Stride Efficiency From The Rider's Viewpoint

Mechanics of the stride at speed succinctly hints at answer to Q: what, if anything, can the rider do that will positively affect the horse's stride?

Last post noted rear lead leg action at max speed. Watching, this action is merely back and forth fast as possible. Consider the horse, any animal, any human, your self--motoring as fast as possible. Is there really any efficiency involved in that sort leg action?

Again, the blogger is other than an expert in the kinesiology of horse or human motion. Nor have I particularly studied this. We know with human sprinters there are correct and incorrect ways of running. Things such as correct body lean, knee lift, leg churning, arm action, and so on. There's an ideal there that the casual observer of track and field events is aware.

With horses and other four legged creatures I'd think max speed efficiency is a little different. My take would be that at max speed each horse has a certain style based on weight and conformation, and that when this horse is motoring it's legs as fast as physically possible there's really only one way for the horse to go--i.e. instead of 5 different styles of running at max speed with each of the separate styles more or less efficient than the next, my observation is that at max speed/max leg churning that each horse has only one style, and this single style controlled by the horse's conformation, weight and body distribution would be that horse's optimal efficiency style by default.

Put another way, for four legged creatures, exerting max effort only one thing "can" happen which is that animal is going to be propelled along forward by their rear leg action--and while for the bobcat or the jaguar there might be some "more efficient" style of this--with the much heavier bigger horse efficiency is limited by weight! i.e. the horse is so heavy that at max speed/max leg churning only one stride style is possible with some slight variation perhaps depending on the head bob--the stronger the horse gets by conditioning the less necessary is deep head bobbing.

If then only one stride style is possible for this horse at max speed, what is it that the rider may do to affect the stride? My own riding experience on this, next post.