>>>> I had no intention of having her do anything involving gait. I just want her to teach Miss T to move her feet. She gets stuck in place. I have a friend who raises and competes in endurance on gaited horses and she swears that she wants them to walk for 100 miles under saddle before she begins to think about an intermediate gait.
The only debatable part of that to me is the 100 miles. Is it 100 miles or 10 miles, but whatever, I DO believe in doing a LOT of walking of young horses. Horses need a good bit of time to develop their back muscles - all young horses. The only difference between gaited and non-gaited to me is that you will FEEL the coming-into-fitness-period more with a multi-gaited horse. A trot-only horse needs the same time to mature, but will only trot during that period - the trotting may be taxing to him, but it's still a trot. I don't think that means they need the build-up any less than a gaited horse however, only that it's more noticeable with a that may give you a hodge-podge of intermediate gaits. We only walk the horses for the first few rides - maybe as much as the first month, depending on the horse. We will go ahead and ask for a little speed well before 100 miles is up, as soon as it (vague, I know) feels right, but we accept whatever the horse gives, even if it's a step pace. (Actually can't remember that literally happening here, but I'd accept it if it did.) I don't worry about gait development for a LONG time. Mostly, however, we walk for a good while. >>>> She uses a blend of Linda Tellington Jones and Clinton Anderson techniques. Can you embellish on how she combines those two? I can't imagine two trainers that are more different. And, I admit it...I like and use a lot of Natural Horsemanship training ideas, but I am NOT a Clinton Anderson fan. Not at all... Nancy, please don't take this personally. I'm not directing this at you in any way, but you hit a nerve by mentioning C.A. It happens that I recently borrowed his supposedly "gaited horse" videos from a friend, and frankly, I was appalled, so you inadvertently opened up my bottled up feelings on this one! He doesn't know gaits, the horses weren't doing what he said they were doing (gait-wise nor in general), and I don't care for ANYONE (Icelandic, German, Dutch, American or Aussie, Olympian or redneck, dressagey, pseudo-gaited or cowboy) who has horses practicing "Rollkur." I can no longer consider him "natural" after seeing those videos. Didn't I see where he is now promoting some "shock collar" type training device? I'll never forget the very first time I saw him on RFD-TV - he was doing a foal-terrorizing-oops-I-mean-imprinting session, and my heart just broke for that poor baby. The poor foal looked scared to death. I tried to give him a second chance in my mind, hoping there was more to him, but after seeing his "gaited horse" videos, I can't pretend any more. I think he's just another charming and very YOUNG cutie-pie with an accent whose gotten where he has on his looks. So there...now I feel better! Again, nothing personal to you, Nancy - in fact, you seem like a perfectly fine person to me! :) Wonder how many folks I'll tick off this time...? Note to Gudmar/Sindri/Sigrun/whoever fans: note that I DO NOT only pick on young cutie-pie Icelandic trainers that I find lacking in substance, as I've been accused before. I will say what I think about ANY trainer I don't think is doing the right thing, young, old, cutie-pie or not-so-cute. I just calls 'em as I sees 'em. I should say that I DO like most parts of the TTEAM/TTOUCH program, at least the parts that I've seen or read about. Now...see, I'm not all negative today. :) Karen Thomas, NC No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.15.24/1115 - Release Date: 11/7/2007 9:21 AM
