I think with gait, altho some are really nice feeling, you need to work on them in a natural manner because some are limiting. I am thinking particularly of a stepping pace. It is a very comfortable smooth gait for both horse and rider. My horse could do it all day effortlessly i think! But there is a limit to it speedwise. Once he reaches a certain point he simply cannot increase speed without going into a bone jarring hard pace, hard on me, hard on his structure. or bump up into a canter. I don't think some gaits should be performed for more than 10-20 minutes at a time, like a full rack, hard pace, canter, maybe even a fast trot. Of course conditioning plays a role here.
Also a saddlerack can be very WRONG for some. Altho it is a wonderful smooth fun gait and not harmful to many, maybe even MOST, it is not good for a horse that is supposed to do something else in a relaxed soft manner and only saddleracks because he is tense and high headed and ventroflexed because of tension. Or cranked head high with a severe bit or noseband etc. Even a mild ventroflexion. I know what you mean about it being hard to tell gait from the saddle but it gets clearer. There's no way I could ever tell by footfall sounds! I ride on hard clay roads a lot and I listen and I can't ever tell. a hard pace can sound like four beats to me! I can tell jaspars stepping pace tho cause it sounds like the rhythm in the song "Happy Trails" :) One way that helps me tell tho is if I can ride where I can see the shadow. I've got where I can tell by headset what gait most times. A very high head nose out is likely saddlerack, with perked tail. a low reaching head is runningwalk, but I can always tell that from the saddle cause it so elegant and relaxed, and smooth like butter :) and in a true rack it seems the tail goes kinda straight out behind and the neck stretches way out in front... janice -- yipie tie yie yo
