Gaited horses?

[dianneS]

Do you have gaited horses? What do you know about gaited horses?

I'm intrigued by gaited breeds of horses, but not very familiar with them. What disciplines can they be used for?

They look like a smooth ride, but I can't help but think that that gaiting looks like a lot of effort? Apparently not, its just the opposite. How much of this is natural to the horse and how much is training?

 

[patandchickens]

Too big a category to answer most of those questions. There is SUCH a wide variety of 'gaited breeds', from pasos to ASBs to icelandic ponies to standardbreds (and of course many others too). Some non-w-t-c gaits are correct-right-out-of-the-box "natural" (at least when the horse is at liberty or is ridden very very well); others exist in some form naturally but need heavy, heavy training, often with various appliances on the horse, to get the horse doing them in the manner that is publicly displayed.

(And of course this is true *within* a gait too -- like, there is a big difference between the natural running walk that some horses will offer, versus the showring thing that big lick TWHs do. Many other examples as well)

You can't as far as I know train in a gait that the horse does not have inborn in him, though (or at least a very similar gait inborn). For instance, you cannot reasonably expect to take a nongaited w-t-c thoroughbred and teach it to pace. Whereas many standardbreds come out of the womb with the natural tendency to pace instead of trotting sometimes. Some of them are such strong natural pacers that they can be fitted up and raced 'as is', others need training or equipment to strengthen the tendency to pace rather than trot and to discourage them from breaking. But STB pacers canNOT necessarily do, or learn, other funky gaits (some *do* display other gaits, of course, but mostly not IME)

With the question about effort, again, it depends. Some gaits are pretty efficient (fast, ground-covering, not too much energy expenditure); many are not, especially the high-stepping showring versions. You can pretty much tell by looking which is which LOL -- a TWH or MFT on the trail just looks a whole lot different than a Paso Fino stompin' bugs in a show

In terms of disciplines, it depends what you mean "used for". Like, competing internationally, or just recreational riding, or local shows, or what? Basically any horse that can't be counted on to stay in a pure w-t-c is a liability in standard hunter or dressage classes (and I would *think* in local-show open western classes too, but I dunno), and in some driving classes. You're not barred from entering them or anything, but if you start doing a running walk in your circle at E, the judge isn't going to be impressed

The way most gaited horses are constructed does not lend them to be fast gallopers or talented jumpers, although some particular individuals can be quite reasonably competitive, especially at the local-show level. They tend not to excel at the serious levels of endurance, mostly because just *nuthin'* reliably does endurance better than an Ay-rab but some of them do fine in competitive trail riding. And of course they can compete in their own breed shows, or if your local shows offer open park-horse pleasure type classes and that sort of thing.

Personally I am not into gaited horses, but only because a) I've spent my whole life doing disciplines where you require a *pure* w-t-c and nothing else, and gaited horses are usually not as well suited for dressage or jumping or galloping; and b) it's just not what I "imprinted on" in terms of how a horse should feel under your butt These are comments about ME, though, not about gaited breeds. And I have ridden TWHs and a MFT and a few gaited ASBs on the trail and although I could not tell you what the heck gaits they were doing, it sure wasn't walk trot or canter yet once you got used to it it was fairly comfy and efficient. So I think if you were to rewind my life and stick more gaited horses under my saddle parts starting when I was a teenager, I'd probably like at least some of them pretty well

JMHO,

Pat

 

[goodhors]

I would pretty much agree with Pat on her comments. Some other things with gaited animals, is that their conformation may not allow them the ability to do "everything" or be the all-around animal other breeds can. Gaited are designed for EASY RIDING, bred and developed (usually) for the best easy ride under their rider.

With young gaited horses, they may need help in developing their gaits. Can need teaching, shoeing, to properly do the gait skillfully, muscles and brain have to learn how the action works. Then the more they do the gaits, the better and more reliable IN the gaits they are. Real easy to get them going badly, pacey, instead of distinct steps of 1-2-3-4 or 1-2-3, needed. Usually the better bred animals, have a better gait within them, but not always. I saw a 2week TWH filly, doing a running walk beside her dam at an Expo demonstration. That filly was a natural, great mover. Other young horses going, seem to be trying to ALL their gaits at the same time! UGLY.

