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Do gaited horses never walk?

4K views 30 replies 15 participants last post by  Equilove 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi! you may have seen my post in health problems about a mare at our rescue http://www.horseforum.com/horse-health/interesting-mystery-equine-tourettes-130784/
Well, I came here to ask if anyone has heard of or knows the routes of her training problems.

Here's what happened. We got her at our rescue because she kicked her hind leg through a wall and got hung up for a night. It took a few months of stall rest to get her sound again. Her home right before ours was a summer camp program who had just gotten her. The only one to have ridden her was a trainer who liked to barrel race, i don't know if they tried on her because she certainly does not know how to neck rein. We've had conflicting reports about what bit she wore from a french link snaffle to a walking horse bit.
Being at our rescue and having joined the ranks of our crippled and insane horses, we really disregarded her issues for far too long, there was always someone who had more pressing issues to work with. But being sound and being one of our favorite teenage girl volunteer's favorite horse (a girl who can't afford riding lessons) I've decided it's about time we get her into 'work' again. At least enough to let this girl learn to ride on.

HAA boy was I wrong!!
I put the softest western bit I could find around the barn that fit her and hopped on her. While she didn't throw a single buck or do anything to otherwise dislodge me, she also had NO breaks and no steering (direct or neck reining)! At that time I had been told she was a camp horse, not the whole rest of the story, so I was a little taken aback.

Now she's a little Spanish gaited horse, my best guess is a Criollo? but feel free to offer any other suggestions. But when I rode her she would only do her gait, she wouldn't walk.
I've immediately got her working on ground work (having the volunteer who loves her do alot of the work too, to learn about it) especially learning how to give tot he bit, we found a nice soft myler bit she seems to love. But, right away I noticed she does the same thing on the lead! She gaits everywhere and doesn't seem to know how to walk!

Is this common in gaited breeds? To be trained not to walk only gait?

After about 3 days of working on her we got a consistent walk in hand without her breaking into her gait. here's a little video of her and her girl practicing ground work:

 
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#2 · (Edited)
Ahh, the wonderful world of gaited horses. I describe them as "caterpillars" because the move every section of their body at a different time, sometimes in different directions.

She is probably just hot under saddle. In my experience, gaited horses walk incredibly fast (comparable to non-gaited breeds) just by nature. They sway a lot, have a lot of movement in their stride, and are just plain old fast. No, that doesn't mean they can't walk, but you're going to have to work with her on collecting and, most importantly, relaxing. Esta es muy importante por el caballo (you said she was spanish, right? :P) Until you can get her relaxed and collected, you'll have a wiggle worm that has lots of energy and NO CLUE where to focus it.
 
#8 ·
Ahh, the wonderful world of gaited horses. I describe them as "caterpillars" because the move every section of their body at a different time, sometimes in different directions.

She is probably just hot under saddle. In my experience, gaited horses walk incredibly fast (comparable to non-gaited breeds) just by nature. They sway a lot, have a lot of movement in their stride, and are just plain old fast. No, that doesn't mean they can't walk, but you're going to have to work with her on collecting and, most importantly, relaxing. Esta es muy importante por el caballo (you said she was spanish, right? :P) Until you can get her relaxed and collected, you'll have a wiggle worm that has lots of energy and NO CLUE where to focus it.
You are SO right! I think that must be what it is, she's so squirmy and I was riding bareback - she is faster but maybe she was doing her version of a walk!! And yes! She does speak Spanish, my fiance is from Puerto Rico and she seemed to understand him, but he's not a horse person :P
 
#3 ·
Hey there. There's a Paso Fino at my barn, and she can walk and gait.
I also have a gaited horse, She's a standarbred.
She can go from a walk, to a pace, to a trot.
 
#4 ·
They can walk :) in fact many of them have a long strides fast walk that leaves the poor trotting horses in the dust!

Your pretty girl however may have been discouraged to walk and encouraged to gait at all times.

Edited to add: Paso people please done take offense, I know you're not all like that. However I've come across a few backyard fake plantation cowboy types who've done that to their pasos. Poor things forgot how to walk under saddle.
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#7 ·
They can walk :) in fact many of them have a long strides fast walk that leaves the poor trotting horses in the dust!

