Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

  We have a lot of "Racking horses" around here. I've 'tried' to trailride 
with some a couple years ago. Rascal had to trot pretty fast to keep with 
them. The ones in our local show  really huff and puff, nostrils blazing, 
sweat pouring off them after their time in the show ring (county shows, not 
the big gaited horse shows). I wonder now if it's because they work so hard, 
or if they are just not conditoned well.(course now when i realise the depth 
of sand  the parks arena was, I'm amazed  every horse in  the show didn't 
pull  something , it was like 4-6" deep and no one at home had anything like 
that.)
  The riders look  like they have Jello  bottoms. Sort of like those old 
fashion vibrater belts our grandmothers tried  for reducing. But they are a 
much easier ride. Laurie


> From: "Barbara McCrary" <bigcreekranch@xxxxxxxxxx>
> To: "Dana B." <ddbpaso@xxxxxxxxx>, <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Re: [RC]   the "rack"
> Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2004 07:27:17 -0800
>
> I've been reading the posts on "the rack" with interest.  We had a gelding 
> once, my husband's mount...16 hands, 1/2 Morgan, 1/2 Percheron, that was a 
> wonderful and successful endurance horse.  The one time I rode him on a 
> 50-mile endurance ride, I experienced what I can only believe to be a 
> "rack."  He would go beyond his very fast trot (to which I could post) into 
> a faster gait (to which I could not post) that I just sat to.  It was 
> exhilarating, fast and smooth and was a four-beat gait.  As a child I had a 
> Morgan or Morgan cross mare that would single-foot, but it was nowhere near 
> as fast as Grey's rack.
>
> Barbara
>   ----- Original Message -----
>   From: Dana B.
>   To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>   Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 2:25 PM
>   Subject: Re: [RC] the "rack"
>
>
>
>   Chipnml@xxxxxxx wrote:
>
>     "The only time I've heard "rack" goes back to my saddlebred days. It's 
> one of
>     the gaits of the 5-gaited Saddlebred and is an extremely animated, 
> extremely
>     fast gait, and yes, it is very hard on the horse, but is usually not 
> seen
>     outside the show ring."
>
>
>
>   "Rack" just describes a certain sequence of pickup-set down-timing.  
> Back to Lee Ziegler: "The "saddle" or stepped rack (gaits that fall into 
> this category: Fino, Corto, Largo,[the Paso Fino gaits]  Rocky/Mountain 
> Pleasure Gait, Trippel, "singlefoot"): This gait is less obviously lateral 
> than the pace or stepping pace, and is often classified as a square gait. 
> However, in it the lateral hooves are lifted from the ground paired in 
> time, but set down separately, at even intervals. This makes the gait 
> lateral in pick-up, but even in set down. To identify this gait in a moving 
> horse, first notice that neither the lateral nor the diagonal legs sem to 
> move forward at the same time. Then focus on the lateral hooves alone and 
> notice that they seem to lift off somewhat close in time, but that there is 
> a significant interval between the set down of the hind and fore of the 
> same side." [http://leeziegler.com/sgaits1.html]
>
>   Further, there are stylistic differences between breeds and individuals. 
>  The show  saddle-type rack seen has very little in common with the gait 
> performed by the Paso Finos or other breeds doing their own verson of the 
> rack.  For shows "the rack of the Saddlebred is not as fast as that of the 
> speed rackers, but it is quite fast, again done with high knee and hock 
> action and a very upright head and neck carriage." [Lee again]  My trail 
> Pasos have some hock action, but their knees barely move and their noses 
> are down watching the trail, typically.  Too bad my PF mare isn't Tevis 
> material, as she's the only horse I've ever ridden who I would trust 
> implicitly in the dark on the California Loop, she is so incredibly sure 
> footed.
>
>   Probably way more than anyone wanted to know, but I cringe when someone 
> even remotely suggests that Pasos are only useful as show horses.....:-)
>
>   Dana,
>
>   who, along with her horses, would rather have a root canal than go to a 
> show
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>   ddbpaso@xxxxxxxxx
>   ************************************
>
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REAL endurance is sleeping in the tack compartment of your trailer w/the
door open, and your horse snorts/snots on your forehead every 30 min!
~ Heidi Sowards

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