If there is any question with a young horse, you need a gaited horse Farrier to help get things sorted out. Some just need a bit more toe, others need some special shoes until they have the muscle memory going, gait established in them. You CAN'T be trimming them short toed like they want all the QHs trimmed. Gaited horses have mostly got NORMAL sized hooves for bodies, need a bit longer toe to fit. So many we see have been QH trimmed or shod, going sore or badly gaited with wrong shoeing. These are even on old gaited horses. Can be hard getting that toe length left on, almost NO ONE knows what a normal hoof looks like anymore under any horse. Just because horse is only 14.2H, does NOT mean he MUST wear a 000 shoe! I would think a gaited horse that size, would probably be going in an 0 or 1 size keg shoe. That would be NORMAL for him.

Many folks really enjoy their gaited horses, especially those with joint problems. They are praised for being fairly level-headed horses when raised right, trained calmly. Show ring stuff is very different than trail riding expectations, though there have been plenty from the ring transtioned to the trails, reshod to use outside.

As with any horse, each is an individual animal. Some are dead calm, others are flighty or silly. You can't always modify that with work. Riding lessons with a gaited trainer would help you know how to ask for the gaits when you want them. Expecting horse to "fall into" his gaits is not going to do well for you.

If you do get a good gaited horse, just don't try turning him into something else. You buy them for the great ride, comfort while going. If you want to do dressage or jump big fences, horse is not going to be good at this. And making a gaited horse trot (TWH, MFT, Rocky Mountain etc) is BAD for his gaits. Standardbred does trot, but he is not going to be doing a running walk or fox trot either, so he could do the dressage stuff.

Buy an animal SUITABLE for what you want to do. We see that so often, person falls in love with a breed or individual, then wants it to go in an entirely different direction of horse activity!! You and horse just end up very unhappy because he is not capable in that direction. Gaited animals can be driven, but they need VERY light loads behind. If they have to really pull, they use themselves differently. They are firstly RIDING horses with special riding gaits. If they have to pull loads, you may loose the gait, horse will retrain to trot and use himself differently. We have seen several loose their gaited ability after being driven a lot with heavy carriage loads.

 

[michickenwrangler]

I ride a TWH barn so we see lots of gaited horses come through. There is a wide variety and even some walking horses will rack or pace and some racking horses will do a running walk and so on.

They are nice animals and come in a variety of breeds, colors, sizes and temperaments.

Agree with Goodhors, find a farrier who knows how to trim and shoe gaited horses.

They are nice for trails since they cover ground a little faster at a flat walk than most trotting horses. Although if you ride with non-gaited-horse people they might complain since your horses will GENERALLY walk faster than a trotting horse but if they trot the gait isn't as fast as a good working trot. Since I have a half-Arab and I endurance ride, her trot is quite fast so if I ride with a group of gaited horse people, it's easier if I just borrow a gaited horse since my horse gets frustrated if she can't keep at a similar speed--I'm either holding her back or pushing her.

 

[dianneS]

Thanks for all the info! That pretty much answers most of my questions.

I've just never known much about gaited horses and it seems that they are increasing in popularity around here.

I was just always confused by horses like Paso Finos who look like they are going nowhere fast! I thought "why would they want to do that?" Seems odd to me.

 

[patandchickens]

I was just always confused by horses like Paso Finos who look like they are going nowhere fast! I thought "why would they want to do that?" Seems odd to me.

For showing off. Pretty much like any "extreme" in any discipline (and they virtually all have 'em)


Pat

 

[michickenwrangler]

Thanks for all the info! That pretty much answers most of my questions.

I've just never known much about gaited horses and it seems that they are increasing in popularity around here.

I was just always confused by horses like Paso Finos who look like they are going nowhere fast! I thought "why would they want to do that?" Seems odd to me.