Your pretty girl however may have been discouraged to walk and encouraged to gait at all times.

Edited to add: Paso people please done take offense, I know you're not all like that. However I've come across a few backyard fake plantation cowboy types who've done that to their pasos. Poor things forgot how to walk under saddle.
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MWAHAHAAHAH~!!!!

I was just thinking the same thing only on the TWH side. And the thing is, in MY experience, I've run across way more backyard TWH people then I have across anything else so it's all I have to draw my basis on!!!

Me to... no offense intended in any gaited posts....
 
#9 ·
Good catch, didn't think anyone would pick up on that. Ya do to her issues (if you read the health forum I posted her on) the other day she fell down in her stall, I think it's her right front leg too. But she has an old injury in her hind legs with a lot of scar tissue build up so her hind end is always pretty hitchy.

Hopefully now that we're working with her it'll help her loosen up and not be quite so unsound.
 
#6 ·
A good trainer will teach a walking horse to gait but in my experience it's very common to end up with a walking horse or a gaited horse that knows only one speed. The first walker that I had had excellent ground manners but was like a lightening bolt when you mounted. It was all I could do to get my butt in the saddle before we were flying across the field. I got to where I would actually mount while he was tied to a fence (which is not the safest thing to do and not something I would suggest). It did however work for me, it taught him to stand while I mounted and then we worked on slow. Eventually he learned to walk on a loose reign.

Now, I don't show gaited horses and am positively no expert but in my experience with the ones I have dealt with, they learn to shuffle by actually having some pressure on their bits.

I would suggest getting a walking horse/gaited bit rather then using a soft english bit. (Soft is not always better because constantly lugging on the mouth can be worse then a little pressure from a slightly harsher bit).

Hopefully I was somewhat helpful.
 
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#10 ·
Does she lunge or are you capable of teaching her to lunge? Doing that might be a very good way to put her through her paces safely and being able to watch/correct her from the ground.

I dont have much experience with gaited horses, since we have Quarter Horses, Thoroughbreds, and Miniatures, but we do have one ASB mare and a Peruvian Paso/Arabian gelding who gait. Both are ticking bombs under saddle if not worked correctly and constantly want to GO GO GO.

When we first bought the ASB mare and I began working with her, I mounted her and she went flying around, straight from a halt to a rack. At the time we didnt even know her breed (her trainer told is she was a QH? riiight...) and I was under the impression that she was just being crazy because no amount of pressure or asking was slowing her down. She had terrible brakes, and when I did shift her out of her rack, her walk, trot, and canter were insanely fast and always made me feel like I was out of control. She was terribly uncoordinated and tripped over her own feet. I couldnt figure out what her problem was.

As it turns out, thats fairly typical with gaited horses with little formal training in anything but gaiting. I basically had to start over with her and teach her as though she didn't even know how to walk. With these horses, its as though they don't know how to relax, and so you have to teach them. One part at a time. With Corona (the mare) I began that on the lunge line. I would work on one body part at a time, teaching her to relax first her back, then her hindquarters, her shoulders, her neck, and her head. I had to do that with each of her gaits. It took a while but she eventually was working in a nice, long and low outline. It was only after suceeding in getting her to do this while I was mounted that I was able to start picking up any sort of contact with her mouth. Otherwise she would go straight into her rack again.

Just remember though that her speed doesn't necessarily mean that she's not listening to you. Corona's walk includes a lot of head bobbing and I can literally feel the power underneath me, but she IS listening, even if she's going twice as fast as the other horses (she'll never make a trail horse for that reason xD). Sometimes trying to slow their paces down too early can actually do more harm than good, because it stresses them out. I'd work on relaxation first and formost, then on each gait, and lastly, on the speed of each gait.

And be warned...it can take quite a while for some of them to learn where to put their feet at first when trying out new gaits under saddle! I was beginning to think that Corona would never learn to pick up the right lead when cantering. Keep persevering!
 
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#11 ·
They can learn the gaits of a 'normal' horse, just like the people that retrain pacers of the track, they have to learn to trot to be able to compete with normal dressage. I read a story about a woman who rescued a standardbred that could only pace, but she was a dressage rider and wanted to retrain him for dressage so through collection he had to learn how to preform like a normal horse.
 
