>>> Doesn't Feldmann have any naturally gaited horses to work with?
I suspect that he rides and trains all his horses the same way, no matter what their nature. All the Icelandic's, Aiegenburgers (sp?), and Saddlebreds that I've seen in his videos seem to move exactly the same way. I wouldn't take that automatically to mean they can't gait naturally - only that he's not allowing it or showing it. They might, or they might not if they were given a chance. I have no idea what they'd do on their own. I've noticed that all the horses in Arnold Faber's videos seem to look the same way on his website - they look forced into their gaits. But, we have four horses born at Arnold's and they are all naturally gaited - three were started here. They are ridden very differently here though. Maja, Runa and Bjola tend slightly towards foxtrot, although they are all multi-gaited. Skjoni is a natural saddle-racker/fox-racker. I have no idea if we were just lucky and got really nice horses from that dispersal, but these are good horses. Funny, isn't it, that these lovely natural gaits aren't good enough for some people. Ironically, that grade mare whose video you just linked, the one who was pretty pacey, seems to be jolting her rider less than this Feldman horse is jolting his. Karen Thomas, NC
