 |
Re: [RC] TWH's - Truman PrevattWhile I've never ridden Foxtrotters, I have done well on a walker. I did LD's through 100's on my girl. I endurance she had a couple seconds, slipped in a first and a BC during her years. Over 1/3 of her miles came from one day 100's.I never had a problem with her being trippy - however, it was a bear to find the right saddle for her. Lean build with long wide shoulders will cause nightmares with saddle fit every time. Her recoveries in her prime were as fast as the Arabs. However, I attribute much of that to her starting out with very low resting heart rate - 26. Bruce mentioned "trotting" in his post. My mare was on the tortty side (she even fox trotted) . Many walkers - because of the show ring - are pacey. I feel that pacey horses are not as sure footed. I remember a comment an experience ride vet (who happened to have his practice in the middle of walker country) made to me - gaited horses that trot tend to do better in endurance than those that pace. But with her honest to goodness 6 mph walk and nice easy lope we didn't trot much - not much need to. There are good gaited horses out there - it's a matter of finding them. When I get my next one I will look for along with good conformation, strong bones, etc, a) lean build, b) low resting heart rate, c) good attitude and d) avoid like the plague a pacey horse. Truman Bruce Weary DC wrote: I started dabbling in gaited horses for endurance riding about four years ago, and they are all I use now, though my wife still rides a very nice Arab. I'm certainly no expert, but I have done over 40 rides on either Walkers or Foxtrotters, from LD's to 100 milers, have top tenned, top fived, and even stole a BC one time, and have made some observations. First, there are clearly variations within a breed and between breeds. I had fun with the Walkers, but the ones I rode weren't as handy or surefooted as my Foxtrotters. A few of the Walkers were actually quite trippy and fell down with me several times. That gets old. I wasn't always able to solve the problem with shoeing and saddle fit, which tend to be among the first things modified to improve tripping. Even though I looked for the leaner built Walker, their recoveries weren't as good as the Foxtrotters that I have now, although they were tough and had very high completion percentages. -- “He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.” Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
|