有一些关于running walk 的文章,现摘录若干与各位分享: 我的体会是,蒙古马中的走马的步法,既是洋人说的pace(对侧步?)或slow pace.即马匹前后蹄同步运动,听起来是两蹄声;我没有见过蒙古马走flying pace (田纳西走马会这样的步法), 即步伐极大,并伴有瞬间四蹄离地的对侧步;我没有亲身体会“大颠”和“小颠”,若不是pace,那就是四蹄步法,或许是洋人说的ambling gait中的一种,它本质上是频率较快的walk. The runwalk is NOT considered a speed gait.
This gait is the most energy efficient manner that the horse can propel himself over great distances for hours on end.
The weight transfer from foot to foot is smooth and without any suspension as a walk should be. The horse wastes no effort in moving his weight up, only forward.
The foot support during the gait rotation in a correctly executed runwalk is 2 feet--3 feet--2 feet--3 feet.
While the flatwalk is usually considered to be about 3 - 4 mph, a runwalk should be slightly more than double that speed, staying at about 8-12 mph depending on the size, conformation and development of the horse, but while never losing form.
To surpass those speeds the horse would need to lock up his spine and suspend himself (jog) to cover more ground more quickly.
This locked frame most often creates a hollow carriage that will alter his gait into a pace, a rack or a trot, almost without fail.
A locked frame and upward suspension results in wasted energy. It is with horses moving in this incorrect manner that many "trainers" of today will attempt to alter the gait using weighted shoes and hoof angle modification as well as severe curb bits in efforts to create lift.
At most they will alter the horse's footfall timing, changing a pace into a rack or a stepping pace, but they cannot create a correct runwalk through artificial manipulation.
You must retrain the horse to correctly carry himself. Most trainers do not have the knowledge needed to do this and will instead attempt to "fix" the horse using artificial means. Pace The Pace is a lateral two-beat gait. In the pace, the two legs on the same side of the horse move forward together, unlike the trot, where the two legs diagonally opposite from each other move forward together. In both the pace and the trot, two feet are always off the ground. The trot is much more common, but some horses, particularly in breeds bred for harness racing, naturally prefer to pace. Pacers are also faster than trotters on the average, though horses are raced at both gaits. Among standardbred horses, pacers breed truer than trotters – that is, trotting sires have a higher proportion of pacers among their get than pacing sires do of trotters. A slow pace is relatively comfortable, as the rider is lightly rocked from side to side. However, a fast pace is uncomfortable for riding and almost impossible to sit, because the rider is moved rapidly from side to side. A rider cannot post to a pacing horse. The motion feels somewhat as if the rider is on a camel, another animal that naturally paces. However, a camel is much taller than a horse and so even at relatively fast speeds, a rider can follow the rocking motion of a camel. A pacing horse, being smaller and taking quicker steps, moves from side to side at speed at a rate that becomes difficult for a rider to follow, so though the gait is faster and useful for harness racing, it become impractical as a gait for riding at speed over long distances. A horse that paces and is not used in harness is often taught to perform some form of amble, obtained by lightly unbalancing the horse so the footfalls of the pace break up into a four beat lateral gait that is smoother to ride. "Ambling" gaits Main article: Ambling There are a significant number of four-beat intermediate gaits. Though there are differences in footfall patterns and speed, historically they were once grouped together and collectively referred to as the "amble." Today, especially in the United States, horses that are able to do an ambling gait are referred to as "gaited." All ambling gaits are faster than a walk but usually slower than a canter. They are smoother for a rider than either a trot or a pace and most can be sustained for relatively long periods of time, making them particularly desirable for trail riding and other tasks where a rider must spend long periods of time in the saddle. Not all horses can perform an ambling gait. However, many breeds can be trained to produce them, and there are several breeds of horses who inherit the ability to perform these gaits either naturally from birth or with a minimal amount of training. |