I've actually never ever in my 53 years heard of this breed and I'd had horses from when I was 14yo and a bit later on in my 20s started showing and breeding miniature horses and Arabians till I stumbled on a RU-vid channel about them. Very unusual horse that to me in my own personal opinion looks there hurting and lame with there head bopping up and down. The show canter omg even worse, they just don't look right. In saying that there a beautiful horse but there gait just doesn't right. At least they don't look forced like some gaited horses but like I said I've only just learned about them tonight. You do most certainly learn something new every day. 😊
This is the first day I've gotten Panther to elevate her shoulders and knee lift, moving past the run walk into a rack. She is just learning how to move out like this, but is REALLY fun! She already has a gliding dream gait at the flat walk and running walk, so moving into the rack and later the singlefoot will make her another spectacular animal, and dream to ride!
I'm not sure it's a good thing to ask a fast whoo in a fast pace. Seems this would get the horse hesitant to continue at a steady trot or rack as he called it. The horse would start anticipating a stop after settling into the trot. I would think some kind of voice cue like "easy" then a transition rein contact with a whoo! Would keep the horse from any anticipation to stop. I know it's necessery for them to know how to stop suddenly on cue but not unless it's critical. Just my observation and I hope this rider is only doing it here for show. Great mare!
Good observation, but what is not seen to the observer is that the rider is cueing the horse with his seat and voice slightly in advance, preventing the anticipation issue. Again, good comment. :)
XxBronzeWolfXx I have raised foxtrotters for almost 30 years and have had I believe every bloodline within the breed. there is much Variety in the way they gate and their athletic ability as well as their speed. the fastest foxtrotters I have seen would probably run about 25 miles per hour for a short distance. the average would be more like 18 to 20 miles per hour. I grew up on a thoroughbred and running quarter horse Farm and no gaited horse can't even begin to compare with real race horses.... At least not for Speed. the beauty of a good gaited horse is the ability to ride smoothly and cover many miles in all types of terrain giving the writer very comfortable trip. if you want a long-distance endurance horse that is fast I recommend a well-bred Arab or Arab Mustang cross. if you want a fast horse for shorter distance then the well-bred running quarter horse or Thoroughbred may do the trick. although gaited horses are not as fast at running they have their purpose :-) you might enjoy my website also watching fast gaited horses being ridden at different speeds at www.smoothestride.com
This video starts going slow, to show she is calm and relaxed at the beginning of the ride and not "rearin' to go" and happy just walking if you prefer that. Then we have her gaiting faster as the video goes on. :) She's not a speed rackin' pony yet, but will give the most comfy ride you ever dreamed of alongside a foxtrotter or walking horse or other normal speed gaited ride. She is a sweetheart and a beauty!
She's 14.2 hands, but extremely tough for her size. I weight 250 and she surprisingly carries me quite well... although I recommend a smaller person for her regular rider. :) Also, we'll be adding a speed racking video of her soon, so keep an eye out for that! She's super smooth at that gait too!
We feel so blessed to be able to own this amazing stallion! Rock is a two time world champion speed racking horse that can gait smooth as glass over 30mph, but also glides without any bounce in a flat walk, foxtrot/runwalk speed, rack, and singlefoot...so you can just choose your speed from 2-30+mph and glide along in comfort through any terrain for mile after mile! We are very excited to be crossing him on various breeds of gaited mares to produce singlefooting foals! Visit our website to see more: www.SmoothestRide.com
Now that's a nice gaited horse. I see too many people advertising pacing and trotting horses for sale as gaited. Papers do not a gait make. They have to be trained right if they have the talent and they do not necessarily have to have the papers to have the talent. My mustang mare also does these gaits.
This beautiful Tennessee Walking Horse gelding is bred to gait well, but just needs some coaching to do so under saddle. He was ridden in the past, in a way that had his body stiff and with poor posture, preventing him doing the smooth natural movement he was bred for. As you can see in this video, he starts off with a full blown pace, and he did this at all speeds. He is going to be taught to soften his neck, bend at the poll, and engage his hind end, and as he does so he starts to break up his foot fall pattern and go into gait. This video just shows his progress in the FIRST HOUR of gaited lesson with Alma DeMille. We will update his progress as he has additional lessons to show how he will eventually have a flawless flat foot walk and running walk. After just one hour he is gaiting much better than he started out, but still has a lot of things to fix to improve to perfect his gaits. Keep tuned for the update after his next lesson!
