Hey everyone,
So, I’d like to hear from different people what this “fifth gear” term means to you, preferably with video support 
It has been a big topic last year at the FEH/YEH symposium and the term came up again, but I think hearing different explanations might be helpful to me to begin to see what it really means.
Are you talking fifth gear as in fast gallop, or fifth leg as in “has the ability to get itself out of sticky situations”?
No video to offer, sorry. But I’ve used that phrase very rarely, and only when I literally feel the horse ‘drop’ into a gallop from a canter/hand gallop. And honestly, I’ve only felt it when out foxhunting as I rarely have hit a true 4 beat all out gallop when doing anything else.
The feeling to me is that the horse’s back drops down, and the horse gets longer and lower to the ground.
For me it usually means what sarapony described. Which in eventing is usually “you are being run away with.”
Is it bad that when I read the title, I immediately though the (UK) TV series Top Gear?
From a mechanics daughter’s standpoint, I only use fifth gear in my manual car when I’m cruising down the highway (still disappointed I don’t have a sixth gear). So, for me, it’s an easily maintainable gear (less wear/work for the engine) that doesn’t suck down gas like third or fourth would at the same speed.
Which can be applied to a horse by saying it’s the right speed for the time and distance and the gallop is economical enough not to use up more energy than needed.
But someone with more knowledge probably has a better way of putting it.
Hmm…I don’t think I’ve ever used the term fifth gear. I do talk about them “finding” their next gear or top gear, which to me means that effortless, ground covering stride that requires nothing of you other than to just enjoy the cruising speed (so an awful lot like 5th gear in a car!). OTTBs seem to have that gear readily available from their time spent on the track. Other horses I’ve ridden, without that history, take some time to find it.
Fifth gear, as in when horse and rider are just cruising in good rhythm, and absolutely in synch, and feel as though they are floating along though they are at a good strong gallop.
“On the first day, David O’Connor mentioned that a four-star horse must have a fifth gear: an economical cruising speed, maintainable even after 10+ minutes.”
That’s a quote from this EN article from last year’s YEH Seminar:
http://eventingnation.com/home/finding-fifth-gear-day-2-of-the-usea-young-event-horse-seminar/
Here is David at the 2013 USEA Convention discussing the details of those qualities with video examples: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkVwZtEKlkY
My nice ottb earned a 9 here for his gallop at YEH 5. He definitely has 5th gear; he flattens out and gobbles up ground without any apparent effort. He should be able to maintain his gallop on a 12 minute course.
MY TB mare has an extra gear at the trot. I have never needed to go fast enough to see if she also has it at the gallop. Her “trail” trot as I call it is so forward and long strided that she can actually go faster than horses cantering. Her canter is pretty ground covering and the few times I have galloped her she can really haul *ss. I have always thought of fifth gear as an additional gear, very forward, but easy for the horse.
My horse Muggle got a 10 on his for the YEH-5 year old championships.
It is more than just the ground covering --it is also a balance thing. My guy got his from his TB dam (whose sire has sired multiple winners of the MD Hunt Cup). It is a gallop that they easily get into FAST after a fence and can easily jump from over the less technical fences. So it is more than just being fast enough…but being efficient, balanced and easy. Not all TBs have it…but more do.
He did well at his first CCI-3* this past fall at FairHill. He was more mentally tired than physically when he crossed the finish. Thus he recovered very fast…and was dragging me around the vet box…and full of himself on Sunday. Leaping and squealing.
That gear where the horse goes from a hand gallop, lowers about 5" like a sports car and gallops along while you don’t feel a darn thing beneath you because it’s so smooth? That one? I’ve never heard it called 5th gear, but it sure is fun. I love how many gallop gears TBs have. I still don’t think I’ve found all of them.
[QUOTE=tbchick84;8016440]
That gear where the horse goes from a hand gallop, lowers about 5" like a sports car and gallops along while you don’t feel a darn thing beneath you because it’s so smooth? That one? I’ve never heard it called 5th gear, but it sure is fun. I love how many gallop gears TBs have. I still don’t think I’ve found all of them.[/QUOTE]
when you feel like you just got left standing in the irons and they just had a broomstick shoved up their a** :lol: and they’ve shifted into overdrive.
I actually find that transition the smoothest of all. He just lowers and nulls out the feeling of movement. If I didn’t see trees whipping by in the distance, I wouldn’t even know I was moving. Coming back from that to the hand gallop is very jarring. I always have to make sure I’m ready to absorb the motion again.
[QUOTE=pony grandma;8016450]
when you feel like you just got left standing in the irons and they just had a broomstick shoved up their a** :lol: and they’ve shifted into overdrive.[/QUOTE]
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