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I never realized I had a 'gaited' horse and what that meant

3K views 19 replies 10 participants last post by  DraftyAiresMum 
#1 · (Edited)
So... I had this really abrupt awakening last month when my horse of the last 11 years protested his saddle fit with some head tossing while getting saddled. Needless to say, it was immediately taken off him. However, it sparked some research on my part - the end result of which was OMG, I have a gaited horse.

Until then, I did not understand just what that really meant :oops:. Most obviousely, I need a new saddle, but there is a whole lot more to it than that. My horse is registered Pinto, with half Arab half Saddlebred breeding. As I don't show, I never bothered with getting him triple registered, though he could have been (half Arab, and Nat Show Horse).

He is naturally five gaited (????) as he will rack at both the trot and the canter, though he has only done it at the canter twice. As a trail horse, who does medieval games and down the road driving part time, I have never given much work to his gaits. I can cue him into his rack at the trot, but it is a lot of work for him and he sweats up fast so we don't usually do it very long.

I have always had Arabs and only recogonized his rack as 25 years ago I had an AngloArab who had been trained to rack - though we called it a one-step. It seems to be the same movement...

What I am not sure about, is what to do about a saddle. I am too old to ride bareback and like to bring my daughter's filly out with us on trail, so I need a Western or Aussie Western with a horn to dally to. My first thought was to go to an Ortho Flex (used of course - if I can scronge that kind of money), but will it even fit? Is it worth my time to even look at the cheaper saddles that claim to be made for gaited horses?

My Circle Y trail saddle has been giving him dry spots at his shoulders for a while, but I did not have the funds to replace it. I dont' want to get another saddle only to have it not fit. I am thinking of making a cast of his back to drag around with me to look at saddles.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Soggy in Seattle
 
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#2 ·
How long have you been using that saddle? My first thought after reading your post was "is the horse of an age where he could havehurt his back"? But then again dry spots dont have a whole lot to do with him, it's the saddle at that point. You can get a nice gaited aussie saddle fromstate line for about 500......
 
#3 ·
Hi,

I bought this saddle for my horse when he was four, he will be turning 13 this year. So we have been using it for the last nine years. I had been just assuming that his age was changing the shape of his back - until I started researching how much more room gaited horses need in the shoulder area, which is where we have been getting dry spots. A tempory fix of using a second pad under the back 7/8ths of the saddle gave his shoulders enough freedom to get rid of 90% of the dry marks and gained us an extra year.

So, yes, while he could have also hurt his back recently, we still need a new saddle. There is going to be a horse chiropractor out at the stable later this month and Shaman is on the 'list' to be checked out, just in case.

I may do a lot of things with my horses, but asking them to be in pain is never one of them.

I am talking to someone who has offered up a possible trade as her saddle was too long for her horse. We will see how that goes.

LOL, there is also a very nice person who offered to sell me a saddle that looks great, but she did not leave me contact info and I am too new to this forum to send private messages. And since I read it, the forum has not eaten it so I can't even tell you who sent it to me... But, in case you read this, if the above does not work out, I get paid in two weeks and would love to talk more about the Lady saddle.

yadlim - who is goign riding in two hours even if it is barebak!
 
#4 ·
LOL, there is also a very nice person who offered to sell me a saddle that looks great, but she did not leave me contact info and I am too new to this forum to send private messages. And since I read it, the forum has not eaten it so I can't even tell you who sent it to me... But, in case you read this, if the above does not work out, I get paid in two weeks and would love to talk more about the Lady saddle.
I sent you a PM with my e-mail address:-p

I would love to see pics of your horse because I don't want anyone going thru the saddle-fit issues I have had with the Wide Body guy. It's either a custom saddle or I continue to ride him bareback and hope he doesn't jig hard enough that I tipple right off thim:lol::lol:

Does anyone remember the Wide Body cartoons in the old old Western Horseman? I'm talking back in the sixties- lollollol
 
#5 ·
Yes, horse's bodies change with age, and their back will change. Mudpie is 6 and he is still changing, resulting in a constant need to change saddles. -.-
 
#6 ·
So I rode today .... sort of. My gelding has been sitting for three weeks to make sure his back recovered. I could not find any sore spots so started going through every saddle I own - no way any of them fit right.

