Is This His Gait?

I recently went and visited my Grandma, who has a four year old TWH gelding named Sky Chief (Sky). He was being slightly wild, so I took a video, in the process catching a few rears and such. But as I look back on it now, I'm slightly confused. He's a TWH. But on the video, it doesn't look like a TWH gate to me. Now, I've ridden just a few TWH's and don't really know their gate, so this is possibly just me not having a good eye for this quite yet. But to me at least, it looked like he was trotting.

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Any opinions? I know it isn't the best video, considering that the fence is blocking below his knees, but I think you can still tell pretty well..

Hmmm it did look like he was trotting a bit, but like you said the fence was in the way. Is he full twh??? Because it looked like he might be trying to get into that flat walk....but its' really hard to tell in this video. Usually the gaits are very easy to depict.

He is doing a two beat diagonal gait called a trot. TWHs can trot too. I had a friend who got so mad that her TWH would trot in the field but she couldn't get him to do it under saddle.

Looks like a normal trot to me too. Aren't TWH supposed to be able to trot? I'm TWH stupid, so please excuse if these are stupid questions.

Hahhaha ya I know nothing either about their gaits...

Any twh owners out there? I know your'e out there!

I always look at the bottoms of the belly. It the belly is staying level with the ground they are doing a 4 beat gate. I'm not that familiar with TWH's but I think that rule holds true with any gated horse. Anyone please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I just heard that from an old Peruvian Paso trainer.

What does the belly have to do with the fall of the feet? The gaits have to do with the pattern of the foot falls, only. Not the way they carry any part of their body. You CAN tell a rack from a trot by the motion of the tail. Up and down vs Side to side, but it takes some studying.

From my favorite book, here are some definitions of gaits:

The walk is a slow, flat footed, four beat gait.

The trot is a two beat gait, in which the diagonal fore and hind legs act together.

The pace . . . Is a rapid, two beat gait in which the lateral fore and hind legs work together.

The amble is a lateral gait usually distinguished from the pace by being slower and morebroken in cadence.

The rack is a fast, flashy, lateral four beat gait. It was once defined by the discarded name "single foot"

The gallop is a fast, three beat gait, in which two diagonal legs are paired, their single beat falling between the successive beats of the other two legs.

The canter is a three beat gait done under restraint. Sequence is the same as the gallop.

The running walk is a slow single-foot or four beat gait, with the break in the impact or rhythm occurring between diagonal fore and hind feet. In the stepping pace, which is also a slow, four beat gait, the break in the impact occurrs between the lateral fore and rear feet.

The foxtrot is a short, broken, nodding, somewhat uncollected trot, a gait sometimes used as a substitute for the running walk.

TWH's can trot! I once worked with a WGC Walking Horse that would only trot if he was pulling a cart

Also knew a registered TWH pony mare that only trotted...no pacyness or racking to her at all ;-P

That is a hard trot in the video alright - lol

That doesn't mean he can't gait. Only being four, he is young enough that he can still be finding his "gaiting legs". Something that is pretty comic to watch. I used to marvel that my then 3 yr old would seem to get his legs in such a tangle that it was a miracle he didn't fall to the ground - lol

My two TWH's that do the running walk will trot if they are behind my Arab when he's trotting.

They are good at "mixing it up" when at liberty but have never offered to trot when in bridle. Good thing because I am from the old school where a trotting Walking Horse is absolutely a huge no-no.

My third Walker does the Stepping Pace. He has never trotted at liberty a day in his life, but he will lateral pace in the pasture.