Linda Flemmer wrote:-----------------------------------------------
You just described my husband's horse to the "T". He rides a 15.3 QH/TB
cross who "discovered" this way of trotting years ago. He actually
prefers this trot (we call it the 'road trot" or "overdrive") to
cantering. None of the smaller Arabs that I ride have "discovered" this
gait, so we gallop madly along to try to keep up! (And eat a LOT of
dust!) Major is not a typical looking QH cross, and he <really> fools
folks with this trot of his. When people ask what breed of horse he
might be, our joke is that he's a "mystery horse", or that he is a
"Texas Warmblood".
He has racked and paced occasionally near the end of a long, tiring
ride, but I think that that is an exception. We believe that he is
compensating for muscle fatigue rather than truly "trying" to gait.
This is infrequent and does not correlate with his "road trot" at all.
It really <is> fun to trot along with folks, look at your watch and say
"Oh, dear! I need to make up some time!" Then, just shift your weight
slightly back, loosely "sit" the trot, and take up a bit of contact on
the reins. Away Major goes into overdrive, leaving everyone behind.
The speed of his leg movement doesn't increase, but the stride lengthens
even more, he brings his rear end under him, and DRIVES from that rear
end. It is a very powerful feeling gait and deceptively fast for the
rider. It is DEFINITELY not a gait for the downhills, though. Major
has yet to interfere at this gait like you had described. His back legs
track slightly wider than the front and he oversteps by 4-5 hoofprint
lengths. He has been clocked in this gait at 22-24 mph on a flat road
after about 40 miles of fairly grueling trail! Not bad for a "jig jog"
QH cross that we bought 11 years ago!
Linda Flemmer
Blue Wolf Ranch
Chesapeake, VA
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Linda!
It's pretty amazing when you first discover this on a horse who can do it
well. I'm able to get it from all my horses since The Fiddler. However,
the smaller ones just don't have the reach. Some of them are built to
canter instead. Buhni, my 14.3h Anglo-Arab will do it in a crowd of her
size horses and does it best when we are out alone, but when she's up
against a 16h horse, she prefers to canter. This is when we have to
back-off and say bye-bye, you ride your ride and we'll ride ours.
Buhni has an overdrive on her canter. However, there is no shift of gears,
we just cruise along with the same rhythm as other horses, and she just
effortlessly blows them away like they were standing still. I really use
this gate conservatively though. I'm just not comfortable letting her
canter that much. I think there's too much wear and tear in that gait.
The Fiddler could do the 'overdrive trot' all day, but with Buhni, we
alternate between that and gallop, when we are in time-making mode. The
Fiddler had a very nice powerful canter, too. But, 'overdrive trot' was
his preferred gait. Just like your Arab/QH.
I once had a little QH/Hackney, Stormy. He had what we call a
"running-walk" here in the west (probably like the 'Walking Horses'). It
is a 4-beat gate, but I can't tell you the foot-fall sequence. They just
walk really fast. About 7-8 mph. The old cowboys loved this gate. You
just sit there and go down the trail.
Stormy also had some other gaits which I think would equate to the pace and
the rack. He did not do these at any particular time. Just when he felt
like amusing me or himself. I was just a kid then, so I just went along
for the ride.
I think that anymore, I get too caught up in all the technical aspects and
forget to just go along for the ride. Maybe that would be a good thing to
work on next year. (Hmm, I feel a Resolution coming on here).;-}
Linda Van Ceylon
lvanceylon@vines.colostate.edu