training horses on sand

Question
hello Lyn. may i know why horses are specially trained on sand? in what way sand helps the horse to move forward? here at our local racetrack, horses are trained on sand and raced on grass.

Answer
Rohit,

I would guess the training on the sand has to do with the footing.  Sand makes a horse work harder because it's a dead surface.  The horse gets no rebound from the ground when the foot hits it and all the kinetic energy in the foot is deposited in the ground.  This would help in conditioning by getting the horse fitter.  Plus, lots of tracks will not use their grass courses except for actual racing.  Grass just won't take the constant use of conditioning work so the horses are conditioned on the dirt track.