Re: Competitive Gaits

[K S Swigart <katswig@deltanet.com>]

On Thu, 11 Jun 1998, Joe Long wrote:

> works for me.  The exception is that I may call for a trot if we're
> coming into ground that I think is too rough for a safe canter.  Other
> than that, I'm not aware of any penalty to the joints by cantering
> instead of trotting.

The horse must bear its entire body weight on the leading fore at the
canter as the horse breaks over (it also must bear the entire weight of
the horse on the leading hind, but this is not during breakover).  There
is a great deal of stress associated with this, mostly on the suspensory
aparatus of the lower leg.

However, a big extended trot puts TONS of stress on the suspensory
aparatus of the lower leg too.  Of a different kind.

Lots of galloping is kinda hard on the flexor tendons (whcih is why you
see lots of bowed tendons at the TB racetrack), and lots of extended
trotting is kinda hard on the suspensory ligaments (which is why you see
lots of blown suspensories in Standardbred trotters).  The extended trot
also puts a lot of stress on the bursa of the hips (since the left and
right rear legs are moving in opposite directions, so to speak--while the
left is fully extended the right is fully protracted) and on the groin
muscles.  At the canter, the hind legs are coming forward more or less
together.

The stresses of the trot and the canter are different.  I personally
prefer thos of the canter, but to say that cantering does not put
additional stress on the joints, ligaments, muscles, etc. is not quite
accurate.

kat
Orange County, Calif.

p.s.  The trotting muscles and the cantering muscles are different as
well...and what I found out last weekend is you can't prepare your horse
for trotting long distances on the flat by cantering him up and down hills
:).