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Welcome to the  dark side.
(that was a joke)
 btw, it is a an old wives tale about gaited horses not being sure 
footed.  With the caveat that any specific horse might have a problem, 
in the norm, they are
extremely sure footed. Think about it. Their is never a time during a 
flat foot walk, running walk or rack when all four feet are off the 
ground. No suspension.
Those of us who raise gaited horses hate the dreaded pace and do a lot 
of things to "cure" it.  Lots of different ways to fight that.
 We raise breed and endurance mfts and twhs.
You absolutely do not need a great big honking "walking horse bit".
Any way my wife or I can  help here, please ask.
Keith and Sandy Kibler
  http://shawneesunrisefarm.net/


Karen Sullivan wrote:
> Hey Angie,
> let me know what he has <g>.......
>  
> After riding a few really gaited horses (foxtrotters and Walkers) I'm 
> afraid i am probably done with Arabs <g>......the gaited horses are so 
> much dang fun!  I have a 3 year old Foxtrotter gelding who is 
> basically an Arab in disguise....really forward and also the nice 
> gait.....and seemingly very surefooted, which was my  main complaint 
> about gaited horses some years ago.  Then again, I take him along on 
> trail rides on rough and steep terrain and turn him loose, to run and 
> make his own mistakes.....
>  
> A frend has a very gaited foxtrotter, also a real goer,.....right up 
> there in most surefooted horse i have ever seen, just cruises 
> downhill.....I followed her up a trail this last weekend that was 
> pretty narrow and twisty, with very steep drop offs....my friend 
> started out foxtrotting.  i was doing an easy trot on my 
> mustang....and by the time we were moving along, my friend was doing a 
> slow canter on that foxtrotter that was to die for......
>  
> The pacey ones you sort of want to discourage or stay away from.
>  
> Nice thing about  my gaited mustang is that you do also have that trot 
> to add into the mix.
>  
> But, please, don't harbor the misocnception that you need a big 
> shanked bit to get the gait....in fact, my preference is to  basically 
> throw away or drop the rein; i hate to ride collected....when i do 
> that, my horse really books along, and yes, the running walk comes out 
> of a flat walk, in simple terms. 
>  
> But, the other benefit is that if the horse does get amped up, i.e. 
> starting to get jiggy, you can get a pretty fun gait instead of an 
> awful jig....the mustang will broken pace and do that running walk on 
> a loose rein...if collected a tad or checked, i get the foxtrot or 
> broken pace, and if she is really being a ding dong such as trying to 
> get back to camp too fast and I really collect her up, I get a high 
> action rack......
>  
> Gosh, where is Amber Applegate to add her expertise to this question>
> Karen
>  
> On 6/28/08, *rides2far@xxxxxxxx <mailto:rides2far@xxxxxxxx>* 
> <rides2far@xxxxxxxx <mailto:rides2far@xxxxxxxx>> wrote:
>
>      
>      
>
>             >>>If someone knows the answer to this question could you
>             email me privately as it is not really endurance related.
>             If a Tennessee walking horse is not gaited by the time he
>             is four, can it he be >>>trained to be gaited? My email
>             address is: sbolinge at aol dot com. Thanks!
>              
>             One of my best riding buddies when I was a kid had a
>             registered TWH. There were 3 of us in this "gang", 2 on QH
>             and one on TWH. She walk, trot, cantered...and our
>             favorite RACED him everywhere with us for years. He never
>             did one lick of anything gaited that I saw. When he was 8
>             or 9 the farm she lived on went up for sale and a man who
>             rode show walking horses came over to try her horse. He
>             took the snaffle out, put in a long shank bit, kicked him 
>             up a little while hold ing him back with his hands up high
>             and the darned horse started gaiting. I saw him the next
>             year at a show. Very sad. He'd had so much fun swimming in
>             ponds with us (though he aways crapped first thing and we
>             had to splash to make it float away from us). We put up
>             with it because he stood still to be a good diving board.
>             We were always climbing mountains, and racing bareback,
>             then he started having to do that high stepping garbage in
>             a ring. Poor boy. :-((
>             He was not a pacer. Maybe that made a difference.
>              
>             >>>>Also....my BLM mustang mare always had a powerful
>             walk...but after 4 years steady riding, now, at age 8, she
>             has a singlefoot, rack, running walk and foxtrot at
>             times......what you get >>>>depends on motivation,
>             footing, attitude and relaxation or non relaxation, and,
>             again. >>>>>walking for years, hills and TIME.......
>              
>             I had a big Appaloosa that was 1/2 QH who was always in a
>             hurry and wanted to jig. (ex-racehorse). I would make him
>             walk everywhere and he started walking faster and
>             faster...kinda like when you tell an elementary school kid
>             *WALK!* on their way to catch the bus when the bell rings
>             and they find a way to do a weird gait that involves far
>             more speed than a normal walk but that you won't punish
>             them for. Finally he was head bobbing walking really fast
>             leaving the other horses as usual (we did all our trail
>             rides riding 100 yards ahead and circling back, over and
>             over all day) and a friend said, "Is he gaited? I swear
>             he's gaiting!" That made me mad so I started trotting and
>             he was my first endurance horse. >g< I suppose if you walk
>             *fast* enough it becomes a running walk?
>              
>             I'm scared to death I'm going to have to learn all these
>             terms. One of my favorite uncles is 78 this year and has
>             already been resuscitated 3 times. He's got about 13 TWH
>             40 miles from here and being the family "horse expert" I
>             *know* they're going to be my responsibility to disperse
>             someday. If anybody in the AL/TN/GA triangle needs one,
>             let me know.
>              
>             Angie
>              
>
>
>
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