# how far can a horse walk in an hour?



## iridehorses

Without accounting for obstacles, a horse usually walks at ~4mph. Obviously a gaited horse will walk faster and a pony or a WP horse, slower, but that is the typical range.

So ... 9 miles would take you a little over 2 hours.


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## RoadRider / Rios Dad

A nice easy working trot is 8 mph so it would take you about 1 hour 10 minutes at a working trot.
A lope is about 10 so lope it and do it in under 1 hour.

As for a flat out run your horse might MIGHT reach 30 mph for a short interval so I guess flat out running is out.


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## trailhorserider

My Mustang, when he is really pokey, only walks 2-3 miles per hour. Some rides, if we stop once in a while, we only average 2 mph! The gaited people I ride with, are probably closer to 4 mph. That is what my GPS says anyway.


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## smrobs

It really depends on what shape your horse is in and how fast he walks. I have ridden horses that it would take 3 or more hours to do a ride like that and I have ridden other horses that walk as fast as a normal horse trots. So it would be impossible for me to judge without knowing how fast your horse walked. Also, if he is out of shape, he wouldn't be able to keep up a fast walk for the whole trip and would thus take longer.


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## glam1

Thank you:lol:


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## Amlalriiee

I know it's off-topic, but I'm proud...the woman I ride with and I rode 2 of her Morgans today and they were at a 12.5 mph trot! One of them was holding back too, so I'm excited to see what her limit is. =) 

OP, I think if you plan to continue to trail ride and want a good idea of how far you can go and what kind of time you're making a GPS watch or one of the ones you could clip onto your saddle would be a good investment. Some of them even tell you how steep of a grade you're on! They are good though for seeing how fast you're going and how far you've gone if you want to keep track of all the information. Especially useful if you want to compete CTRs or endurance =)


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## Reiterin

trailhorserider said:


> My Mustang, when he is really pokey, only walks 2-3 miles per hour. Some rides, if we stop once in a while, we only average 2 mph! The gaited people I ride with, are probably closer to 4 mph. That is what my GPS says anyway.


sounds like my mustang. - she'll walk a little faster if we're following someone and trying to keep up. but if we're in the lead... hope you want to take your time. =P


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## RoadRider / Rios Dad

I use to mark hydro poles on my route using the car. Then using a watch time the distance over that measured mile. If it takes you 15 minutes to cover the mile 60 divided by time or 15 minutes in this case is 4 , so the horse is travelling 4 mph.

Again if you cover a measured mile in 8 minutes divide 60 by 8 which equals 7 1/2 or the horse is travelling at 7.5 mph.


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## RoadRider / Rios Dad

Amlalriiee said:


> I know it's off-topic, but I'm proud...the woman I ride with and I rode 2 of her Morgans today and they were at a 12.5 mph trot! One of them was holding back too, so I'm excited to see what her limit is. =)
> 
> 
> =)


12.5 mph is a very good trot but it is not sustainable and I believe it would be quit rough to ride. My arab can hit 12 but he is really extending, rough and I know it is taking too much out of him. 8 mph is comfortable and something he can maintain over hours.


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## Amlalriiee

RiosDad said:


> 12.5 mph is a very good trot but it is not sustainable and I believe it would be quit rough to ride. My arab can hit 12 but he is really extending, rough and I know it is taking too much out of him. 8 mph is comfortable and something he can maintain over hours.


Correct, we wouldn't stay at that pace for hours on end. We were both trotting and walking today, just 8 miles overall. She's a relatively new horse for the woman I ride with-her $1 horse...and we wanted to see how well she could trot out. I was happy with that result though! It was a very smooth ride on this particular horse. She is a morgan but has a paso fino type gait, with the paddling motion, if you know what I mean. =) I didn't really post, just kinda felt like I was floating above her. 

Anyway, yes, I'm not saying that's a normal trot...just goes to show how much it could vary I guess.


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