Those are just show Paso Finos and that in particular is a "paso fino" the gait. They also do a paso corto or short step like a flat walk and a paso largo or long step which is a fast extended fast walk.

 

[FlipFlopFarmer]

I have always been partial to my quarter horses, but I will tell you my younger sister was given a big jug headed wide eyed scawny walking horse colt by a relative, and I made fun of him to no end, my sister being the sweet determined thing she is, fed him, loved him, and talked his body into growing in proportion to his head, we gelded him, and she logged many miles on him. When I started calf roping, she set up some barrels in the pasture and started " prancing" around on him. We went to the arena, and although skeptical, I watched her enter barrels, poles, goat tying, break away roping, etc. and in the 5 years she rode at that arena, she took home 2 trophy saddles and numerous buckles and ribbons. She almost always competed against nothing but quarter horses, and beat them often at their own game. On the rare occasion I rode the little gelding, I can tell u he was as smooth as glass, and while today I have two big beefy quarter horses with baby doll heads in my pasture, I will never again think a certain breed of horse cant do something that a different breed was designed to do better. The one thing about horses you never underestimate, and thats their heart.

 

[w c]

Gaited horses have their own horse show classes where they perform their gait. These shows may have various types of classes, such as dressage tests, taylored to the gaited horse.

They usually can not compete in the regular ('open') Hunt Seat, Dressage, Eventing or open Combined Driving competitions. They aren't usually seen in Endurance or Show Jumping, either. Most of those competitions require a horse to walk, trot and canter. And most Endurance people seem to feel a trot is easier on the horse and more efficient use of energy.

Some gaited horses will trot and canter on command, but on them, the trot and canter usually have a different sort of look to them, compared to the breeds developed for their trot and canter. The canter still looks a little pacey, and the trot can be kind of shuffly. Of course, if you find a gaited horse with a good walk, trot, canter and gait, that is really cool.

Each gaited breed has a slightly different gait, but almost all are variations on a pace. In a pace, the legs on one side of the body swing forward together. You hear two hoofbeats - the left side pair of legs hitting the ground, the right pair hitting the ground. When the gaited horse 'gaits', you hear 4 hoofbeats, because the legs on one side, don't quite swing forward together.

The 'gaited' gait usually feels smooth to the rider, without the bouncing of the trot or canter. Sometimes there is a very slight wiggle to it, but it just does not feel like a trot or canter, both have more of a bounce to them.

Gaited horses have a very, very long history. At one time, most people rode gaited horses to get from one place to another. The whole idea is comfort of the rider.

Not all gaited horses gait around the pasture when they are babies. American Saddlebred trainers love to say their horse's gait is 'trained in' and is 'not natural'. But also, unlike most 'gaited' breeds, American Saddlebreds often have a very good
trot and canter, and many can compete in almost any type of competition. Some are trained to be 'five gaited' - walk, trot, canter, stepping pace (slow) and rack (fast).

Over the years a lot of very exaggerated showing styles have developed for gaited horses, especially in the US. Tennessee Walkers especially are often shown in a style called 'Big Lick', a very exaggerated gait. But Tennessee Walkers can also learn to do a very relaxed, comfortable gait.

Icelandic horses may be the oldest distinct breed of horse that 'gaits'. The best of them will walk, trot, canter, tolte(gait) and pace on command. That tradition goes back hundreds of years. There are training books from almost 800 yrs ago that tell how to train horses to do all five gaits. The Icelandic people used to travel long distances by riding one horse and leading two others. They'd switch off from one horse to the other, and switch from gait to gait depending on terrain, to avoid fatigue in the horses.

 

[michickenwrangler]

If anyone decides to read any of the old Arthurian romances written by Chretien de Troyes, you'll read many, many references to palfreys from both Spain and Norway. Palfreys were gaited riding horses.

While many gaited do not compete in endurance (although some do!) because of the fast pace, in the Southeast and Ozark areas, they are common in NATRC competitive trail rides since their pace is about 5mph, about the pace of a nice flat walk. Gaited Saddlebreds, Foxtrotters and Rocky Mountain Horses do quite well.