin pull Strut along too fast. This happened a couple of times and Strut would thump or get a labile pulse and Cheryl would have to withdraw. BTW Drubin is 14h1 and Strut was 15h1 but Drubin had much bigger gaits so it not about size. With Super and our 7 year old Cam, we are making a conscious decision to not ride together unless we are just taking Super in a slow competition for training as Super has much bigger natural medium gaits even though at a flat out gallop in the field Cam is faster. Stagg Newman +---------------------------------------------------------+ This message may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the addressee or authorized to receive this for the addressee, you must not use, copy, disclose or take any action based on this message or any information herein. If you have received this message in error, please advise the sender immediately by reply e-mail and delete this message. Thank you for your cooperation. +---------------------------------------------------------+ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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