--- Ingvar Ragnarsson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > ok as I don´t have another breed to compare with > here in Iceland > how are the gaits in other gaited breeds? do > people at daily basis use all 5 gears? or 4? > as we do in Icelandics?
It varies, and they don't normally use gait plus trot, but that is just the culture, many horses can trot also, and canter. I'd say the majority can do multiple gaits. They are supposed to be riding horses, that's what they were used for, comfortable traveling horses. > do they always show soft gait at liberty until fully > grown (lets say 4 yo) > > do they then only show soft gaits? (I mean the > majority of the breed) > > do they soft gait at liberty most of the time > and still have a useful trot under saddle? The ones I have seen either seem to have a broken trot at liberty or gait or mixed. They can trot under saddle, it isn't going to be a really, really clear big high action trot though. The more I think about this the more I wonder if having a really clear, high action two beat trot is really compatible with having natural gaits also, what if it isn't, what does that mean? Is it more important to give up an easy natural gait for a really clear trot? The truth is I think other gaited breeds have a variety of abilities just like Icelandics do, but there is a breeding goal of keeping natural soft gaits with them, and you still have some trot on most horses. They don't want horses too pacey either, of course there are horses who end up having too much pace, bad pace, they probably can't trot so well just like an Icelandic with too much pace probably can't trot. There are probably a lot more similarities between gaited breeds than there are difference, but I see differences in breeding goals and that can start to make a big difference in what is turned out. Kim
