-----Original Message----- From: Mcgann, Barbara
Sent: Tuesday, May 18, 2004 11:17 AM To: 'Dot
Wiggins' Subject: RE: [RC] Walk?
I
figured Dot would weigh in on this one, as she consistently rides horses that
out-walk everyone in the country! We all trot to keep up with her.
Her good horse, Tess, would just continually extend her stride an inch at a time
and pretty soon, Dot was gone. Then she rode Andrea's horse Zinger who had
a natural fast walk, and Dot soon had him walking more than 5 miles an
hour. THEN, she bought a little short-legged mare and we all thought
"Aha, now we can keep up with her at the walk". That was true for about a
year and now the little mare walks as fast or faster than my 15.3 horse.
DANG. Another time, I had her ride my Mensa who had a terrible, slow,
short walk. By the time we had gone about 3 miles, Mensa was out in front
- walking!
The
thing you notice about Dot is that even at a walk, her legs are active.
She consistently bumps them in rythm with the stride (alternating sides).
We attended an expo the other day and the trainer was explaining that when a
horses hind leg comes forward, he has to move his rib cage slightly out of the
way. By bumping him on the side, you are encouraging him to swing the rib
cage just a little further to the side, thus the leg can stride forward
further. Envision a swing set and your leg is the hand pushing the
swing. Of course when you first start doing it, the horse might break into
a jog, but you can bring them back and start pushing again. Eventually
they learn that you want them to increase the stride, not break
gait.
The
other thing that we try to do is recognize the situations which would encourage
and reward the horse for walking fast. Heading home is a perfect
time. Going slightly downhill works great - they want to extend their
stride there anyway. Have a buddy rider go slightly ahead and then rate
his or her horse to let you catch up at the walk. If you have a buddy, ask them
to walk alongside and slowly increase their speed and encourage your horse
to keep up.
Barb
McGann
-----Original Message----- From:
ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Dot
Wiggins Sent: Tuesday, May 18, 2004 10:53 AM To:
ridecamp Subject: Fw: [RC] Walk?
Every horse can be taught to walk faster than you
think. It is one of the most important qualities of a good riding
horse. Some have it naturally, others need to learn.
On the other hand, if you are riding a tired
horse, an easy jog is more efficient, covers more groumnd with less
effort. (it's the rebound effect of the two beat trot)
Subject: RE: [RC] Ways To Know You Are Ready for 100
Miler?
Another thing that any aspiring 100-mile rider should
do is work on the
horse's WALK. It is by far THE most neglected
gait on most endurance
horses, and I can tell you from personal experience
sitting around waiting
for riders to come into checks and to come into the
finish in the dark
that most horses travel at 2-3 mph at a walk in the
dark. There is no
need for this--work on the walk on training rides, and
on any horse worth
his salt and capable of doing the distance, you ought
to be able to foster
a reliable walk of AT LEAST 4 mph.
[Kathy Ramspott]
Do others agree with this? My girl
walks SO slow it is pretty sad. It does make sense what Heidi says,
should that be incorporated into training rides, I guess a kind of 'working
walk'?
