>>>>> I wrote: Here's my take - if I can't tell if it's a slightly lateral running walk or a saddle rack...then I probably don't CARE! Both are good. Maybe someday I will be able to tell ALL gaits that precisely, but just knowing the major differences is a plenty challenging at first. If I can't tell if it's a slightly diagonal running walk or a foxtrot, then I probably don't CARE! Not now...maybe as I get better. But, one step at a time please...
>>Skye wrote: Wow! Well said. I was surprised to read this post, yet delighted. This is more the way I look at it. If I get too bogged down with being EXACT, then I get bogged down, but I know for some people they really like to be that precise all the time. Like its a game. A fun one. Skye, I want to make sure you understood me correctly, and I want to make sure everyone on the list gets what I mean. I DO know the difference between a foxtrot and a running walk. I DO know the difference between a step-pace and a rack. I DO know the difference between a saddle rack and a running walk. At least I make it a point to know the differences from the saddle in my own horses, and I am totally concerned with the gaitedness of the horses I've bred. You can't imagine how many other ground spotters I've had watch my horses move, how I've marked conformation. Or how many little video clips I've made, or how many digital still pictures I've taken. As a breeder, I think that's a huge responsibility of mine, and I don't take that responsibility lightly. I do understand that not every pleasure rider cares to know as much as I feel obligated to know, and that's fine. But, I've been breeding so I hold myself to a higher standard. What I said is that I don't always know some of the finest dividing lines between the closest neighboring gaits. But that doesn't mean that I'm not pretty darned sure about the major named gaits of step-pace, rack, saddle rack, running walk, and foxtrot, at least in my own horses...I DO know those, and I only bred horses whose innate default gaitedness were pretty darned close to the even four-beat range...some have a wider range of gaits they can offer, but none are close to being pacey, and none are close to being trotty. I don't claim by any stretch to know so much about every gaited horse I run into...maybe someday I will, but I have made a priority to know MY horses. When I say "even four-beat gaits" I mean running walk, saddle rack or rack, all three of which have an even four-beat set-down...but I still haven't seen many (maybe any?) Icelandics whose natural innate default gait is a true rack. That means I only bred horses whose default gaits would be saddle rack or running walk... or whose gaits include a range of gaits centered on those two gaits. Karen Thomas, NC [EMAIL PROTECTED]