#12 ·
oh funny Endiku! I was thinking the same thing, just start her over like she doesn't know anything. She does sort of know how to lunge, sort of, she doesn't know voice commands at all though. I think maybe she was trained by a Spanish trainer, we tried Spanish verbal commands and she sort of listens to them a little better - but I'm sure my sloppy Spanish isn't accurate.

How do you suggest helping them relax at each gait I really like that idea but I'm not sure how to go about doing that? I have a friend who does massage therapy in horses maybe she could give her a massage before I work her?

As for picking up the correct lead and such - I'm not too concerned. I realize this is going to be a very long project, but I'm hoping to use it to help the little girl who loves her learn some stuff on training and have some quality bonding time with her favorite pony. When we get to the point where we'll ride her even still I'm not concerned about fine tuning this horse, she's really just here for this girl to love all over. She'll be at our rescue for life and this girl can work with her on whatever she wants to work on her with for whatever purpose they choose and I'm just here to help them on that path.

We do notice that she has NO idea where she's putting her feet so we've begun some ground pole exercises to get her to pick them up and pay attention to where they're landing. Any suggestions for any interesting ground pole exercises besides just walking over them again and again?
 
#17 ·
oh funny Endiku! I was thinking the same thing, just start her over like she doesn't know anything. She does sort of know how to lunge, sort of, she doesn't know voice commands at all though. I think maybe she was trained by a Spanish trainer, we tried Spanish verbal commands and she sort of listens to them a little better - but I'm sure my sloppy Spanish isn't accurate.

How do you suggest helping them relax at each gait I really like that idea but I'm not sure how to go about doing that? I have a friend who does massage therapy in horses maybe she could give her a massage before I work her?

As for picking up the correct lead and such - I'm not too concerned. I realize this is going to be a very long project, but I'm hoping to use it to help the little girl who loves her learn some stuff on training and have some quality bonding time with her favorite pony. When we get to the point where we'll ride her even still I'm not concerned about fine tuning this horse, she's really just here for this girl to love all over. She'll be at our rescue for life and this girl can work with her on whatever she wants to work on her with for whatever purpose they choose and I'm just here to help them on that path.

We do notice that she has NO idea where she's putting her feet so we've begun some ground pole exercises to get her to pick them up and pay attention to where they're landing. Any suggestions for any interesting ground pole exercises besides just walking over them again and again?
Really its just going to depend on your horse, but a key thing to do is to get their attention off of 'go' and onto you and what you're asking them to do. How? It has everything to do with respect and trust. Since horses are herd animals, they either need someone to take charge and stay in charge or they need to take over themselves. Its when they take over themselves that they begin to get nervous, don't want to listen to you, and start acting out. Establishing a good trust relationship where the animal realizes that you are the herd leader and that when you're asking them to do something its for the best is how you're going to get the best results and the animal will begin to listen, quiet down, and get down to the job at hand rather than worry and fuss. Gaining trust, ofcourse- takes time, but it also takes firmness. Lots of ground work that requires the animal to be really in tune with you goes a long way in establishing the trust required. Teaching them to move away from you when you ask and to give to pressure by backing, yielding shoulders and yielding hindquarters (it looks like she's already doing that some, which is great) are two great ways to begin this. You want her to realize that doing things your way are the easiest and safest and once she's doing these things well, then I would move to the lunging. Don't just put her on a 30 ft line and whip and start running her in circles though. Rather, start on a 8-12 ft lead rope. Begin by just leading her forwards, stop- and send her away from you. Once she's a atleast four or five feet away, put just enough pressure on her with your body language to get her moving slowly around you and relax. As you relax your body she will mirror you and relax as well.

