>>>> For me, gait training means refining the horse's natural gaits under >>>> saddle >>>> so that he knows which cue means which gait, then working to get the best >>>> out of that gait, without gimmicks.
>>That's a good one. I liked that too. If a person is used to dealing with three-gaited horses, I'd say that gait-training a gaited horse should be analogous to "gait training" a three-gaited horses. A naturally trotting horse might be prone to falling on his forehand, and a young three-gaited horse will definitely need to build strength and balance to carry a rider at the trot. In that light, the trot needs to be improved, but not created. Same with canter - some three-gaited horses find trot and canter easy and have good natural balance to begin with, but virtually all horses need some fine-tuning of trot and canter to do them optimally with riders on their back. The only thing potentially more complicated about "gait training" a gaited horse is that there may be more gaits to pick through and isolate. I just think we should never have to create a gait, only hone the skills within whatever natural gaits the horse has. Karen Thomas, NC
