Riding A Standardbred

Well, Junior sold. I am super sad about that.

So, my next lesson horse is going to be a Standardbred, who paces no less. I don't know, I guess I'm a little apprehensive of the situation because:

A) He's not really a lesson horse, just a horse my instructor happens to have
B) I don't want to do anything that'll mess him up
C) Not sure about the whole gaited horse thing.


Maybe I'm just upset over the whole Junior thing. I really wish I had horses BEFORE I got married, because that way having a horse would never be a negotiation between spouses.

Anyway, I wont be doing any major riding for awhile on Bubba (the standardbred) just walking for now. But what is it like to ride a gaited horse?

Take this with a grain of salt, because I've only ridden a Standardbred once. He didn't pace (never raced), but his trot was HUGE. I'm comfortable posting/sitting most horses' trots, but his strides were throwing me all around. It was fun-if I was able to buy a horse it would have been him.

Generally I've heard people speak very highly about Standardbreds-they're easily trainable, personable horses.

Who knows-you might love Bubba!

Oh I already do! If you look at some of the pictures I posted of my son, and our first fun show, Bubba was the horse my son was sitting on for a better portion of the show. He's a great horse, just a little uneasy about he being gaited, I don't know.

Well, pacing isn't exactly the same as racking or singlefooting:

The pace is a two beat gait just like the trot, only instead of diagonal legs moving together, you have lateral legs moving together (lf, lr then rf rr)

From my limited understanding, they tend to have a bigger stride than others :)

Yet another keystone in your horsey education mox!

I've ridden a standardbred before and it was really strange to me. I felt like I was riding two horses, the trot seemed to pull your body around. I don't know, maybe it was just that mare.

I believe I rode a standardbred. He paces, so i'm assuming he was. He was really a good boy and tried his best to do what was asked. He would only revert back to pacing when he was confused (like going into a canter) His trot stride was very big but I was practically thrown out of the saddle to post. Thought it was pretty nifty.

I also rode my friend's standardbred about a month ago. She's not sure on his history, so I don't know if he raced for not. But he also had a big strided trot but it was less all over the place.

I have 2 stndbds now. One is a trotter (my first) and the other is the third pacer I've had. A pace is actually quite cool to ride if you learn it. The difficulty I find is when the horse can't decide if he's trotting, pacing or cantering! Kinda "tacering!" Anyway, I wouldn't worry too much about messing him up. The BO will guide you and just only do what you are comfortable with. I would ask if the horse does have a tendency to pace. Then if you feel OK with it, try it out. I think of it as kind of a sideways rocking chair or teeter-totter. Just gotta relax and let it happen.