The Cost of Transport in an Extended Trot

This is a more in depth commentary on my original blog post The Big Trot in relation to the Endurance Horse.

A study:
S. J. WICKLER, D. F. HOYT*, E.A. COGGER and R. MCGUIRE
Equine Research Center and Departments of Animal and Veterinary Science and *Biological Sciences,
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, California 91768, USA.

The thesis of the paper was done with a core group of Arabians and Hackneys, discussing the metabolic costs of an extended trot. The paper does take a bit of reading, but is most certainly worth the time.

While it doesn't address my opinion of correct carriage of a horse during an extended trot, - it does however present a fairly clear case arguing against the 14 mph/trot - in that the horses are by this point ineffecient in relation to their requirements for oxygen intake and energy output - as well as a discussion of stride length vs speed and the ensuing concussive forces.

Part of the study also takes into consideration the trot-gallop transitions. It appears that the majority of the horses preferred to move from the trot into the gallop(or canter) at a trot speed that was not equivalent to the equal speed in the canter - regardless of whether the study horse was a bred trotter, or a horse trained to use an extended gait.

When the horse was allowed to move into a canter, the cost of transport lowered accordingly- furthering the argument that while the BIG trot is a preferred gait of endurance riders - it is not a preferred gait of the horses- who seem to recognize that when the demand for speed is increased, metabolically they intuitively discard the trot in favor of a more energy saving gait.

The study in complete can be read here:
**scroll down to the bottom of the page to find the view/download link for the entire paper**