On 7/10/07, Nancy Sturm <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I have a friend who breeds gaited horses who has a rule for herself of > walking the first 100 miles. > > Nancy >
AHHA you somehow accidentally stumbled into one of my personal pet peeves traps :) I can never let this one pass without clarification... I would read this when trying to cure jaspars pace and Lee and Liz and everyone would say the key to gait is walk walk walk. And at the time all i did was walk jaspar everywhere every single day. I put literally hundreds of miles on him at the walk, teh normal walk, some call a dog walk. That does absolutely nothing whatsoever for a gaited horse's gait. NOTHING. what helps a gaited horse;s gait is miles and miles at the FLATWALK. which is a step up from a walk. Builds muscles, fitness, wiring for gait. Been there done that... with my fox, one of the most awesome naturally gaited horses on the planet, since he is so green and I ride him so little so he is never in shape, I alternate between dogwalk and flatwalk, let him flatwalk til he starts losing it, the timing, the rhythm and smoothness, and let him choose when to come out of it, let him rest by dogwalking then let him move back into the flatwalk and once in it I try and keep him going as long as he can do it. thats the key. the flatwalk. Janice-- yipie tie yie yo
