Yes Pete is one of those exceptional Pasos. Paul
takes very good care of him during rides. He is very hardy and a bit competitive
so that makes him enjoy this more than most.
> Well Lori, that was my question when I first started
LD rides with my > paso fino last year. He has done well this
year; He is currently > listed as the top BC horse in LD in the NW
region. He IS a good > endurance horse in that he can go the
distance, but he is not > particularly competitive against
arabs.
"Pete" is about as good a Paso Fino as I've seen in this
sport--he's a wonderful horse, and Paul has done well with him.
>
Why do I say that? Well, the reason we are doing well on the BC
front > is twofold: luck and weight. The luck part I won't go
into, but the > weight part is straightforward. Gaited horses can
carry more weight > for long distances. This year my gear and I
weighed in at 235 lbs. If > I can make top ten, I am hard to
beat. A 120lb woman coming in an hour > before me does not have a
chance, if Pete (my horse) has a passable > recovery rate.
I
would argue the point about gaited horses carrying more weight.
Some pretty tiny Arabs carry some pretty awesome HWs and finish up
front looking fresh as daisies. A well-balanced horse of any breed
should be able to carry the weight. Pete is bigger than a great many
Arabs that I've seen carry 250 and more and do it well.
> As for
Speed. Pete and I can go like a bat out of hell downhill, >
because of the gait. We can really beat other horses there, BUT on
the > straight at a "trot speed" we cannot keep up. I was out
riding with > Snip (a great arab formerly owned by the Teeters) last
summer. Snip's > working trot is Pete's hand gallop. A
four-beat gait does not have > that over-reach that those really
competitive arabs have.
This is a good observation. But don't
forget that many Arabs also gait downhill...
> The original
Morgan horse was gaited. The U.S. cavalry bred it out of > most of
the breed, why? They wanted to cover more ground.
IMO, the ideal
horse to cover ground rapidly is one that is a trotter on the flat but has
the flexibility and agility to break into a 4-beat
gait downhill.
And don't forget that a trot being a diagonal gait is
a very stable gait in rough terrain.
> Now as for your question
"I was told that a gaited horse could not fair > as well, because of the
stamina, and because their tendons couldn't > take it.", That is NOT
true for Pete, but as Amy Berggren pointed out > to me at the Dust Devil
ride, Pete has a "pleasure" gait. He does not > lift his feet up
high like some gaited horses are bred and encouraged > to do. That
way, he covers more ground with less energy.
Don't forget
metabolics! Yes, part of what makes an endurance horse
is biomechanical efficiency. (And again, the most biomechanically
efficient tend to be those who have good walks, good trots, good canters,
AND the versatility to break the trot up into a 4-beat gait
downhill.) But the bottom line here, IMO, is that few gaited breeds
have been specifically selected for long, fast marches the way the Arab was
in the desert. They have been selected for comfort to the rider for
middle distances and moderate speeds. All breeds have a distribution
of metabolic capability (the old bell-shaped curve) and you can find good
ones in all breeds. (Paul has one in Pete, IMO.) But you will find
more of them among Arabs, simply because that IS what Arabs were bred and
selected for, for centuries. Gaited breeds tend to be kind of
mid-range with regard to metabolics--on average better suited than
fast-sprint breeds such as the QH and the APHA, but less so than the
Arabs.
> As I go up to 50's next season, I will be really interested
to see how > we do. I am a little scared with all this talk of
dying horses, but > the LD's just aren't doing it for us any
more. > > Wish me luck,
Luck from me, Paul--and I think
Pete can do it just fine!
:-)
