Gaited Horse Puns

I have a fantastically kind, gaited heart mare that’s an Andalusian/Rocky Mtn cross. She is EXTRA in all the ways. We get along beautifully. I have no issues with her other than that I CANNOT get my pacing down with her for a trot. I work her in our spacious round pen and ride her on many trails — she does great on the trails, even on 6-8 hour rides. But every week in the round pen, I try to work on technique especially with gait changes, consistent pacing, etc. I’m STILL struggling to keep her at a trot, ever. It feels like she doesn’t even know how to trot. It’s like she has 3 walking gaits of different speeds, one of them being a chaotic little walk/canter hybrid dance...and then her next gait goes straight to a canter.

On the lunge line, she also does not hold a trot.

What do I do? Does anyone have any specific drills or exercises for me to bring into our routine? How am I misreading her rhythms? She is truly such a unique horse, and I love/trust her more than any other horse I’ve ever ridden or had. Her gaits seem much different from the TWs I’ve ridden. Not as smooth? But so spirited and majestic...anyway, any advice on how to work on a slow, consistent, rhythmic trot would be great.

At this point, I’m wondering if she even knows she has a trot...maybe she doesn’t? Is that even possible? 🤔😅 How do I figure this out?

(Also any advice anyone has for gait change + pacing exercises at all are appreciated!)

hello r/horses! i’m excited to be able to share with you some of my knowledge of gaited horses, and specifically, the Tennessee Walking Horse. i see a lot of misinformation and just general confusion around the breed, the different gaits, what terminology means, and so much more. so i’m really happy to help others understand and maybe spark a passion for gaited horses like i have!

just FYI: this will be long, but oh so informational! please read through it, you won’t regret it!

the Tennessee Walking Horse is a hallmark of breeds in the US; is it the most well-known gaited breed, extremely popular in the southern states, but found all over the US and even the world. unfortunately, this breed is probably the most notorious for controversy – many people are only aware of their existence due to the Big Lick shows. because of that, many people incorrectly assume things about the breed and how they’re used; and even worse, they make sweeping generalizations about the kind of people who own these wonderful horses.

before we talk about their gaits, let’s take some time to talk about their history, and what they’re mainly used for today.

The Tennessee Walker came into existence in the 1700’s, having been developed from Narragansett Pacer and Canadian Pacer horses, along with gaited Spanish breeds. they bred these breeds together and got a horse that didn’t trot, but instead had a more comfortable gait they called a pace. they were especially popular on plantations, where people needed to be in the saddle for long hours. people also noticed they were sure-footed over rocky terrain, even in the 1800s, which no doubt started their popularity for trail riding. over the years, other breeds were added for additional qualities, such as Thoroughbreds, Morgan’s and Saddlebreds.

in 1886, a foal named Black Allan (or Allan F-1) was born from a Morgan mare and a Standardbred stud; he would later go on to become the foundation sire of the breed. he was a failure as a trotting horse due to his preferred pacing, so he was used for breeding instead. Black Allan sired a foal named Roan Allan, who also would later become a successful show horse and sire several famous Tennessee Walkers.

the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders and Exhibitors Association (shortened to TWHBEA) was later formed in 1935. In 1950, the USDA recognized the TWH as a distinct breed.

The Walking Horse Celebration, which is where the majority of the controversy stems for this breed, held its first show

I am getting into horse riding, and though I don't want to own a horse of my own until I am much more prepared/learned, I have been researching breeds I might be interested in owning one day.

I was immediately enamored by the Tennessee Walking Horse, but after doing some more digging, I have learned a bit more about the animal cruelty associated with the breed. I have a few questions I hope someone can give me some input on!

It sounds like the laws against "soring" (intentionally causing pain/blisters/other awful stuff to gaited breeds legs in order to make them walk more "elegantly") are still up in the air for the time being.

I know for a fact that I would never want to support a breed that involves cruel practices- my main question is, are all Tennessee Walking Horses subject to this type of "training" when they are being trained as younger horses?

Secondly, do all gaited horses have to be trained this way in order to have the smoother gait? Or is it only show horses who are treated this way? The gait isn't super important to me, though I do feel like if it is only an attribute obtained through cruel measures, I would be better off buying a pretty quarter horse and dealing with the bumps!

Basically, I am curious that if I wanted to some day own one of these horses for pleasure riding, would they have likely gone through this inhumane method at some point in their life? I would probably be buying an older, more seasoned horse in the future as my first horse.

I am just curious as to the frequency of soring being used, and if that is the only way these horses can end up with a smooth gait. I was originally (naively) under the impression that these horses naturally walk smoothly!

Apologies in advance for any newbie-like vocabulary! Trying to learn as much as I can about horses!

