# Big movement or smooth ride- which is betterfor endurance?



## Shortyhorses4me (Jun 17, 2018)

Hello, I'm looking at buying a horse that has very smooth gaits. I would like to do endurance rides with my friend. However, so far I have more fun riding horses with a big movement in the arena. But would a big movement get old when you're trying to ride longer?


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## The Equestrian vagabond (Mar 14, 2014)

YES!
or, rather, depends on how old and athletic you are.
I occasionally ride a big mover on 50s and, although I ride a lot and am in good shape, it takes me (in my 50's) a lot more energy to stay smooth (and not pound on his back) in the saddle, particularly when he's trotting on the flat or (gggaaahhhh!) downhill. He can be really rough on the flat or downhill.
But if you're young and fit (like the horse's 15yo owner, who doesn't even notice this  go for the big mover.


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## QueenofFrance08 (May 16, 2017)

In my humble and new to endurance opinion.... Yes...

I've done 210 AERC (247 UMECRA miles which includes Competitive Trail) miles this summer on my APHA mare who has the smoothest gaits ever. She's slow but super smooth. At our most recent ride (a week and a half ago) we did back to back LD's so 50 miles over 2 days and I wasn't sore at all.

Last weekend I rode DH's 18 year old Arabian gelding who is a huge mover. I was more sore after 6 miles on him than 50 the weekend before on my mare. He's super fast but so jarring.

I would ride my mare 1000x over his horse. He likes riding his horse though (and does LD's with me and does fine) so I guess it depends. If you want to win big movers are great but if you are just looking to complete and have fun I would choose a smooth horse.

I have an Arab too (he's a little green so he's only done one novice ride) and he's smooth too. He's not as fast as DH's horse but faster than my APHA mare. I have no problem riding him for long periods at any gait. 
@phantomhorse13 is the real expert and she's ridden all sorts of horses so maybe she can comment when she gets a break from potatoes!


Pictures of your potential new addition?!?!?!


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## SilverMaple (Jun 24, 2017)

I'll take smooth over big mover for long days in the saddle any time!


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## BlindHorseEnthusiast4582 (Apr 11, 2016)

I don't have endurance experience, but while I love a big, powerful mover, I have to agree a smoother ride would be preferable if I was going to spend an extended amount of time in the saddle.


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## 4horses (Nov 26, 2012)

Smoother is definitely better for endurance. Out of my horses, the only one i would even consider riding endurance with is my Paso Fino. My Paint and my foxtrotter are both big movers with a rough trot. I would not want to do more than 15 miles with either one of them. Nope, no way. I found with my foxtrotter, i needed a dressage saddle to stay comfortable. My western saddle just was not as easy to post in and the dressage saddle supports all the right places.


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

One of my friends does endurance on a horse that was bred for dressage. He's got a really long extravagant stride but its a shallow stride, no high knee action and she can do a sitting trot on him with no effort at all so he covers the ground but is also really comfortable


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## lsdrider (Jun 27, 2012)

I've found that once you spend time in the saddle with a "rough" horse, it and you will learn to work together and smooth out.

You will both get stronger and tougher.

You will learn to ride him / her.

He / she will learn to carry you.

By the time you have a horse that's properly hardened and conditioned you won't notice it.


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## phantomhorse13 (Feb 18, 2011)

Smooth. Without question and hands down.


I have been lucky enough to ride many horses with a variety of gaits. I recently rode a 100 miles on a smooth-moving horse and felt great after. A couple weeks later, I rode 30 miles on a huge-moving, very animated mare - one who people kept commenting on her gorgeous movement. I felt like someone had beaten me with a stick.. and it took me a week to recover.


Show-stopping gaits are great when you are riding for 30 minutes.. but hours are very taxing.


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## phantomhorse13 (Feb 18, 2011)

lsdrider said:


> I've found that once you spend time in the saddle with a "rough" horse, it and you will learn to work together and smooth out.
> 
> You will both get stronger and tougher.
> 
> ...


Unfortunately, this has not been my experience.


My horse Phin has very animated gaits. While I have gotten him to move out versus up to some extent, he is still like riding a pogo stick. I can ride him 50 miles.. but I feel it much more than I do the smoother-gaited horses I ride. And it takes me longer to recover afterwards.


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## AtokaGhosthorse (Oct 17, 2016)

phantomhorse13 said:


> Unfortunately, this has not been my experience.
> 
> 
> My horse Phin has *very animated gaits*. While I have gotten him to move out versus up to some extent, *he is still like riding a pogo stick*. I can ride him 50 miles.. but I feel it much more than I do the smoother-gaited horses I ride. And it takes me longer to recover afterwards.



I had to laugh at this. Trigger's leg movement is like sewing machine needles or car pistons. I always start out panic grabbing the back of my saddle, and it takes about 10 minutes for me to adjust and not get bounced out of the saddle and not grab the back of the saddle. He may be the bounciest horse I've ever ridden. I don't know the mileage, but we've gone 4 hours at a whack... and it's exhausting.


That said, I'd go for the smooth horse if I were doing endurance. The Spotted Saddle horses the local trail riders have here impressed me mightily last weekend. Trigger had to work to keep up with them in rough country, and they covered a ton of ground at a fast click, and didn't beat their riders up in the process. Their gaits were described as a rocking chair motion, and a lot of older folks (Men and women in their 70s! The trail boss was almost 80!) were in the lead and putting the rest of us to shame.


