>>>> I have been riding gaited for so long, I knew I needed a refresher on posting because I felt my legs all over the place when I bump Whisper up into a trot. The final clue to clueless me was when I noticed Whisper's loins getting a bit sore and NOT from the saddle, but from me sloppily posting on her back.
Good for you, Susan. That's something I haven't practiced lately, and I know I should. I think it's timely - there has been a thread on the treeless list about riders whose horses are getting sore under the stirrup attachments. Of course, I can't tell from e-mail what's going on with each of the riders, but you do remind us that we should all do work without stirrups from time to time. Including me... :) I'm glad that more and more riders are learning to look for sore backs in their horses, and of course, many times the soreness may come from a poorly fitting saddle. But, you remind us that we really should look to ourselves and to our riding when we see a problem too. >>> She has a huge, handsome Holsteiner, but his canter is so long-strided, Whisper hit 4th gear and galloped to keep up. Here was the first time I thought of Whisper as small, as her feet are flying and the Holsteiner is still cantering. I was dissappointed to find out from my GPS later that we only went 17.5mph! It sure seemed faster than that to me! Seventeen mph IS pretty fast Susan! Not Kentucky Derby fast, but it's still not pokey, not by a long shot. I remember someone on the list a few years ago said that their Icelandic was trotting at 35 mph! Yeah.... Right. But then, hey, my GPS once told me that my maximum speed on Eitill was 109 mph...and we were just walking! :) I've compared my GPS to the speedometer in my car, and generally, it's VERY accurate, but even good GPS's have blips for who knows what reasons. I'd bet that your 17.5 mph reading was pretty accurate. Karen Thomas, NC
