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[RC] How to tell what gait is what - A. Perez.. when on the horse. Not always easy. Also, there are SO many terms used to describe gait, it gets confusing. Check out the articles in The Gaited Horse website: http://www.gaitedhorses.net/GHArticles.html It helps if you can spend some time watching gaited horses and getting to understand their gaits. Usually what is meant by 'gaited' is a gait faster then a regular walk that is a 4-beat gait. When a horse trots or paces, it moves pairs of fore-and-hind legs in unison, so that they hot the ground at the same time. There is a period of time when no foot is on the ground, so when the horse comes down, all it's weight comes down. This is why the trot (and pace) is 'bumpy'. All 'gaiting' gates are varients on the trot or the pace In a pace, the legs on one side move together (ie: it is a lateral gait), while at the trot, diagonally opposite legs move together (ie it is a diagonal gait). When 'gaiting', the paired legs are NOT moving in perfect unison: one hits the ground before or after the other so the gait becomes four- beated. If a horse paces, but one foot hits the gound just slightly after the other leg on the same side, it is called a 'stepping pace'. The cadence is something like 1-2-----3-4. If the foot-falls are equally spaced apart, 1--2--3--4, it is 'square' (the most desireable,as it is the smoothest) running-walk. If the gait is diagonal, but 4-beat, it is called fox-trot. I'm not sure if the 'single-foot' is a diagonal or lateral gait. If you are talking about Icelandic ponies or Paso Finos, they have their own set of terms for the different gaits that I am not familiar with. To tell what your horse is doing, count the foot-falls out loud. It may help if you put a hand back on one of your horses hips, so you can feel when the hind foot is moving and landing. If you can post to the gait, it is probably a trot, but could be a pace. Also, if when you sit the gait there is a noticible bounce-bounce-bounce, it is probably a trot or pace. If it is a pace, you will feel considerable side-to-side motion, and if you sit to it, you will find yourself twisting at the waist. If the gait is hard to post to, he may be gaiting: counting out the footfalls will tell you what the feet are doing. Watching your shadow in the early morning or the late afternoon can also help you 'see' what he is doing. ________________________________________________ Get your own "800" number Voicemail, fax, email, and a lot more http://www.ureach.com/reg/tag =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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