Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

A West Region high mileage/many sound years horse that I've heard almost 
never trotted and always cantered was Tor, owned by Barbara Sanches. 
She retired him sound and, as far as I know, he still lives in her pasture.
Laney

Truman Prevatt wrote:
> My old mare had a 6 mph walk, not running walk or any other intermediate 
> gait but a honest to goodness walk. We probably cantered most of what we 
> didn't walk simply because that was her most relaxed easy going gait. 
> She would trot ( and had a pretty good one)  some but we would normally 
> only do that in transitions between the walk  and canter. With a walk at 
> that speed and a nice easy canter there was little need for the trot.
>
> That is also the way I rode her when I conditioned or hacked around. I 
> think the important thing is to ride like you train. It really gets down 
> to individual horse and how he/she is trained. The trot can be just as 
> assymetric as the canter if the rider does not adaquetly change 
> diagnoals regularly. If extened too much the trot can be hard of the 
> front legs. A good easy rolling canter where the rider is consistent on 
> changing leads can actually be an easy gait on a horse.
>
> I remember Nina Warrens old horse Ballad. He would go into a easy 
> rolling canter which looked like it required absolutely no effort. Nine 
> hours later he would stop the canter at the end of 100 miles. If I 
> remember right Joe Long's wonderful little chestnut horse had a nice 
> little rolling canter also.
>
> Truman
>
>
>
> Bruce Weary DC wrote:
>
> >   I'm sure some other senior riders are bound to chime in on this 
> > question about cantering, but here are my thoughts. In my experience, 
> > the staple gait for endurance riding is the trot. Cantering, except 
> > perhaps among the very well prepared and experienced front runners, is 
> > typically done very sparingly. Usually for short stretches to loosen 
> > the horse up or make up a bit of lost time. IMO, extensive cantering 
> > should not be chosen simply because it is more comfortable for the 
> > rider.  Trotting is a symmetrical gait and thereby allows for more 
> > uniform muscle use in the horse, whereas cantering is an asymmetrical 
> > gait and there is a point in every stride where the horses weight is 
> > borne (if only for an instant) on one foot. To canter for the majority 
> > of even an LD ride, especially with a relatively inexperienced horse 
> > and rider, is a potential opportunity for injury through 
> > tendon/ligament overstrain. Presuming my experience is not markedly 
> > different from most experienced, moderate paced riders out there, I'll 
> > wager that I don't typically canter more than a mile or two total over 
> > the course of a 50. Anyone out there having a consistently different 
> > experience?   Dr Q


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