Figure 1

Schematic of training program under saddle for yearling/2-year-old horses in the study. For each month, bars show distances horses covered during daily workouts on an oil-sand track at the walk (open bars), trot (hatched bars) and canter (solid bars). Areas in gray indicate variations in distance depending on speed. Cantering was < 10 m/s during Nov and Dec, and then gradually increased to a maximum speed of approx. 13.5 m/s in April for distances up to 1,000 m.