Gaited Horses

[MissMissy]

I'd like to do some more stuff with Missy, the Walker mare that I'm riding, but because she's gaited, I'm not sure about trotting her...I've read that will ruin her gaits. Is this true? If so, what kinds of things should I work on with her in place of trotting exercises....or can I do basically all the same things with her that I would do with, lets say, a Quarter Horse?

:confused:

[Wally]

I don;t know about walking horses or other American gaited horses but I don know that when you can work and Icelandic in all his gaits they help to loosen him up and make him better. Working an Icelandic in trot will help the other gaits.

Hákon is just learning to trot, he prefers tölt and pace. The trot comes and goes when we ask for it, but his tölt has become free-er since trot has come.

It's because you are working more muscle groups not just the ones he needs for lateral gaits.

Gaited Icelandics benefit from EXACTLY the same exercises you'd do with an ordinary gaited horse, lateral dressage moves, collection, transitions, extension even jumping.

Don't neglect the fancy footwork and do a bit of everything each time you ride her.

[jUmPingIsLifE]

I don't think teaching a gaited horse to trot would hurt it, i know of some paso finos who have been trained to trot and they will still gait fine. i would love to teach my paso to trot but i have NO idea how.

[T-bred]

My dad who has trained paso fino's for the past 20 years says that trotting them is not a good idea because they're not as balanced and then they also don't go into the gaits right away they instead try to trot[ I know because we owned one that did this] I ride the paso's when I want to ride gaited and my thoroughbred when I want to trot!!

Anna

[MissMissy]

Originally posted by T-bred
I ride the paso's when I want to ride gaited and my thoroughbred when I want to trot!!

Anna

lol, sounds like a good trade off! I'm so used to riding gaited that it was weird riding a Quarter Horse yesterday evening... hehe.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'm still a little confused though. I've read certain articles that say trotting spoils the gaits and then I've read other articles that say that's just a myth. I think to be on the safe side I won't trot her (purposely, anyway).

Can I perform stuff like going over poles in gaits like the running walk? I'm still new to gaited horses, obviously... :p

[equinekrazed]

Hmmm I wouldn't try to trot her. If there's a chance it could ruin her gaits, I would think it wouldn't be worth it.

If you want her to trot for muscling, you can accomplish this by doing lots of work going up and down hills.

If you want to trot just for exercising, do lots of serpentines, figure eights, and whatever other patterns you might want to use. I ride gaited horses all the time, and we always do barrel racing with them to exercise them. They're darn good, too!;)

[IrisSilverMoon]

does she even trot?

I remember riding a walker awhile back and was told that he didn't trot...it was running walk, pace and canter, and he really wasn't supposed to pace. Of course the running walk was plenty fast so i had no problem with just doing that! :p

but that's why I ask what she does, maybe she doesn't even have a trot, I know I was specifically told to look out for pacing when riding this horse and not to let him do it, it may be a way of getting out of the running walk....but I dont' know...i'm just theorizing.

[MissMissy]

Yeah, she trots sometimes. Usually I'll get her going in the running walk and she'll start to slow down....get into a real choppy pace, trot a bit, and then begin walking again. I'm working with her to keep her consistent, as she's not too good at that (she's not ridden a whole lot as it is, so when I can get a chance to work with her, she doesn't want to do much).

Here's a question....anyone with TWH experience - have you noticed them not cantering a whole lot? I was talking with another Walker owner and she was telling me that a lot of them won't canter. She said they pick the running walk over cantering because it's not as tiring. The only time I've cantered REALLY good on Missy was one time when she was being a brat and was rushing back to the barn. I would have loved to have stayed with it, but I didn't ask her to canter, so I had to bring her back down. When I ask for it she doesn't listen and either gives a couple little bucks or speeds up the running walk. I'd say maybe there is a pain issue, but really don't think that's it. I've also thought maybe I'm confusing her by giving her an aid she isn't familiar with. My instructor taught me to tell a horse to canter by putting on pressure with my outside leg and tightening the reins a bit. When I do this with Missy she doesn't really respond to it. But I'm not sure what she's been taught....anyone have any guesses?

[kedwards]

My experience with TWH's has been limited (I've only ridden 3 or 4 of them and only a handful of times, at that), so take this suggestion with a grain of salt, but have you tried giving a little with the reins when you ask? When I've ridden the running walk, it felt like the horses go on a fairly short rein and don't have as much neck movement as they do in the canter.

[MissMissy]

She has to be kept on a fairly tight rein. Not so much that it's hurting her mouth of course, but when I try to lighten the contact a bit she takes advantage of me and doesn't listen. I might be able to get her to canter that way, but she'd be all over the place and we'd fall apart quickly.

I think it's mainly an issue of me finding out what she responds to. Obviously she doesn't respond to the cues I've been taught...guess it'll just take some time to figure out what clicks.

[galadriel]

Try PM'ing Katie_85. She's been gone for a bit (and said that she is working her way through the backlog), so may not see this thread anytime soon. She rides a Walker (for fun & in competitions) and could probably give you a lot of advice on how they're typically trained, and what combinations of aids you could try.