I have limited to no experience with gaited horses, however, for my next horse I am looking at rescuing, and there are a lot of gaited horses (Standardbreds and TWHs mainly) in rescues around me.

I don’t want to count them out, but I also don’t want to put a horse in a situation where they may not physically be a candidate for the type of riding I want to do.

I only jump purely for fun— nothing over 3’.

I know OTTBs are really the rescue superstars for jumping, but I have had zero luck with OTTBs .

Anybody have any experience? Is it even possible?

I'm moving this week, and I tried a couple of horses/barns in the area that I'm moving to.

I absolutely LOVED one of the barns! The trainer was nice, the rates are affordable, and there are a bunch of trails on the property.

My only issue is that I didn't really click with the horse I would lease there (a 6-year-old, Thoroughbred/Standardbred cross). I couldn't figure out what was strange about her until I watched the videos... she paces.

This barn is an eventing barn, and I am from the hunter world. If I leased this horse, I'm assuming I couldn't show her in the hunters. She also has a HUGE jump - my current trainer says she jumps really big because she's gaited. I'm not sure how that works, and I know very little about gaited horses.

Should I continue my horse search? Or should I try eventing with a gaited horse? I get a little nervous when horses overjump, but I might be able to get used to it...?
Honestly, any advice at this point would be appreciated.

I had a scary incident with Major on Monday evening when my fiance and I went for a trail ride. Going out on the trail he was an angel, I rode him on a loose rein, he gaited nicely and we had a lovely time.

When we turned around to go home, he went full butthead. He threw his head up and I was left holding a handful of loose rein while he turned into a pacing giraffe. Thankfully he will slow down with seat cues, but it scared me to be so out of control in a split second. We ride in a heavily used (esp. right now) national park so he can't be running people/bikes/dogs off the trail because he wants to go home.

We're going to have to go back to the basics and ride around our property for a while until I can trust him on the trails again, but would it be smart to use some kind of martingale on him so he can't throw his head up again? I know gaited horses tend to have high head carriage and I don't want to interfere when he's racking.

I have some Zilco tack and they make martingale attachments that would go with his breastplate ( https://www.statelinetack.com/item/zilco-endurance-sliding-black-martingale/E027090/?srccode=GPSLT&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIqsLb-MPb6AIVjYvICh225AKDEAQYAiABEgJYP_D_BwE ) - it slides so he can move his head side-to-side

Or maybe I should look at something more like this one from Nunn Finer ( https://www.nunnfiner.com/Elastic-Running-Attachment-p/49e.htm ) that is more traditional but has some give with the elastic

Any tips? I have trouble getting him into the canter and when he does it's very hard to control & get a good seat.

Hello! Just wondering if there is anyone else here that owns gaited horses. I own Paso Finos but I am a fan of all gaited breeds. I have also ridden Tennessee Walking Horses and Rocky Mountain Horses. I hope to be able to ride a Missouri Fox Trotter and a Peruvian Horse one day. Here are some obligatory pictures of my Paso mare, Serafina. She is one of the smallest Pasos I have come across at only 13.1h! (: She's perfect for me as I am short (5'1").

Can you buy a gaited horse for a beginner at this price?

This is more stressful than buying my first car!

Should I go for the average-looking Light Horse that has high speed, or the great-looking Black Horse that has high stamina?

As I understand it, stamina prevents knockdown chance on top of longer sprints, and that'd be useful in PvP.

However, the Light Horse's higher speed can also make the difference when running away from or catching up to a zerg.

How fast is a horse's sprint anyway? Does it scale with the base speed?

Hiya,

so I've finally managed to unlock the Stables yesterday, after many hours of casual gameplay. Horse riding and animals/pets are always the things I look forward to in games, so Immediately bought a horse and .... was disappointed.

I don't even know if this is the right place or time to address gameplay suggestions, but I figure I might as well. 😉

A couple of issues I have with the horses:

• the tail sits all wrong - it's the extension of a horse's spine, just like it is with any other mammal. In game, the tail sort of sticks out of the horses' butts, which is awkward and makes the in game horses move like they're in pain and need a trip to the glue factory. Just look at the hunchbacked foals and compare them to photos of actual foals.... This can easily be fixed by adjusting the rig for better posture. Seriously, the rig is bad. Which is sad, because the other animals look awesome and true to reality, while horses and donkeys don't. 😔

• where are my gaits? 😟 I somehow expected to be able to casually trot across the map, enjoying the landscape, instead of recklessly galloping everywhere. If at all possible, I'd love for slower gaits to be added to the game. In most games, I just let my mount walk or trot (as you would in real life) for an immersive and scenic experience. That said, we really need an "auto walk" option that doesn't mean "run everywhere" (edit: you can actually walk everywhere if you don't set walk mode to toggle... oops)

Thanks for reading, and have a great monday!