TROCHA GAIT ANALYSIS



This is the question all we ask, when we note this thin line is crossed permanently by the most of our Paso Fino horses in the Ring Show, as well as in training and in pleasure riding with only as simple as loose very little the reins.

This fact lead us to deduct that there is not a big difference between these two gaits.

Although there is information about Trocha, this does not take into consideration the movement as is. The most of it only says that Trocha is a diagonal movement, asynchcrnous and with an eight beat repeated pattern.

As happened with my Paso Fino concerns and the lack of satisfactory answers, along with some Trocha breeders and fans petitions, once they knew my work about Paso Fino, I decided to investigate Trocha, under the same patterns followed in the former gait.

Take into consideration that this is only my point of view. Please feel free to e-mail if you disagree, attaching reasons, of course. All this is done in order to get the truth about this subject.


PREMISES OF TROCHA

To lay the foundations of my study, I start with the watching and analyzing of the gait on famous Trocha horses and the experience gotten with the former Paso Fino study:
  1. We can continue accepting eight beats which compund a complete cycle (Marked 1 thru 8 for demonstration purposes)

  2. These eight movements are reduced to four, performed alternatively, once on the right side ( 1, 2, 3, and 4) and then on the left one ( 5, 6, 7 and 8).

  3. In terms of the supports, or hoofs on those the horse is sustained, there are two kinds:
    double (or on only two hoofs) and
    triple (or on three hoofs).

  4. During the eight movements, there are four triple supports (1, 2, 5 and 6), alternated with four double supports (3, 4, 7 and 8).

  5. During the four triple supports, there are two of them executed by one foreleg and two hindlegs(1 and 5), alternated with two by one hindleg and two forelegs (2 and 6).

  6. The four double supports are allways executed by diagonals: one foreleg and one opposite side hindleg (3, 4, 7 and 8).

  7. Trocha does not have lateral supports ( One foreleg and one hindleg of the same side).



STARTING POINTS IN TROCHA

As in Paso Fino, there coincidental points in the most of the authors as follow:
  1. Agreement with the existence of eight diffrernt beats or times.

  2. Each hoof has five recognized times with support in land (or impulse phase), and three aerial (or recovery phase).

    See times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Course with Silhouette

  3. Considering the displacement of the horse, each extremity advances by the air in three of these eight times, in the sense of the movement of the horse. On the other side, in the impulse phase, once the hoof is put on the floor, this remains there without amending its support and is the body which is displaced, giving the impression that the hoof is moving in opposite sense; this happens in the other five movements.



The eight movements, in which the consulted authors agree, are reduced to four alternatively repeated beats, by the right side and the left one;they are, in their order of execution, regarding their supports in the floor and the relative position that the hoofs should keep among them, the following:

( To see Explanation to the Graphics )

Eight Movement Animation.
GRAPHIC COMPROBATIONS


Shortened Movement

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