>>> I haven't played with her at liberty but I have seen her in pasture canter, not pace. V
I think that would be a good thing to observe as much as you can - although I realize that a mature mare may not be active when it's convenient for you to watch. I keep mentioning our Mac, because I think it's easier if we're specific, so we can talk details. Mac never cantered much in the pasture. He would gait, then gait faster, then very fast, then finally break into an awkward, strung out fast gallop, often cross-firing. Judy mentioned that horses' gaits are a product of their training and their conformation. Mac is built to be lateral, although in his earlier years he was VERY smooth to ride. He gradually became more pacey - I really wish I had a timeline of his gait evolution, because so much was going on and it would be nice to see what happened when. Originally, when we bought he, he was padded to be a show TWH, and the day I wrote the check for him, I had a farrier come out and start taking his feet down - that took some time. His toes were very long then - in fact, his whole foot was long. It was a couple of years before we found our current farrier, so we also realized later that Mac's feet could have been trimmed better even as we started transitioning him to be a trail/pleasure horse. During those first few years, before the good farrier, Mac tripped a lot, but that went away soon after he started getting good, balanced trims. And, somewhere during that time, his gallop in the pasture began to slow a little - still not great, but better. Now, at 24, his sort of canters in the pasture sorta/kinda, but mostly he paces. (He was almost five when we got him.) What we see in retrospect is that what constituted a good trim for his conformation was bad for his gaits...but that's simply what he is, and love him for his good traits. I wouldn't make his gaits smooth if the price was his bones and joints being so out of balance that he couldn't walk without tripping. Obviously, I've never seen Gat, and I couldn't begin to compare her to Mac. And, even though I don't KNOW what her early training was, I think it's safe to assume that she didn't have the big lick feet to recover from, as Mac did - which is a very good thing. For what it's worth, I don't think there's any way that Mac could do the trotting and cantering that you've shown Gat doing in the video. She may be lateral, and that's fine, but I know of at least one horse who's more lateral. (Actually, I know other horses that are even more lateral than Mac.) We tried taking him over the trot poles, and it just didn't go anywhere - we quit, fearing he'd fall on his face. Mac is NOT a trotting horse. He's a good horse, who became a good trail horse, a horse that loves kids and is easy-going...but who can't canter worth diddly. Does that give you a little perspective? In Mac's case, there have been many factors clouding his gaitedness - the early artificial hoof angles, his initial show training, his conformation, and our ignorance as new horse owners 18-19 years ago. I really can't separate how much each of these factors played into making him what he is. Karen Thomas, NC No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.463 / Virus Database: 269.5.10/774 - Release Date: 4/23/2007 5:26 PM
