Is there a gait that's...

Between a walk and trot in speed? And really smooth, lots of power from the back and not so much in the front, while being really smooth...

Today when I was riding Lacey, I was trying to get her trot and she was being kinda recalcitrant. She started trotting, then she started almost started walking but I bumped her up with my legs and she started going faster again but it wasn't a trot, I'm pretty sure.
Her trot is generally extremely bouncy unless she's going really slow (then it's still bouncy but handle-able) and she was going medium speed (so it should have been ridiculously bouncy) but whatever it was was totally smooth.

She snapped out of it after maybe 5 seconds of it so I didn't get the chance to really think about what her legs were doing for reals. The next time I ride I'm going to see if I can get her to do it again...

I'm pretty sure she wasn't walk/trotting, but she does do that sometimes...

I dunno, I've felt before like she might be gaited. I feel like I've seen her legs do things while she's running around that I can't fully explain, but I'm not sure. Her paternal grandfather was double registered Arabian and TWH (he was inducted into the TWH registry) so I suppose it's possible, just not likely. And since I don't know anything about her mother, her mother may have been half Arab/half gaited or something (I say half Arab because Lacey is obviously mostly Arab, there really isn't much about her that screams any other breed)...

Maybe I'm going crazy?

It may be a slow jog or running walk. Genetics tend to skip generations. Such as you inherit more of your grandparents skills or looks. Your children will be more like your parents. Make sense? So with her grandfather being half WH she may have a lil bit of the running walk in her

It sounds like it might be a running walk. My Fox Trotter does that once in a while and I really like it. It feels like her back end is gliding, her head/front end is slightly elevated and almost trotting. But not rough like a trot. But the hind end glides like butter.

I have a neighbor with a Paint that she inadvertently taught to do a gait, because the mare was jiggy and barn sour and my friend wouldn't let her trot, so she developed a smooth "gait." I don't know what it was, but it was smooth and faster than her walk. We dubbed it the "paint horse shuffle."

Some ungaited horses can learn a basic flat walk. Since she has some gaited in her, she may have just enough to pull off a decent running walk. The power from behind makes me think it may have been a rack. I always think of a rack as riding a centipede...LOL...it just feels like that. Fast, smooth with a little bump but powerful.

Oh my goodness guys. I was just researching the different gaits you guys mentioned and I think she does the flat walk TOO! I always thought that it was just her walking fast, but it really is different than a normal walk bounciness-wise (and speed-wise, obviously). O.o And she can go SO fast at it. Like she can walk fast enough that other horses have to trot fast to keep up. But she can go slow and I can cue her for either. Oh my goodness!

I think what maybe I felt yesterday was a rack. It did feel like riding a centipede, and that would explain what I've seen her do in the pasture because it looked like a trot but I was pretty sure it wasn't and the rack looks kinda like a trot, but isn't.

Hot diggity, my horse is cool!

Also, I should clarify: her paternal grandfather was purebred Arabian. He was just also gaited, so then he was added to the TWH registry because of his gaited-ness.

I also looked up gaited Arabians and they do happen with some regularity! It's not liked at all (maybe that's why Lacey was never registered since according to her previous owner, she could have been...) but it does happen.

Back in the middle ages all the smaller horses were gaited. I have a friend who can gate a quarter horse to gait. So it's just a matter of asking correctly. To ask for gait you lift the head a bit, use a bit of inward pressure and ask for forward motion with your legs. You might want to try a Kimberwick with a solid curb mouthpiece and chain. You can also use a myler short shank with a low port or what they call a comfort snaffle mouthpiece which won't collapse and pinch. It has several rollers on it and they like them a lot. A regular single bend mouthpiece tends to drop the head and make them carry it low and out which is not the correct position for gaiting which is just a fast walk by the way and can be very very fast as in speed racking.

So yes she very likely is gaiting. We had a half arabian half paso fino next door that was quite gaited and her daughter who was 3/4 paso fino 1/4 arabian was a gaiting fool. She never trotted no matter what but she looked quite arabian.

Have fun. Most horses with a strong gene to gait can do all gaits and many inbetween including "pronking" which is that all four legs Barbie horse gallop that antelope do. It's hilarious. We have two who do it.

Thanks for the tips! I've actually been considering getting her back into a bit (I ride her bitless for the most part) so it's good to know what to choose. I can't ride her in jointed bits anyway because of her mouth conformation so that's good to know.

What my one horse does is what I call a prance. She wants to go, but I'm holding her back....so she isn't walking, nor is she trotting, but just a nice frisky prance. I like it. Not sure if that's the same thing you speak of.

The paso fino gait "fino" is the one most like a prance and probably was discovered during battle when the horse was all energized and wanted to move but the rider was holding back. Then the gait was found to be protective because the action would keep back a foot soldier or another horse so it was encouraged. When doing the fino gait the paso fino can actually move the four feet independently with no forward motion or actually move backward in the gait.

When this gait has a longer stride it become the corto and finally the largo and the flying largo at speeds as fast as a gallop.

Google Andadura racing in Puerto Rico so see flying pace and flying largo. It's like a speed rack only faster.

So the main characteristic of the "gait" is each foot moving one at a time like in the walk but with more speed and forward motion in most cases. It is quite natural although the energy with which it is done, especially by the paso fino can be very intimidating until you ride it and discover that you don't bounce. A good gaited horse makes you think you're a wonderful rider it's so easy to stay on the horse and balance. I always joke that it's far easier to ride a buckng paso fino than a trotting horse and this is really true as my first paso fino bucked for 45 minutes because I dared ride her during feeding at the barn. The barn owners jokes to this day that she was going to sell tickets. But one time when she threw in a little twist and I lost my stirrup and yelled at her she stopped cold, waited for me to get my stirrup and get balanced and then she started bucking again. THIS is a horse who knows where her food comes from and just how much she can get away with before someone calls the alpo man. She's our absolute best ride now by the way.