[CloudsMystique]

What was it like? Did you have to take the pads off gradually, or could you just take the whole thing off at once? Were they sound after? Did they need shoes or could they go barefoot? How was their gait without the pads? Did it look like they were attempting to gait the same way, or did they immediately look like a flat-shod Walker? If it was the former, did they ever go back to normal?

Anything else you want to add about the experience would be great. I'm planning on rehabbing some in the future (when I'm more financially secure) and I want to know what it entails. If they can actually be turned into normal horses, I'd like to retrain them and sell them as trail horses. If not, that's fine too. I'll keep them as pasture ornaments.

Thanks for the help : ]

 

[GaitedGuy]

The mare I ride was trained as a big-lick horse in her early years. She is 15yo now and is still sound *knock on wood*, and has a very nice disposition. She likes to come up to me and put her nose between my arm and my body and just stand there like that. She is a very good trail horse and smooth as glass, the only behavior holdover from her training that I can tell is that she likes to GO and can get a little impatient if the other horses are taking too long. She will go slow if you ask her but she will speed up if you don't pay attention, but that is OK with me since her flat walk and running walk are so smooth. Her tail was also snipped for the tail set so she holds it a little funny when she is in gait, but she is still able to swat flies with it just fine so we have seen no negative effect from that.

I was not the one to take her off her pads and such, she was already barefoot when I got her. It is my understanding that it is best to do it in stages. But based on my experience, as long as the horse was not trained in such a way that it has been mentally damaged I think they can be made into fine trail horses.

 

[CloudsMystique]

The mare I ride was trained as a big-lick horse in her early years. She is 15yo now and is still sound *knock on wood*, and has a very nice disposition. She likes to come up to me and put her nose between my arm and my body and just stand there like that. She is a very good trail horse and smooth as glass, the only behavior holdover from her training that I can tell is that she likes to GO and can get a little impatient if the other horses are taking too long. She will go slow if you ask her but she will speed up if you don't pay attention, but that is OK with me since her flat walk and running walk are so smooth. Her tail was also snipped for the tail set so she holds it a little funny when she is in gait, but she is still able to swat flies with it just fine so we have seen no negative effect from that.

I was not the one to take her off her pads and such, she was already barefoot when I got her. It is my understanding that it is best to do it in stages. But based on my experience, as long as the horse was not trained in such a way that it has been mentally damaged I think they can be made into fine trail horses.

Great, thank you for replying : ]

 

[SmoothTrails]

Some will be pacey, but with a little extra work they can relearn their natural gait.

 

[CloudsMystique]

Some will be pacey, but with a little extra work they can relearn their natural gait.

Cool, thanks.

 

[Sunny06]

I used to own one who I suspected had been padded up. He had a tiny ring around his hoof (wasn't causing him any trouble) that I thought may have been from pads, and he walked with his tail and head high. He had absolutely no problems except for a loose stifle which may or may not have been due to the pads.

However, a friend of mine used to have one straight out of the ring who was used as a broodmare. She was extremely pacey and hated to canter. She ended up selling her becasue she refused to gait.

So I guess it depends on the horse and the one you get. The broodmare was incurable. The other was perfectly fine.

 

[Sunny06]

** If you find that a horse has a stifle problem, plenty of exercise does the trick

 

[churumbeque]

Some will be pacey, but with a little extra work they can relearn their natural gait.

I have been told they look for a pacey horse as they gait better with the big shoes. So may not be the best horse for gait with out the big shoes???

 

[CloudsMystique]

I used to own one who I suspected had been padded up. He had a tiny ring around his hoof (wasn't causing him any trouble) that I thought may have been from pads, and he walked with his tail and head high. He had absolutely no problems except for a loose stifle which may or may not have been due to the pads.

However, a friend of mine used to have one straight out of the ring who was used as a broodmare. She was extremely pacey and hated to canter. She ended up selling her becasue she refused to gait.

So I guess it depends on the horse and the one you get. The broodmare was incurable. The other was perfectly fine.

I have been told they look for a pacey horse as they gait better with the big shoes. So may not be the best horse for gait with out the big shoes???

Thanks for the information, guys. That makes sense. Luckily my mare gave me a lot of practice with working with pacey horses, so that doesn't bother me too much.

 

[SmoothTrails]

I have been told they look for a pacey horse as they gait better with the big shoes. So may not be the best horse for gait with out the big shoes???

Exactly. I've seen many that will relearn their gait though. The shoes will normally mess up a nice natural gait, but "fix" a pacer.