Re: Competitive Gaits

["Mike Sofen" <miksof7@gte.net>]

Great reply, Susan.  Followup question:

In a horse who has an efficient canter and naturally breaks into it sooner
than the horses we ride with that have fast trots, are there other downsides
to doing more miles at the canter than at the trot?  Muscles, joints, etc?
Someone mentioned that the horses insides " jiggle a particular way at the
canter" (to use technical jargon).

Nick will canter for miles (on the flat) at 12-15 mph at a heart rate of
105.  To do a 10 mile an hour trot, he'll be at 135-145.  I have been
training him to do a faster trot, but it seems counter-intuitive to work at
a gait that requires a higher heart rate.  He's a 14.3 HH polish arab.

Mike Sofen
Seattle, WA

-----Original Message-----
From: Susan Evans Garlinghouse <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>
To: sumralls@gateway.net <sumralls@gateway.net>
Cc: ridecamp@endurance.net <ridecamp@endurance.net>
Date: Wednesday, June 10, 1998 2:22 PM
Subject: Re: Competitive Gaits



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