Re: twitching muscles.

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

Lucy Chaplin Trumbull wrote:
> 
> Susan Evans Garlinghouse wrote:
> >
> > ...The average muscle fiber composition of the main driving
> > muscles have a fairly high percentage of fast twitch muscles (those
> > meant for short-term, high-power exercise, like sprints or pulling
> > alot of weight) as opposed to the slow twitch muscle, meant for
> > long-duration, relatively low energy exercise like endurance.
> 
> Do those muscles change with conditioning, or is it something
> that the horse is born with and that's that?

Some do, some don't.  There are also intermediate types that sortof
swing either way depending on the type of conditioning---another reason
why for the most part, you condition the horse as you plan to compete
him (in other words, don't train for Tevis only with daily half-mile
sprints---pretty much a no-brainer, anyway).

> 
> Is they change, then theoretically, as spooky horses get more
> conditioning, then their propensity for leaping sideways should
> diminish, right?...

Given enough rope and acepromazine, sure.  Otherwise, don't hold your
breath (sorry).  More than likely, it just means they'll be able to
spook longer without getting tired.<g>

Susan