Hey Virginia, It just occurred to me that you might think my tangent on the list was directed at you. Quite the opposite! Those are good questions for any concerned owner to ask. But, we've had too many people who are professionals that poo-poo the need to know about all the gaits in the past, some even denying that the "alternate" gaits even exist. Living in the south where gaited horses are common, I'm lucky to have a couple of good resources locally to help me with my horse's gaits, people to ask for second opinion, including a good friend who's a lifelong gaited horse owner (and a vet, who got a minor in horsemanship before going to vet school) who now owns Icelandics. We've worked through a lot our questions together, with the help of our local trainer, and with the help of Liz Graves, and with Lee Ziegler's book. The Icelandic world hasn't been a good place to learn about gaits though, and too often the horses suffer. I give credit to Judy, Lee and Liz for being some of he most vocal people who got the pleasure riders in the TWH breed thinking and asking questions...and now we are seeing a breed that had morphed into being VERY pacey just a decade have a strong comeback with a NATURAL running walk. (Don't get me wrong - that breed still has problems, but there are also some really positive signs that some things are changing.) You simply won't get that kind of pressure for breeders to produce natural and easy gaits from the show people - it has to come from the everyday pleasure riders like us. I hope we don't have to hit bottom like the TWH did for the people in this breed to wise up.
I think you've done a lot right for Gat. I SO understand your being overwhelmed with all there is to know about gaits. Gosh, how long have I been working on this and I still have lots of gait questions. I certainly don't think you need to have a full grasp of all the gaits right now, and maybe not ever. I had to dig deeply because 1) I've been breeding, and because 2) I've had these rehabs to work with. I think it should be part of every gaited horse owner's responsibility to learn some basics about all the gaits as they apply to their horses. Don't feel like you have to learn it all today though. Learn what you can from your two horses, as they reveal themselves to you. Horsemanship is a lifelong journey, right?! :) You're doing fine. I meant everything I wrote in my recent e-mails to the list, but don't take it at all that I was directing it all at you. I certainly wasn't. Thanks for always asking good questions. BTW, though, knowing something about gaits hasn't ONLY helped my rehabs. I think I can honestly say learning and digging may have kept a couple of our horses from accidentally becoming rehabs. Karen Thomas, NC