A horse will give off just as much energy as you yourself are giving up so its vital to remain calm even if she's cantering around like a nut the second you give her pressure. Apply pressure only as you need it and as soon as she begins to move forwards, take it away. You want her to be feeding off of your energy and walking calmly around you, paying attention to you and only you. As she's beginning to unwind and listen to you, you'll be able to read through her body how she's feeling. It will begin with her back 'rounding' and relaxing, instead of looking tight like a corkscrew, and it will travel to her shoulders and neck. She'll begin to lower her neck and watch you as she travels instead of bouncing around you, and she'll move more freely. Once all of these things have happened and she is quietly listening, ask her to stop and praise her. This is what you want. Once she is calmly and quietly moving out in either direction for you consistently, you can move on to a trot. Stay on the leadline until you feel like she's listening well to you and both a walk and trot. Give her 'bite sized' things to work with every lesson as it will work better in the long run. Just make sure that she really understands what you're asking and why before moving on to the next task.

I'd encourage you to watch this horse and handler that I'm posting, as the horse is a great example of what you're looking for. The only thing I didnt really like about them is that the handler moved around too much and should of been standing in the same spot rather than circling with the horse.

 
#18 ·
Very interesting stuff!! Yes I will work on lunging her, we have been doing tons of ground work a bit everyday, she has improved a great deal, today she spooked when my idiot of a mare scared herself over nothing, but Pink regained herself quickly and efficiently (only after stepping on her little girl's foot though! >.<) so they're practicing personal space exercises.
We practiced giving to the bit while outside today, walking and halting by bit pressure, backing off bit pressure and turning each direction. She did Very well, stayed walking. I think our next step is to practice walk-trot and trot-walk transitions, so it's not a matter of making her walk and stay there, but teaching her that she can come back down and is allowed to just walk.

And YES! She is such a wiggle worm! I was riding bareback and was not prepared for the excessive motion. I think she's just faster than I was expecting, she's really being great I'm gonna try hopping on again the next cool day, practicing walk trot transitions.

This is all such interesting stuff, and ya she could be a florida cracker, I have no idea what she actually is, but she has a paso largo gait.
 
#19 ·
When I first bought Emma, my little spotted saddle horse, the only gait she knew when you hit the saddle was a fast rack. It kind of worked like, ok hold the reins tight to slow me down, loosen up a little and I'll speed up! But all of my other gaited horses will do what we call a "flat" walk, which is a normal walking activity (they do it in the pasture!)

So Emma had apparently been owned by people who just liked to go fast, all the time, and we had to work at getting her calmer. So we spent a lot of time in my front yard, just riding in a circle (large front yard). And doing calming, relaxed seat in the saddle, encouragement when she slowed down, etc. Rewarding her by loosening reins if she did slow, correcting and tightening when she wanted to speed up. Hope I'm making sense, easier to show it than tell it. Basically using every part of my body and seat to get her to relax.

It took a good while for her to "get" it, but now I can ride her right along with all my quarter horse buddies. Or I can get her to "pick it up" and ride with the gaited horse crowd. However, I will add that most gaited horses naturally have a big swinging walk, even when doing a flat walk, so it is a little more difficult for her to go slow enough for the quarter horse crowd.
 
#20 ·
The walk is a natural gait for all horses whether they are a gaited breed or not. You don't have to teach them how to walk any more than you have to teach your QH, or Arab, or Paint, or Draft, or mule or whatever. If your gaited horse isn't walking it is a speed control issue, just like if your quarter horse wanted to trot all the time or whatever.
 
#21 ·
Yes I figured that was it - she clearly knows how to walk. My question was more along the lines of training techniques, are they trained not to walk, only to gait.

But we seem to be doing really well with her, she's been walking in hand wonderfully, gonna try getting on in a few days when it's finally a tolerable temperature *dies*
 
#23 ·
Saddlebag - yup if you read my last couple posts, she has some seizure problems and the other day we found her doing a split in her stall, so ya she's a bit sore. We didn't make her do anything but walk for no more than 20 minutes. Her hind legs are both pretty hitchy from her initial injury, lots of scar tissue build up, hoping this new exercising will help relieve some of that.
 
#24 ·
Eventually I'd like to see a video of your beautiful mare being ridden. I really like her. She reminds me of an Arab/paint gelding a friend of mine used to have named Splash. While he wasn't gaited, he still moved like a caterpillar :P He was also marked similarly.
 
