>>>> I find the fox trot is more of rocking your hips back and forth, and the jog (suspensionless trot, which can be easily mistaken for a fox trot) is more up and down.
A foxtrot is different from a jog though. It's not the same gait, and you can see the difference on freeze-framed video. A jog IS a trot, only differing in the amount of suspension. I've ridden plenty of jogging QH's, and a couple of Icelandic's who jog. I think we need to keep in mind the word that Lee Ziegler used so often - the CONTINUUM of gaits. There's not just ONE jog, ONE foxtrot, ONE stepping pace, etc. There are points throughout the gait spectrum where the gaits blend and morph and it becomes hard to tell one from adjacent gait. If that's all we have to quibble over, though, then who cares? I honestly could care less if my horse is doing, for instance, a slightly diagonal running walk versus a square-ish foxtrot. If it's smooth and the horse can do it easily...AND, if the horse isn't in danger of long-term harm from doing the gait, then so be it. But, if we can't tell a pacey stepping pace from trotty foxtrot, then maybe we have something to talk about. Lee had a great article in Gaited Horse Magazine about a year before she died on the subject of foxtrot. She talked about three (I believe three) variations of foxtrot, one being very close to running walk, one being closer to a pure trot, and one in the middle. With all things mammalian, there are infinite degrees of variation from individual to individual, but dividing foxtrot into three types is probably sufficient for my needs. :) Karen Thomas, NC
