Re: Competitive Gaits

[Susan Evans Garlinghouse <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>]

Lori & Roger Sumrall wrote:
> 
> Hello Ridecampers
>         A friend and I were having a discussion about the efficiency of particular
> gaits.  
>         Let's say you're at an average endurance ride:  If your choice of gaits were
> a "flying" trot or a canter or a gallop, which would you choose and why?



Lori, I can't/won't answer as a 100-mile endurance rider, but I can
throw something into the pot as someone with a background in exercise
physiology---and the short answer is: travel at the speed at which your
horse is most efficient.

Now, for the long(er) answer---there is/was some really great research
done at Harvard and lately at Cal Poly that demonstrated that the energy
spent for forward movement doesn't increase in a linear fashion as speed
increases.  Meaning that a 14 mph canter does not necessarily use more
energy than a 12 mph trot (plug in your own mph numbers here).  What
they found is that energy consumption is VERY closely related to oxygen
consumption, so they were able to measure the progressive energy useage
as speed increased.  I know this is confusing, so bear with me. :-)

What they discovered, and later verified in alot of other species (I
have a picture of a very peeved looking lion trotting on a treadmill),
is that within each gait, there is a Most Efficient Speed---the speed at
which the least energy is used for each meter of forward travel, and the
least strain on joints, soft tissue, etc.  If you increase your speed
above this Most Efficient Speed (let's call it MES), then your fuel
economy, so to speak, starts to drop.  When this "miles per gallon" gets
too low, the horse will automatically attempt to break into the next
gait---from a walk to a trot, or a trot to a canter.  With some
training, you can teach a horse to maintain an extended gait, but it may
not be the speed at which he travels the most efficiently.  By the way,
this fuel economy model works in both directions---rather than forcing a
horse to maintain a very slow trot, you might be more efficient letting
him drop down to a moderate walk.  Where it doesn't work at all is when
your guy is bouncing around like an idiot at the start. :-D

This is why so many endurance riders will be riding a horse that's
trotting faster and faster, the horse finally breaks into a canter, and
they notice an immediate drop in the heart rate---he's automatically
dropped into the pocket of speed and gait at which he can travel the
most efficiently.  We've found that in trained or untrained animals,
horses are very good at trying to settle into the gait or speed that is
most energy-efficient for them, but that with increasing miles and
experience, the horses will get VERY good at conserving energy and
trying to travel at the most efficient speed.

So, to answer your question, it all comes back to Know Your Horse.  If
you understand this energy efficiency model, you'll be able to train
with a heart monitor and start to get a feel for the set point at which
your horse is going to want to change gears.  You really don't need the
HRM, it will just help you verify where your horse is most efficient. 
Once you know how your horse feels, you'll be able to just know whether
it's easier for him to stay at a trot or break into an easy gallop. 
This is just one of those things that most of the big-mileage riders
already know intuitively, even though they probably have never heard of
the research (and probably don't care).  If you're a newbie or
intermediate or anything-else rider, sometimes just understanding the
theory will give you a clue in what to look for in riding your horse,
and in getting down the trail with the best fuel economy.

BTW, there are also other factors to consider like using different
muscle groups and avoiding boredom and so on, which the experienced
100-milers will cover better than I can, but hopefully this is a start.

Good luck!

Susan Garlinghouse