Gaited Horse Training

Our blogger friend Breathe asked the following question on yesterday’s post about training our gaited horses:

“I'm curious what a gaited trainer does differently in your experience. I know a few gaited horses, but don't know much about their training.”

From our experience there is a not lot of difference between smooth gaited horse training and traditional gaited horse training.  Rather it’s a difference of emphasis in the training.

Smooth gaited horses need to use their rear end to step under themselves to enable their genetic gait to come out successfully.  To do this they need to be flexible in their vertebra from their head to their tail – i.e., have a rounded top line.  This is a basic principle in collection and is common to all horses, but it’s critical for smooth gaited horses.  If their muscles are not developed adequately and their mind trained to get their impulsion from the hindquarters they will tend to pace (equal lateral movement on same side – very rough) or trot (diagonal leg movement on opposite sides – not as smooth).  Smooth gaited horse training emphasizes this development of the hindquarters and flexible, rounded top line to enable the horse to step under himself to do the gait.

Here is a short video of the various gaits of a Rocky Mountain Horse.  The impulsion is coming from the hindquarters.  The horse is stepping very lightly with his front feet and legs.

Equally important is relaxation and balance.  Smooth gaits are variations of the four beat movement all horses have in the walk – only faster.  To do the necessary step under and allow the head movement to keep the horse in balance, the horse needs to be as relaxed as possible.  The energy flows from the hindquarters and out of the head movement.

Here’s a short video of an Icelandic Horse gaiting (called a ‘tolt’).  This horse looks very close to Betty’s horse Morgunn and moves just like he does.  A quarter horse often has to canter to keep up with a tolting Icelandic Horse.

In both of the above videos the riders are as still as possible in their bodies and especially in their hands.  This is very important in riding smooth gaited horses.  Unnecessary body/hand movements can cause the horse to tighten their muscles, lose their balance, interrupt the flow of energy from the hindquarters to the head and cause problems with the gait.

So, the emphasis on hindquarter impulsion, flexibility, rounded top line, collection, relaxation and balance is important in all horse training, but it’s critical in smooth gaited horse training.

We’re still learning so if anyone has anything to add feel free.

PS:  I had my three months follow up check with my urologist this morning.  My PSA blood test was 0.03.  That’s low, but there are still some proteins in my blood.  He had hoped it would be 0.00.  It’s not high enough to be concerned and consider radiation.  We’re going to continue doing three month blood checks to make sure it doesn’t rise.  Overall, that’s still good news.