How important is the trot !

1 - If you need to get your horse out of bed right before racing, you have a point. He ought to walk around for a few minutes.

2 - When I've run sprints, I did it without stretching, or doing some light running building up to faster running, and then sprinting.

3 - When a baseball player sprints to first base, has he spent the previous 10 minutes trotting? When a football player comes off the bench, does he trot for 10 minutes before entering the game? How many pro athletes jog around for a while before entering a sport?

If you want to trot your horse for any length of time before running barrels or doing anything else, that is your right. There isn't any evidence it helps, tho, and it certainly isn't "absolute stupididty [sic] & ignorance" to do otherwise.

Each one of your points are evasive to the real question / answer .
The athletes are already warmed up ???? They don't any longer need to waste energy warming up what is already warmed up . Obviously ...... And when do you run ?? If you claim to be sprinting without any kind of warm up , you're either lying , or you've already been walking , going up and down stairs or doing SOMETHING to warm yourself up ..(throughout the day) Obviously horses don't sleep in beds , but they sure as hell don't walk around / exercise while sleeping !! They're standing or napping laying down.
ALSO , I never said not trotting was absolutely stupid or ignorant although I feel doing nothing but running your horse is , RUNNING A LAME HORSE is complete and utter stupidity..and DEFINITELY mis treating them.
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And FYI , Turn on ESPN . Before batting , what are the baseball players doing ?? Oh , they're WARMING THEMSELVES UP , theyre swinging the bat , with weights on them ..readying their muscles... & when a Football player gets off the field , what do they do ?? Oh yeah , they put sweaters on to keep themselves warm , and when they go back in , they JOG onto to the field.........anything else Im missing ??
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Trotting builds more muscle then any other gait. Where I live is pretty even, english and western. I ride western and everyone trots their horses! These people in your area are very clearly ignorant! Im sure you have ones every where. But that just is crazy.
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Western riders don't hold the patent on stupidity. I see mishandling of horses in all sorts of disciplines.

I prefer to warm a horse up before running him hard. Whether it is science or not, it is done by a lot of successful riders. It also gives the horse a few moments to get his brain in the correct gear.

Physically, it would be difficult to prove. However, the mental results from a proper and engaged warm-up can be very apparent and are necessary for many horses to work in a relaxed frame of mind. It's also a good time to assess if your horse feels tense or off.

I have nothing against western riders . As I am one now .. My point was more of the fact that they are barrel racers ( hard riding ) not just that they ride in a western saddle... & that they ride like the 'old school cowboys' very harsh when it comes to their hands , bits , spurs , etc . Most of them don't really know how to truly 'train' a horse. (The actual trainers who get payed to train!) -They start horses in shanked / twisted wire bits & they yank and spur , and hobble and practically beat them until they get what they want . I actually had a daughter of the biggest and supposed 'best' trainer in town try to tell me that a Double twisted wire gag bit was a good bit to use on my VERY LIGHT mouthed horse because her dad has her use one on her horse who is apparently very light mouthed too..... .(the daughter has VERY HEAVY hands....
But I know its not just because they ride western . I see riders of all disciples doing the same sorts of things .
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Even if there is no statistical proof that warming up is better than not, I still take at least a few minutes before asking for strenuous work or cantering just to get the horse warm and stretched out. It makes me feel like I'm doing something good, so I do it.

I say that trotting is very important because it is one of the most strenuous gates and that is what I mostly do in my dressage lessons and jumping lessons if I am on a green horse. For dressage I get on and walk a lap or half and begin trotting on floppy reins (just getting the feel) and then I being doing stretchy work so she can later collect. During jumping I do this also but trotting is better for poles (usually) so if I warm up over poles than trotting jumps will be easier.

I as a barrel racer, most definitely warm of my horse. We walk a few laps at a brisk walk, jog, then trot (i post) and then ill canter after about 15 minutes when my horse is nice and loose. I also do sidepassing. Big whoas, rollbacks. I like to bend and flex my horses neck/head.

I do not gallop my horse before runs. And I do like to stretch my horse before jumping on again. I don't ever see anyone stretching a horse but that's personally what I do.

Ill never ever run a lame horse. Simple as that.
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