Do you know how much your horse walks, canters, or trots during a training session?
If the answer is no, don’t feel bad. The truth is, observing equine gaits is very tough for the human eye to do. The only practical way to access your horse’s movements is to use a horse stride analysis app.
Not sure how an app can measure different horse gaits? This article will tell you more about it and whether this can be useful to you.
What Does a Gait Analysis App Measure?
If you were wondering, gait analysis is not a new phenomenon. It’s been used for years to improve athletic performance in humans.
When it comes to horses, gait analysis is quite similar. These days, you can even use a horse app to analyze your horse’s strides. Most apps of this sort allow you to measure your horse’s rhythm, duration, and push-off during each gait.
These apps can tell you, for example, whether your horse’s strides are constant or not. Does the horse speed up or slow down during its gait? The apps also provide comparison points to the average horse times and benchmarks.
Measuring Rhythm
Every horse has its optimal rhythm. By measuring rhythm, you’ll know how far your horse is from achieving consistency in this regard.
Keep in mind that young horses that were recently broken tend to have less constant rhythms. The reason for that is they’re less experienced than adult horses. As their level of training increases, their rhythm gets more constant as well.
By measuring horse gait, you’ll be able to analyze its BPM (beats per minute). You can also analyze its progress over time. Don’t forget to reward your horse as it improves!
Measuring Push-Off
The push-off refers to your horse’s power when it propels itself forward. Ideally, we should be able to see the hindquarters well under its body.
You can train a horse’s push-off through several exercises. For instance, you can focus on riding transitions, such as from a walk into a canter. A gait analysis app can help you accurately analyze its push-off progress.
Most apps measure push-off by analyzing the horse’s upward force over a specific period of time. The more force your horse can exert, the more powerful its push-off will be.
The apps also show the difference between the minimum and maximum push-off. You also have access to benchmarks that allow you to compare your horse’s push-off to other horses.
Why Gait Analysis Is Useful
A gait analysis app helps you understand the development of your horse. It ensures a more balanced training and gives you a chance to make adjustments if necessary.
Even if you’re riding for pleasure, horse gait analysis can be useful. For example, it gives your instructor insight into past training sessions. This allows them to train you more effectively.
Horse Stride Analysis Made Easy
Long story short, horse stride analysis is well worth your time. Using it to measure your workouts makes it easy to see whether your horse needs more training or not. The days of relying on intuition are officially gone!
Want to know the importance of the horse stride chart and the horse gaits diagram? Keep reading our riding-related articles!