>>> I think you're much closer than I'll ever be! I find it difficult to distinguish the different gaits. You and Janet are much better at it than I and you both came up with different conclusions!
I think the only one Janice and I seriously disagree on is the one I think is trot - and I'm standing my ground on that one! :) Seriously, it can be difficult to tell in SOME pictures, but looking at them helps train our eyes, even when we miss something. Even Lee Ziegler, THE gait expert, used to comment on it being difficult to see it all in a single still picture. It's not perfect, but it's a start. I recently saw a picture of a foal trotting on a breeder's website - and the caption proudly announced that the foal was tolting. A breeder should be able to tell a trot from a tolt - that's just minimal. I've seen that more than once too. And how many times have people submitted pictures of horses step-pacing - almost hard-pacing - and called it tolt? Even breeders? Knowing the difference between a running walk, saddle rack and a true rack/tolt will not always be easy - even in person. Differentiating when a fast rack/tolt has turned into flying pace is hard. Those gaits are different, but close on the gait continuum -not totally opposite. But breeders - no ALL of us - should be able to isolate a trot from a pace. (Except maybe with a black horse in a still picture - it sometimes hard to tell which leg is on the near side and which is on the far.) >>>> I think #12 is a trot too. #13 seems to be some type of walk - he can have a real "swingy" type of walk. Is that what a running walk feels like? A walk (flat and running) just feels loose to me. Like the horse is loose, I mean. I like that gait for the horses who find it easy because I don't think a horse can be tense and do a TRUE running walk. (A lot of the yucky show "running walks" are actually step-paces or racks.) Karen Thomas [EMAIL PROTECTED]
