The Art of Natural Dressage

Since my bike has been repaired I go cycling with Summy about every second day. When we do that, most of the tour he goes in trot - at least 75% of the entire time. I don´t force him to do it, so if he didn´t feel like trotting anymore, he could go walk, but he chooses the trot by himself.

Is it too much for a horse to trot constantly for an hour or so with only some single steps of walk (and some canter) in between? Could it do any damage to his legs? I have convinced him to trot on the grass and not on the asphalt, so the ground is soft. A friend told me that you shouldn´t go cycling with a dog when he is younger that 1.5 years because of this constantly trotting thing, but I don´t know if it´s the same for horses and Summy is seven, so he´s not exactly a baby anymore.

Thanks in advance!

hmm i do not know if it should harm the horse.
whay won't you step off the bike and go for a walk with the bike in you hands? Maybe the horse will walk too.
But as you said he does it on soft ground, when people go for a ride they trot also, so i do not think that it is a big problem.
You do not force him so there is no presure, so why would it be bad??
But i can understand that you are thinking about it.

Yes, he does. That is, after he has tried to trot for some times and realized that I can´t keep up with him when I walk with the bike. I can also cycle veeery slowly so that he has to go walk. But of course that is neither fun for me nor for him. I will do this if it is necessary, but I don´t know if it is, therefore my question.

About the comparison to riding: yes, there you can also trot a lot. But normally people don´t trot for one hour with about five minutes of walk in between...

Thanks for your reply!!

and those who are riding endurance??
i was thinking about it because there was one over here, today, very warm, hot and sticky as you know what i mean
they trot also al lot for a long time

Yes! I thought about them as well and my former hoof trimmer who rode endurance competitions also told me that he was riding his horses for one hour in constant trot every day before he went to a competition. Still I have no idea if it´s healthy for them. But you are right, they ride their horses in that way and apparently their horses aren´t all lame at the age of 15. So maybe am worrying too much again.

i think they can do that because during the endurance riding the horses do not have to ride as a dressage horse, they have less presure.
They walk on their own feet.
I mean only the horses who are well trained and have good humans to look after them
There also lot of people who riding endurance who do not ride well on their horses.
Saw a few last weekend over here, there was a trail nearby, so i could see them passing.
You have good and bad ones. That is in every kind of sport i know
But in the way you take care of your horses you know when you have to slow down of quit.
Just follow your heart. Your horse will tell you.

I don't mean to bring this up as an old topic (just saw the date) but i'd just like to say that i don't think it will be a problem for him... If you think about cross country runners, they are running for a very long time, and we only have two legs!

For horses they have much more endurance...

I know horses who will trot to the end of the world if they could...
Unless you have shoes on your horse, i think that him trotting alongside you is a fantastic way for him to get fit, and not to mention how good it will do his feet alone, if he can trot for that long it means you have done something very right! I wouldn't worry about it too much, if it was doing harm to him, he simply wouldn't do it!
The mare i have on full loan is shod and she trots without a break on the exercise cart with her owner for an hour and 30 minutes sometimes... she actually doesn't want to stop.. she gets impatient at traffic lights and doesn't settle down untill shes trotting again!
Unfortuantly i beleieve trotting for that long on the roads with shoes on have made her very stiff in her back end mainly, so as of Tuesday we are trying her barefoot and i'm going to have to school her in the arena in lots of circles to try and get her supple again.. So i guess it really does depend o how well your horse is, and if he has shoes on or not..
Sorry for the late reply!

As a lot of people told yet; I don't think it would be a problem.


Or else I'm doing something very very wrong with my horse...

When training our horses we often say; they feel good, and their basic condition is fine enough when the horses are trotting easily for an our during a ride outstide.

In training most of the times we interrupt the trotting bij a galop or walk. So more then an our is not a daily thing. During an competition (endurance), it all depends on the horse. Sjors (welsh pony) likes to galop, just like Kamin (arabian) does. But Yuri (arabian) can't perform long in a galop. He trots the whole distance.

And he does it well! Now he is about 14 years I think. He has been walking 160kilometers two times now. And of course all the other competitions (90 kilometers, 125 kilometers, 60 kilometers) before this king distance. And not to forget the training kilometers. All the kilometers he does in competition are in trot. (and a few in walk of course).

Of course you can't just go on trotting and expect everything to be fine. A horse needs to trot with his weight balanced over his 4 legs (so he has to carry enough weight with the backhinds to ). And also the horse has to be supple! So practising the muscles is even as nessecairy as making training distances.