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HorseAdvice.com » Training, Behavior, & Conditioning Horses » The Gaits of Horses » |
Discussion on Website showing gaits? | |
Author | Message |
Member: Canderso |
Posted on Monday, Jul 10, 2006 - 8:56 am: Hi All,AAARGH! I remember some time ago someone posted the URL to a website that actually showed the different gaits of horses, including the running walk, rack etc. I can't find that post any more. Can someone point me to the discussion and/or repost the link? thanks! Cheryl |
Member: Ellen66 |
Posted on Friday, Oct 20, 2006 - 1:11 am: Hi Cheryl - just saw your post now. I have a neat link that shows an animation fo the three basic gaits and a Tolt (Rack) and Flying Pace. The cool part is that one can stop the animation and look at every phase, and move the cursor to slowly replay certain phases, really educational!https://www.eidfaxi.is/fraedsla/eindex.php?fraedsla=gangtegundir Cheers, Ellen |
Member: Ilona |
Posted on Friday, Oct 20, 2006 - 6:44 pm: Thanx Ellen,It looks to me that pacing is the same as single-footing. I wonder if I am correct. |
Member: Ellen66 |
Posted on Friday, Oct 20, 2006 - 9:48 pm: No. Pace is a lateral gait with a pair of legs on each side moving together. Fast Pace has a moment of suspension. The singlefooting or square gaits (Rack and Tolt are in that group) move each foot independently, like in a Walk, no suspension at any speed. The perfect execution would be with an even 1-2-3-4 rhythm to it. All the gait variations are somehow flowing into each other, with the diagonal trot on one end of the spectrum, the square gaits in the middle and the Pace on the other end of the spectrum. Except in the Racing Industry and with 5-gaited Icelandics, most trainers do not like to see strong pace tendencies in a gaited horse as it seems to be connected to stiffness issues.Each gaited Breed has some signature gaits they want to see, but that doesn't mean horses in that Breed cannot do other gait variations. All subjects around the gaited horse are my favourite, especially since I originally come from the Dressage type english background and find it helps in unerstanding horse's movement pattern and biomechanical aspects. Cheers, Ellen |
Member: Ilona |
Posted on Saturday, Oct 21, 2006 - 12:10 am: Thanx Ellen,That was very clear. Thank goodness my ignorance is surpassed by my willingness to inquire and to learn, I'm sure I'd make a good fool of myself otherwise, probably do anyway. |
Member: Ellen66 |
Posted on Saturday, Oct 21, 2006 - 12:52 am: Oh no, you aren't ignorant at all, and the willingness to learn is a great gift. There is not a lot of clear information out there, as each Breed seems to be in their own little bubble and seems to think that no common denominator can be used for all the Gaited Breeds, so there are bits and pieces all over the place, and honestly, a lot of myths and misinformation. Gaited horses are a very complicated subject to truly understand, and the more one learns the more questions arise...you should see the questionmarks over my head sometimes![]() |
Member: Ellen66 |
Posted on Saturday, Oct 21, 2006 - 1:00 am: Hey, I just checked your profile, if you don't mind - you own a Mangalarga Marchador, I am impressed! Tell me all about it...and the Beauty on the picture is that your RM mare?Cheers Ellen |
Member: Ilona |
Posted on Saturday, Oct 21, 2006 - 1:39 am: Hi Ellen,Yes I own 2 Mangalarga Marchadors, just had another shipped from Florida 3 weeks ago. They are a truely wonderful breed. I am a founding member of the USMMA (United States Mangalarga Marchador Association, https://usmarchador.com/ ). What I love about the 2 we have and the many others I have seen is their strength, grace, disposition and enormous heart. They are a naturally gaited breed. Very comfortable and sure-footed. I use our original Mangalarga, Boom Boom, for anyone less experienced or nervous to ride. He is so forgiving and kind.He inspires confidence. He is deeply attached to me and I trust him implicitly, more so than any of our other horses. Our new arrival has the same disposition. I am so looking forward to developing the same quality of relationship with as I have with Boom Boom. Mangalarga's hold the international endurance record for covering ground from Chile to Panama. I can't speak highly enough of the breed. If I had more money I would directly import some brood mares and a stallion from Brazil. My friends who own a ranch called Summerwind in Scottsdale and Colorado have a really fabulous breeding program and are deeply devoted to the breed and its introduction to the US. The picture on my profile is Malaika, my Rocky Mountain. Both her Damm and Sire are multi world champions, I feel very fortunate to see her in her corral every day I wake up. Malaika is Swahili for angel, and there is no question that she is my angel. Thanx for taking the time and having the interest. Ilona |
Member: Ellen66 |
Posted on Saturday, Oct 21, 2006 - 2:29 am: A small world indeed - I have been talking to Lynn via e-mail for the longest time last year about importing a stallion. I even pondered about going to Brazil with them; we had quite a good rapport. In the end it all was too much of a hassle and too expensive, but I am very taken with the Breed, I do understand your passion about them! I hope the US will get easier on import again, I hear Summerwind are planing on using frozen embryos to bypass these problems?Cheers, Ellen |
Member: Maggienm |
Posted on Saturday, Oct 21, 2006 - 3:17 pm: Don't feel bad about the gaits, Ilona. I would have said the same thing. My Dad, who grew up on a working ranch always referred to his horse as a single footer, pacer, pretty unusual in his area.years ago I had neighbors who also had single footers, (pacers) |
Member: Lilo |
Posted on Saturday, Oct 21, 2006 - 4:08 pm: Thank you for the link to the animation, Ellen. I have a Rocky Mountain gelding that is not very natural in his gait (should be a rack, therefore similar to the Tolt). I noticed in the animation of the Tolt that there is a phase where the horse has only 1 foot on the ground - am I understanding it correctly?My gelding has a wonderful walk, a great trot (which I have not let him do, because I want to get the four-beat gait out of him) and there is a gait in there somewhere (mostly I get it when going uphill, contrary to what the websites and clinicians would have you believe). I never thought that training a gaited horse could be so complex!!!! Lilo |
Member: Ilona |
Posted on Saturday, Oct 21, 2006 - 6:20 pm: Ellen,What a small world indeed. You are correct they are bringing in frozen embryos..they have a horse, Channel, with whom I am completely in adoration. So much so that I was perusing a horse magazine a while back,and shrieked to my husband "look here is Cannel". I didn't even have to read the print to recognize her. I had no idea that she was used or that there was a feature article on Mangalarga's, I just know her face so well. He couldn't believe I could recognize one face out of the millions of horses in the world, he looked at me weird, like I am a witch or something! Lynn and I have talked for years about me taking her when they no longer want her for breeding. I have right of first refusal. She is the one horse I would be willing to sell my car for. Lynn and I laugh about that. I don't know what it is about that horse that is so compelling for me, it just is what it is. |