stride

Question
i have a racing 3yr old filly who has a very short stride. I was wondering if you had any suggestions as to how i may teach her to stride out a little better when running. Any help would be appreciated

Answer
Hello Joe.

Hope this message finds you well.
Your question is a bit outside my experience, (race horses) but, lets apply some sense.
You ask about lengthing stride. I can only consider three factors when considering stride, conformation, education, willingness.
To lengthen the stride on a running horse, you can not expect more than the math of conformation allows, another words, you can not expect more than they are physically able, (angle of shoulder, top line, bottom line, length of cannon bone, etc.) In my experience, to lengthen a horses stride we always use the trot as the base. It is even, steady, rhythmic, etc. I use cavaletti, increase the degree of difficulty, challenge the horse, they can reach when asked and can lengthen stride, when asked. A flat out running horse, I would want to see them 'flatten out'. Lower their neck, head, commit to forward momentum, the next stride. Not an easy thing, it requires a lot of trust. To enable the flattening required for max. stride length would require practice and willingness.
If you believe this horse can lengthen their stride enough to make a difference, than it can be done. Some old 'racing hands' could help but I like the Ask Experts team members, some awesome resources available here, (not me, them). You just need to keep asking.Good luck with this racehorse. I love racing and believe it to be one of few true tests of a horses heart/ability/brains.
Good Luck. Nice to hear the 'rest of the story' if you can !
Take care,

   Bill Gibson