#25 ·
well i know dogs arent like horses but my dog got hit by a truck and broke his shoulder and now he has a shorter front leg (vet messed up while settingn it!) and he will trot but he will canter/run a lot more as i think it feels better. so maybe with the hurt legs it feels better to gait then walk? it looks VERY sore when walking. to me she looks like a TWH i had one and she just reminds me of the way he would walk/head set/ move. maybe a TWH cross? my TWH would walk/trot/gait/canter/gallop..
 
#26 ·
Good thinking, but I don't think so this is a long standing habit of hers the most recently injury is only a week or so old. Honestly she's becoming a danger to herself in her stall >.< I think getting her out will do her some serious good.

Equi, next time I hop on I'll see if I can get someone to tape it
 
#28 ·
One thing I have noticed that is sort of different with gaited horses (at least the ones I have ridden, mostly Fox Trotters and TWH's) is that rein contact means GO.

To get my mare to walk I have to keep a very loose rein, which doesn't always work when she gets hyped up because I have to check her speed constantly. But basically she has been trained that loose rein=walk (when she's calm anyway) and rein contact=gait.

So sometimes even though the horse is going, going, going, to get them to walk you sort of have to give them a loose rein and then check their speed when they break into gait. Because constant rein pressure means "GO" to them. I assume they are trained to gait with contact so the minute you pick up contact they think that is the cue to gait.
 
#29 ·
Harley, because at our location we don't have the option unfortunately. We are renting our property, we are a very small non-profit rescue and every stall is full. She also has melt downs when she's outside. She stands at her gate and calls, if we don't bring her in she bombs around over and over again, stopping at the gate each time.

She can't go out next to any of our big horses without getting in fights, she can go next to the ponies (she likes to protect them) - But it's very difficult to put her out. She will stay in her field all day long if her little girl is with her though, unfortunately the little girl has a home and family that needs her too :P

trail - maybe! I always start with using my seat then add rein pressure to stop. She definitely could be trained that way. Personally I often (unintentionally) pre-cue my horses to canter by shortening my reins >.< whoops! So I can see how easily a horse could learn that.
 
#30 ·
Found the source of her lameness, she had an abscess in that right front, just starting to ooze today. Hopefully she'll feel better tomorrow. :) On a cooler day I'll try and ride her but today was just way too hot - on vacation for a week too :P But the little girl practiced a few walk-trot-walk transitions with her today, just enough to see how she'd do, she did GREAT.

She's funny with the bit though, we have a myler snaffle, the type that rotates the side you pull, not sure the name. She seems the most comfortable with this one, all the others she can't even stand just sitting in her mouth, she fusses for hours. This one she's relaxed with. She gives fairly quickly to the right but to the left she just chews and chews and gapes her mouth open but doesn't give to the pressure. Pressure on both reins, she turns right. And yes, of course, we've had her teeth checked. They're a horrible mess from biting her wall all day (check the other forum on her) but none appear painful and her bars look good. She does appear to have some damage on her tongue but it's old and doesn't seem to be painful anymore. (clearly she had some nasty bits in her mouth before). I was considering trying some bitless options with her, but the other owner of the rescue thinks they don't work and isn't really open to trying >.<

Not sure what I'm asking - just curious what anyone thinks on the matter or what they'd consider working on with her? We've tried a number of bits on her, curbs and snaffles, single and double jointed and some solid bar mullen mouth ones. I have no idea what type of bit she'd used in the past but I doubt she responded to that considering the damage to her tongue.
 
#31 ·
She's funny with the bit though, we have a myler snaffle, the type that rotates the side you pull, not sure the name. She seems the most comfortable with this one, all the others she can't even stand just sitting in her mouth, she fusses for hours. This one she's relaxed with. She gives fairly quickly to the right but to the left she just chews and chews and gapes her mouth open but doesn't give to the pressure.
Hope she feels better soon !

As for the gaping mouth - I think it's more likely she is resisting the pressure turning left more so than she is resisting the bit. Work in a halter on getting her to flex laterally and loosen up that left side. She us probably just very stiff. Stand facing her shoulder and gently ask for her to bend in (using the halter first) until she releases to the pressure. Once she has flexed all the way around just start doing that daily, a few times a day. It will really help her. She probably won't be as resistant to turning left if you get her nice and loose. Hope that helps!
 
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