SPURS Thought for the day 8

SPURS Thought for the day 8

Rhythm and regularity

Each of the horse’s gaits has a particular number of beats to the footfalls. This is the horse’s rhythm. The walk has 4 beats, Trot- 2, canter-3 and the gallop has 4. The beats are counted when the feet hit the ground.
Let’s just think of the paces of the horse are different songs. The walk is Mary had a little lamb, the trot is Row, row, row your boat and the canter is Itsy bitsy spider. I chose those songs only because most people know them and I’m not a musical genius! How fast you sing the song is the tempo.
The gaits are considered irregular when the footfalls are not consistent or the tempo is not steady. The relaxation of the horse can directly affect the rhythm and regularity of the horse’s gaits. (Read SPURS- Thought of the day 7)

For today we are riding the 20-15-10 circles. Place 4 cones as circle points on the circle. Count your horse’s steps on each of the ¼ers of the circle. The number of steps should be the same. If the tempo is irregular or the horse lacks the balance to maintain a round circle, the number of steps will vary. Document the average number of steps your horse takes on each size circle at each gait. Keep track of this as you develop the horse’s gaits over the years. It will be interesting!

Next exercise is to count your breaths on the circles. Breath through your belly like a singer or like in yoga class. Your horse can’t be expected to have more regularity than you do!