Unlike
trotting horses, mountain horses have a smooth gait
which can be ridden without posting or bouncing in the
saddle. There is no bounce because of the nearly even
timed, patterns of the footfalls. The motion of a horse
at a walk (or in the super-fast walk we call a gait)
causes the human pelvis to move in the same rhythm as
when we walk. It is a natural movement for the body
as opposed to the trot, which is uncomfortable and has
no corresponding equivalent to our body’s movement.
Physically challenged people and people
with knee and back injuries often find riding a gaited
horse therapeutic, because the rhythm of the horse on
their bodies is the same motion as walking, and their
tendons and muscles are stretched and strengthened toward
normalcy.
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