Another boarder offered up her brand new saddle for me to try. It was less than a week old, but had a gaited tree. After fussing with it for half an hour I came to the absolute conculsion that it fit perfectly on one side but had a bad pinch point on the other. Checking the saddle off the horse, it's tree was croocked! However, it did prove to me what I want. On the one side he had complete freedom of movement and nice even pressure.

Giving up on that, I put a training curcingle (I spelled that wrong) and took him outside to the really cool mounting area where there is a shoot area for the horse and two foot wide blocks for the people to stand on to mount. The moment my but was on him he was in reverse at full speed. I asked him to turn in towards the barn thinking we would walk around the indoor arena for a bit, and he was off at a fully collected rack. When I asked for a whoa, I got a rack at a canter instead.

The barn manager was cleaning stalls and was quick to come out and catch him by the bridle as we came to a sort of halt at the closed gate to the arena. His feet could not hold still as I dismounted quickly... Oh he LOVED the full freedom of movement in his shoulders and was REALLY excited!!

Mental note... Shaman does not get to sit for three weeks and then have me try to ride bareback. He needs my daughter to take him for a gallop first!!! She was not riding today as she had too much homework.

Shaman worked for an hour on the lunge line instead of being ridden today. I am told that he looked fantastic and the barn manager wished she had had a camera going!

Sigh. I am going to take my still and sore (have not ridden bareback at faster than five minutes at a walk in about ten years...) body to bed.

yadlim the sore... who would post a pic, but have not figured out how to yet
 
#8 ·
Just for reference, if I remember right from my saddlebred stablehand days, the 5 gaits are walk, running walk, trot, rack, canter. Not necessarily in that order.
Please correct me if I am wrong as it has been 8 or 9 years ago!
 
#11 ·
Borrowing saddles with various trees, semi qh, qh or wide/full is a good inexpensive way to find something that's a better fit. Poor saddle fit can cause a horse to alter his gaits, especially if the saddle is digging into the trapezius muscles which are responsible for lifting the front legs.
 
#12 ·
I got a chance to borrow a Western saddle (which is what I ride) to test it on my horse. On one side it fit like a dream, but the thing was so low quality that they tree was not straight and did not fit at all on the other side.

The problem is that, at least around here, Saddlebreds are not a breed of choice for anythign other than the show ring. As the closest thing to showing I do is the occasional medieval recreation, those are not the people I 'hang' with or stable with. I am sure there is not a person here who does not understand that trail riders and show riders do not mix will at a boarding facility.

The stable I am at is all AQHAs, paints, and appy's (thought the appy crosses are with Fresion and Oldenberg???).
 
#13 ·
Yadlim, your horse will not rack at the same time as doing other gates. If he is five gaited, he will walk, trot, canger, slow gait and rack. He might go into a rack from other gaits however and if he is moving along fast enough. Have someone video him while you are riding, so we can see what he is actually doing.

Saddlebreds are notoriously prone to sway backs and especially as they age. Is he sway-backed at all? That might be the problem with the saddle. But I find it strange that all of a sudden he didn't wish to be saddled, without showing any signs of discomfort before.

With a Saddlebred, one usually puts the saddle on the horse, a little (little) further back than on other horses. I always rode mine English. If you do get an Aussie, make absolutely sure it is made by a reputable company. Thousands here are made in India and are not suitable for most horses in the US. I never tried a western saddle on a saddlebred.

Don't know why people might be a little snobby about Saddlebreds. They do just about anything other breeds do - and of course a little more, since they are gaited. And not all of them gait. Most need careful training to gait properly, or they have what I call 'busy feet' and it's hard to know what they are doing.

Lizzie
 
#14 ·
I have to wait until I have a saddle that I can ride him in before I can ask him to gait to video... but as soon as I do, I will! I am quite sure we are not doing it right. He has never been taught to gait, but will 'fall into it' when he wants to go faster and I require him to collect.

