Now this is a WALKING HORSE

I think they've made clowns out of Walkers. Walkers were meant to be ridden all they thru fields and keep rider comfortable.

My barn is all Walkers, and show. Most barefoot. The majority of TWH are not flashy freaks, I'm at a show barn yet none of the horses here are padded. There's actually only a small group (as compared to the normal TWH) that are padded up .
My horse has a head nod, I never trained for it. It took her some maturing to have that happen. You need a relaxed horse and work the walk , and walk your way up into a faster walk , and lengthen the stride. Some are born having more talent than others. Some need alot of practice. Mine does this willingly on her own. It's taken a few years, tho.

Those padded up stallions you see in ads for breeding-well, they are bred to be on the pacey side so the big lick is 4 beat. If they've had all that work to be a big lick horse, how do you know that the horse is truly a quality walker? You don't.

People can have alot of problems with keeping their horse from pacing. Someone told me once "if you don't want them to pace, don't let them!"

Even in non-gaited horses, a horse that is in a "working walk" should have some amount of head-bob. That means its paying attention to you, not sleep-walking, dog-walking, or just trudging around in circles.

It's not as pronounced as what you'll see in Walkers, of course. . .but it's there.

Big Lick Walkers are a far cry from what the breed was intended for. I lucked-out when I bought my little Black Horse (in my avatar) - he's from BL lines but never made the cut for that show ring, and it turns out that he's a heck of an awesome trail horse. When I bought him, I knew very little about the difference between BL and naturally gaited walkers. But I would never consider buying another horse from BL bloodlines.

Tennessee Walking Horse - Midnight Sun #410751, home page by Walkers West


And well remember the nodding horses, and the floppy ears too, back when they still used quarter boots on front, no chains and the rider actually used their legs instead of hanging them down.

LOVE this stud -saw a video of him earlier this year and he is exactly what's awesome about this breed. I definitely won't knock all big lick studs because we have two jose jose mares on our farm who walk barefoot like nobodies business and my skywatch gelding has never had anything but a regular keg shoe and his original owner won multiple grand champions here on him. But my pally mare is 5, my first walking horse ever and my first time training and her walk is all natural, she's consistent, she's solid and I think that is really because she has not WGC in her lines, she's bred for complete natural talent padless and therefore it comes naturally. This is a video of my hunny riding her. He is a beginner, doesn't know how to ask the most out of a horse and he just enjoys the ride. She's a bossy, dominant mare -but she always behaves for him -probably because she gets more cookies lol
I bred her to a trail pleasure champ 'name this tune' and I'm super excited for the foal in 2 months!! sable - YouTube
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That's a nice mare you got there. Very animated.

I'm not knocking the big licks per say. I have an awesome horse with several wgc and lots of wc on his papers. My issue is with people so anti big lick and sit there and bash the practice of it and turn right around and brag about the big licks on their horses papers. To me it contradicts its self. When you do that you are portraying that it is a good thing to have on your papers in turn making people want horses that have big licks on their papers in turn making people show and breed more big licks in turn needing those horses to win in turn soring them to do so. If we stopped with the bragging so much about it and started seeking horses like what I posted and bragging about them things would start to change. I am not thrilled about the wgc on my horses papers. He is double prides and the pusher. That has made for a very pacy horse that has taken alot to break out of. To me the horses on my horses papers are his faults. He has an awesome back end and a decent head and that's what he took from those horses but paces like a camel if you don't do him just right.
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Thank-you diegosmom, I like her very much!

I get what you're saying, and I agree. Sure there are some out there that produce a pacey horse as a result of years of padded breeding. My skywatch gelding, although very talented, paces like a standardbred in the pasture and when he goes out of gait. Its hideous to watch as he's the biggest, only blood bay in the pasture and he sticks out like a sore thumb -not a horse for a beginner flatshot trainer to train like me, my mother in law trained him and she said he was very pacey but she has 35 yrs of flatshod training and was able to get him consistent. I'm not into padding as I prefer the natural movement but I do think there is some huge talent in those lines regardless of pads. I think my mare was easier to gait and train because although she can pace she is naturally more built to gait and not like a WGC pacier build bred specifically for stacks.
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He is a gorgeous horse, my personal opinion is I don't like head bobbing in a twh, I know its there breed but what makes them do that? Are they born doing that or taught? Every twh I owned or rode never bobbed like him, but alot of people like it that way :)

Barrelracer, its a bit of both. If a twh isn't shaking, they aren't walking and that's entirely true (they may rack, but that's not a walk) that being said they all shake to different degrees and you can bring this animation out in the horse by consistency, muscling, and knowing what to ask out of the horse to max out that movement. My mare is very gaited and naturally animated (no action devices used) but if she being is lazy she shakes less, uses her back end less and tends to just plod along. She's walking and its very energy conserving -great for endurance, but for shows I train her to be animated and emphasize the natural animation. So to answer your question, they are born that way but unless they are trained for animation the way derssage horses are trained for dressage, they will do no more than what they just 'do' which can be a very lovely package anyways! :)
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I'm not a fan of Big Licks. I do have a TWH and he is out of some of those lines...hard to go back in their bloodline at this point and not find some. He is all natural though (and yes, barefoot). He is so smooth. He is my favorite ride. He does the head bob and the occasional teeth clack. They were made for Plantation owners. They were meant to be a smooth mount for long rides. I find their temperament to be gentle as well. I'm a TWH lover for life. I hate the thought of soring and I'm glad my boy escaped that.

I used to have a TWH that passed away, and he never bobbed his head like that.