I wanted to go back to the subject of Tosca's gaits one more time.
First, Nancy, all credit to you for not being obsessed with the gaits of a horse just under saddle for 18 times. She's just learning to balance a human, how to go forward, steer, etc - that's plenty for her to think about for now. And kudos to you for finding a good trainer to do work with her on the basics, handling the parts you aren't comfortable with, or that you don't have time for. But, back to the subject of her innate gaits. Here's my take. I stared at the videos for a while, and granted, YouTube resolution sometimes leaves something to be desired, and it's even harder to isolate which leg is which on the black horses. But, whatever gaits she's doing, you can tell that her rider is not bouncing at all. I couldn't tell for sure if the slightly "out-of-square" gaits were to the racky side or to the trot side. But, you know what? If her gaits default that closely to four-beat after such a short time under saddle, who cares? And, she shows can trot without too much effort. Sometimes we see horses whose owners think they are trotting when they are actually pacing, and vice versa. To me, that's a huge problem, especially if the owner is a breeder. Tosca did shift gaits a few times - but not seriously compared to many young horses I've seen. (I swear that Holly could go from hard pace to hard trot in about five strides when I first got her - I shudder to think about all the mistakes I was making with that fine young mare...) Sometimes gait shifting is due to lack of strength, sometimes lack of training (and certainly Tosca is a baby when it comes to training), and sometimes they can even be due to soreness, bad saddle fit, terrain changes, rider stiffness...But, despite Tosca being so early in her training, she has a very nice natural gaitedness. To me, she has the making of a wonderful, naturally gaited pleasure horse. She'll only get better with strength and easy-going riding. Her gaits don't need to be "trained" - just slightly fine-tuned. That's the way I think a gaited horse should be. I think you have the makings of a very nice horse in Tosca, Nancy, whatever her long-term job (jobs?) turn out to be. Karen Thomas, NC No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.17.11/1200 - Release Date: 12/27/2007 1:34 PM
