Racking?

[MelissaH]

I seen an old ad for Mohawk and it mentioned that he needed to be retrained to be safe for trail riding. It said he racks, like he thinks he still doing shows.

I bought a TW for the nice gait on trails. Why would someone retrain the horse to be safe because of his gait? My TW would have no problem keeping up with him. They are both gaited. The only think I think is because of his speed. I figure if my daughter is trained on racking horse, she'll know no difference. She just won't be doing any showing. Okay, sure, we'll be going a bit faster than the quarter horse next door.:)

[galadriel]

At a stallion expo recently, I had the pleasure of sitting through demos of just about every stallion who came to the expo. (Whew!) One of the highlights was a speed-racking horse who raced around the arena to the tune of "Devil Went Down to Georgia." The tempo was *perfect* for him, and MAN was he flying!

There was another in the arena who was doing smaller circles at a much, much slower rack in the center of the arena. The slower rack looked interesting. The faster rack looked FUN! --but probably not fun for someone who's out on trails to relax and enjoy time with their horse. He was really, really bookin' it.

[pengapenga]

as i have no idea whatsoever aboutnthe TW and racking I may not be of help:rolleyes: :) however if your daughter can handle the racking and she is confident to ride him trail and it is not dangerous then I can't see a problem. From Galadriels post it sounds like is fun:)

[Tharg]

What is racking and what does TW stand for?

[artemis]

I would like to know too.

[MelissaH]

Racking? This can explain better than me.

http://www.gaitedhorses.net/Articles/Rack/RackingGait.shtml


and TW is my version of short for Tennessee Walker.:D

[galadriel]

Racking is one of the gaits of some gaited horses. A TWH is a Tennessee Walking Horse (gaited horse). I think racking may be approximately the same as flying pace in Icelandics--but I'm certainly not gaited horse expert :) and could be wrong.

[kedwards]

The only thing I can think is that perhaps they meant that the horse did a big show-ring style rack, rather than a relaxed and comfortable gait for trail riding.

When I see saddlebreds and TWHs in breed classes at horse shows, they have big upright movement and always look to me as if they are about to explode. This gives them a very flashy appearance, which I think is desired in the ring. However, when I've seen the same breeds used on trails or for hunting, they still gait, but the movement is calmer and less flashy.

I hope that was what they meant and not that they were suggesting that the gait should be trained out of the horse. Like you said, those comfy gaits are what makes these breeds so wonderful.

[Peace]

Around here, the trail riders looove racking horses, I suspect because few of them know how to post (rise to) the trot.;) Bram and I ride out with a beautiful little spotted saddlehorse mare sometimes (sort of a small colored version of a TWH:) ). She's as safe as they come, and she has no trouble keeping pace with me and my 22 year old draft cross.:p

[Miriam]

I love racking :D Katie where's me horse :D if I remember rightly Gubber (sorry Kaite I'm not sure I spelt his name right?) was a racking horse so Kaite will be able to expalin all