He has gotten a bit sway - he will be 14 this year so we expect his back to change shape, especaily as his back is so very long. He is actually about a foot longer then the Appy/Fresian who is just one inch shorter! His back used to be complete flat, which I took to be his 1/2 Arab ancestory. It has only been in the last couple years that I have noticed that his withers now stick up about three inches - but , after two months of not using my saddle on him, his back has rebounded about half that distance.

His back as a four year old....




His back three weeks ago....




The saddle issues were not all of a sudden. I just responded the the first time he complained. What is important to note here is that I am broken - if surgery this spring does not help, I will be in a wheelchair within the next year or two. Just to ride takes four to six vicaden taken two before, and two after - sometimes with two more an hour later. The only way for me to ride is for my horse to take special care of me - which he does willingly.

He has been having dry spots under the saddle pad for a couple of years which we have been trying to mitigate with shims and pads. He has not complained because I am the only one who rides in a saddle. My daughter rides him bareback. I am pretty sure that if I had been saddleing him that day instead of her, he woudl not have complained.

I am sure it has gotten lost in the thread, but his total complaint was one head toss.

I will hopefully be getting a new saddle within the next month... Until then my daughter rides him and I have been doing lots of grooming and lunging.
 
#17 · (Edited)
If you are using a western saddle, what size tree is it? From the look of his back I would say the regular 3/4 tree would fit. Maybe a wintic all purpose dressage saddle would be better, if you can ride with one. His back does not look that bad in the pic, are you using draw reins or a martingale? maybe that is why he was head tossing, and he may need his teeth floated !
 
#18 ·
I have been using a Circle Y Parka and Trail, semi-quarter tree on him. I actually had it professionally fit to him as four year old. What these pics don't show is that his shoulders are built like a friggen tank and are actually wider than his barrel - yes, he is a bit, um, fluffy, but he has a better attitude that way. I tried to find a rib a couple months ago, and failed!

I know his head is down, but you can see how wide his withers are.



You can see him move a bit in this really bad video.... click on the pic and it will open in a new window. It was taken the same day as the pic above. He is not gaiting in it, but you can see his bulky shoulders.



His dad, who was full Saddlebred, looked just like him. A friggen TANK of a horse - his mom was an Arab mare. Here is the only pic I have of his sire, Norsk's Wheeler Dealer.



The dry spots under the saddle guarantee that my saddle does not fit. I am quite sure that if he were not already white, he would have white hairs from it.

We ride him in a medium port western curb with a roller and grazing shanks - but we are going to have to switch for a bit to something with some stopping power as he has been taking off with my daughter lately - I am looking for the same mouth piece, just straighter and longer shafts. The bit is only engaged for collection and emergency stop - all other commands are leg and seat pressure - yes, I can run a barrel pattern at a canter bridleless. As there is almost never any bit contact, he never tosses his head.

The head tossing happened while my daughter (20 years old) was cinching him up. He was ground tied in a halter and lead line. Everyone who was in the barn looked at him, as it was so out of place for him to do, and commented that he said 'ouch, that saddle hurts'.

As for an english saddle - um, no. I use a saddle because my balance and leg stregnth is not good enough to ride bareback. I need something that will keep me on the horse when my since of verticle tweeks one way or the other by ten degrees - which it does all the time. I also need a saddle horn to pony the filly off of when we go trail riding. She has another year before she is going to be started under saddle so has another year of being ponied.

I actually prefer to ride in a Western Aussie, but he quit liking that saddle about four years ago. Saddness.
 
#20 ·
My old gelding was an arab/saddlebred cross (3/4 arab and 1/4 saddlebred) that was a PITA to fit a saddle to. He had the broad shoulders of an arab but the high, narrow saddlebred withers. An Aussie saddle actually fit him reasonably well, but if we went western, the saddle had to have an arab tree on it or else he was a monster. Full quarter horse bars were okay as long as the tree was at the wider end of what's considered FQHB, otherwise he was a jerk.

So, maybe look into an arab tree for him.
 
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