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## lsdrider (Jun 27, 2012)

phantomhorse13 said:


> Unfortunately, this has not been my experience.
> 
> 
> My horse Phin has very animated gaits. While I have gotten him to move out versus up to some extent, he is still like riding a pogo stick. I can ride him 50 miles.. but I feel it much more than I do the smoother-gaited horses I ride. And it takes me longer to recover afterwards.


Yes, my comment "you won't notice it" was a bit optimistic. Perhaps it should have been followed by "as much", lol.


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

jaydee said:


> One of my friends does endurance on a horse that was bred for dressage. He's got a really long extravagant stride but its a shallow stride, no high knee action and she can do a sitting trot on him with no effort at all so he covers the ground but is also really comfortable


There I was, scratching my head over why this was supposed to be an either-or proposition - smooth gait _or_ big gait - because the three main horses I have ridden in my life, and several others besides, have had _both_. I've ridden choppy horses, but that's been mainly because the horses' shoulders were straight and/or lack of physical condition; and bouncy horses, which lift their legs too high. Maybe it's because my definition of a big gait is a long-striding gait, such as @*jaydee* describes above, rather than a "showy" Hackney-type gait with exaggerated elevation.

One of my main horses was an endurance-bred, big-striding Polish/Crabbet Arabian mare who was ultra smooth bareback as well. My very first horse was a French Trotter mare with her breed's flying trot, but again, I found that far smoother than the average riding school horse's trot. I now ride that mare's great-grandson, and again he's a big strider and so comfortable to ride at any gait or speed.

Both the harness racing and endurance breeds are bred for an _efficient_ gait, which is a smooth gait - energy is directed into forward motion, not flouncy embroidery. They are what is called in harness racing terms "daisy cutters" - their ground-covering gaits are done with hooves staying closer to the ground than in showy breeds. My Arabian endurance / all-purpose mare also trained in dressage and had both a wonderful extended ground-covering trot, and a lovely elevated more collected trot if I asked for it.


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## Shortyhorses4me (Jun 17, 2018)

SueC said:


> jaydee said:
> 
> 
> > One of my friends does endurance on a horse that was bred for dressage. He's got a really long extravagant stride but its a shallow stride, no high knee action and she can do a sitting trot on him with no effort at all so he covers the ground but is also really comfortable
> ...


I was referring to what the rider is feeling as far as big movement, not big gait. I've ridden horses that barely move your hips and you don't need to try very hard to follow their movement. I've ridden other horses that really rock your hips forward and back (not choppy up and down), and it takes getting used to in order to follow their movement.


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

That wasn't clear from your initial post. Short point is, most working horses I've personally ridden have had big-striding, smooth gaits suited to endurance and general comfortable riding. That's working-line Arabians, part-Arabians, a French Trotter, French Trotter/STB crosses, and STBs. Friends working with working-line Arabians, working-line QHs, and even mustangs, have all found smooth horses that can cover much distance. I'm not sure why you'd want to ride any other type for endurance riding. Yes, uncomfortable horses exist that can cover ground too, but why would you, given the choice? And mostly, efficient gaits that can cover distance are smooth anyway, from my experience.


A friend had a lovely OTTB whose trot wasn't so great; he's the kind of horse that cantered a lot on trails. I'd want a horse that can do both very well. Another friend has an OTTB that does both well - but TBs are less set up for comfortable trotting.


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

Shortyhorses4me said:


> I was referring to what the rider is feeling as far as big movement, not big gait. I've ridden horses that barely move your hips and you don't need to try very hard to follow their movement. I've ridden other horses that really rock your hips forward and back (not choppy up and down), and it takes getting used to in order to follow their movement.


The way the horse moves will directly impact the way the ride feels.
I can pretty much look at a horse on the lunge and know if its going to be a bone shaker or not!


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## rambo99 (Nov 29, 2016)

The one horse i have looks smooth when he's on the lunge not huge ground covering strides. He's a bone jarring fool to ride. Other gelding has huge ground covering strides ,and he's a much better ride not smooth but not bone jarring. My old horse i put down this spring had gaits to die for was smooth trotting and a canter to die for. He was like riding a gaited horse but he wasn't gaited was walk,trot & canter . Watching him move would of never guessed he was smooth, smooth, smooth.


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## george the mule (Dec 7, 2014)

George (the Mule) is short and stocky, and his footfalls are rather choppy. He _is_ "gaited", and when he picks it up, it does smooth things out a bunch, but he is lazy, and I have never been able to get him to stick with it for very long. And he simply will not canter (a Donkey thing, or so I am told). He is brilliant on technical terrain, but tiring on a flat trail.
Oily (a large TB) on the other hand is a retired Dressage horse. He is tall and narrow, and a lot of his 17h is in his legs. As you might expect, his movements are large and animated, and he just _loves_ to show off, which makes for even larger excursions. However his various trots are easy to ride, his canter is like floating, and even his everyday walk is well suspended, and covers a lot of ground. OTOH, he isn't real sure-footed, and he can be a handful on a tight rocky trail.
As such, I find that despite his animation and antics, Oily is a more comfortable ride overall, while George is the hands-down choice for the more challenging trails.
I will comment that either one is capable of laying down a bone-jarring trot, which they offer readily when displeased with their rider ;-)


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## my2geldings (Feb 18, 2008)

I would take smooth gaits any day over a big clunky stride.


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

Not really sure what you mean by big movement. It seems that most are taking big movement as bone jarring. I've ridden horses that move big that are super smooth as well.


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