Racehorse Stride Patterns

Firstly, I am not a jockey, but I have ridden a cob a type of horse that was 15  hands+ not a thoroughbred which run at many racecourses across the world. Now I did ride in small shows over jumps, but I must confess I do know how to get a horse to go thought it’s transitions, trot, canter and gallop and finally halt. I will leave it there now and move onto a horse’s stride patterns. I watch horse racing all the time and look at the jockey’s hands making subtle reign movements and observing the stride pattern for UK jumps and flat racing. I must confess that I am still learning but love it.

Why I Am Interested In Jockeys Reign Movements And Horse Stride Patterns

There is nothing more magical when you see a top class flat jockey that can make the slightest contact with the horse. Watch how the horse is manoeuvred into the stalls with little effort by the handlers who are very brave. But this is not always  without incidents especially with the maidens and bad tempered horses. Now you might think what is all the waffle about well I will tell you in one statement. The horse and jockey are a partnership that is established over a number of rides, communication is key by both partners. My opinion is that the horse is more intelligent than the jockey and I do not mean it as a joke!

Energy Depletion By A Horse

How do you know how much is left in the tank and what I mean is how much petrol a horse has. I view a racehorse when being ridden by a professional jockey as a unstretched elastic band. When the horse is in the stalls in flat races the elastic band has no tension, in other words it has not be stretched. When the horse starts to accelerate out of the gates the elastic band stretches and that is governed or controlled by the jockey and that is where the skill is plus you must add horse race positioning into the mix. Ok let us cut to the chase here and look at a horses stride patterns, now I am no expert here but what fascinates me is the tail end of a race or the business end where the race is won or lost. Have you seen a horse race in the last 1f – furlong which is 200 meters, from a trained eye you can never really see any frequency difference of stride pattern across all horses but it is possible to see the length of stride which does vary as horses have different lengths of strides. I recently watched a horse a beautifull colour with a large stride but just did not finish the race. You would expect it to eat up the ground and I will explain later in the article.

This is frustrating to a punter who watches live racing. I have seen top flat horses in Group 1 races and especially one ridden by one of my favourite jockeys Cash Assmussen on Mutamayez. that move efforlessly and just cannot  see why it is winning the race 1f out. Plus I have watched the race repeatedly. Do not be deterred and keep practicing.