I'm not very familiar with racking horses or gaited in general, even though one of my horses is a SSP, but you are SO awesome for keeping the horses happiness and best interest paramount, instead of going for wicked fast and wicked horses! Have you bred him yet??
hsb ashraf If the horse is gaiting the way I like, you can sit there relaxed even bareback without a saddle and just float along. Even with horses that are well bred it takes some practice for them to learn to gait just right and stay smooth. If you watch our stallion, HeZa Bad Cat video you'll see I have to use more pressure into the stirrups, especially when going fast but it's still very smooth. I attribute the glassy smoothness of Comet's gait to him being a cross bred out of a Standardbred SingleFooter and from a mother that was a smooth gaiting saddle type horse, like a Foxtrotter or TWH horse. The mix really can turn out nice, as Comet shows. :)
Honestly, please don't take this as criticism, you have to do what makes sense for your circumstances but really - why would you ever geld this horse? If all you say about him is true he BELONGS in the gene pool. Can you find another sweet horse for the timid rider and keep this guy making good babies? I would love to see racking horses compete in Endurance and Competitive trail ( and would love to have one) but can't do it with horses that need toe weights, etc.
A few folks mentioned that I only show one example of a modern show gait, and that's not fair... I guess I figured everyone sees numerous examples of them all the time but few see the old style gaits so that's what I focused on. Here's a couple links to other shows.... watch all the way through and see how they push the horses for animation and decrease the comfort of the ride. Some may say it would be boring to show horses going smooth, but if the point of a show is to show the world what our horses do in order to promote them and get more people interested in riding foxtrotters, then which do YOU think will convert people to this breed of horse? No brainer, huh? Follow these two links for more modern show examples: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-V81YHtpsraU.html & ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-KvLeBN0G5Wg.html
You will notice that there is a least a bit of a head nod in each of these horses, although not as animated and artificial as it is today. There is also a diagonal component to the gait although the reach is not as great. These horses were smooth because there was more of a a time period between when the front foot set down before the back diagonal foot set down than there is in the Performance arena at Ava. However, a lateral stepping pace (or amble) with no head nod is not a foxtrot - new or old style.
This is true. Although often, when teaching a foxtrotting horse to gait its smoothest, you may want to restrict the head nod at first to help horses get into correct posture, by collecting to bend at the poll, engage the rear end to prevent a heavy forehand carriage etc. then as the horse learns to glide along in perfect balance you let them have a loose rein and nod their head again, in timing with each rear hoof hitting the ground. The head nod is a good thing as it acts like a cantilever to provide smoothness to the saddle seat, when done like Zane Grey and Gold Bug in the video, but when over exaggerated like is common in the shows today, it reduces the quality of the ride by shaking the saddle seat front to back excessively. I love a good foxtrot gait, when it's smooth as glass to ride but often find horses that are more comfortable doing a running walk, Indian shuffle, stepping pace, rack or other nice quality gait. I personally take each horse I'm training and experiment with them to do all the gaits they have the ability to perform and then whichever one each individual horse does the most comfortably for the rider and with the most natural movement, which means it will be their best endurance gait, I encourage them to ride in. Some TWH horses foxtrot better than they run walk and many MFT horses run walk or rack better than they foxtrot, and the same principle goes for Rocky Mtn, Spotted Saddle Horses, and all the other gaited breeds I work with. Although a good Old Style foxtrot is my favorite gait for most riding conditions I personally ride in, I really enjoy all the wonderful gaits gaited horses can do. So I encourage horses, regardless what breed their registration papers are, to do whatever gaits they do the best. With several thousand gaited horse clients and students around the world to form my opinion from, I'd say that 99% of people just want the most comfortable gaits they can get from their horses, regardless how "correct" it is for the specific breed. There's my 2 cents worth. PS: I've seen a lot of your videos, Julie, and enjoy your quality teaching and horsemanship. Keep up the good work! :)
