Didn't realize not all horses can gallop

[vineyridge]

[QUOTE=bornfreenowexpensive;7740558]
You buy a canter and a good jump for an event horse. You do not need a gallop like you described. You want a balanced horse who covers the ground easily in a light manner. I can tell right away if a horse has a canter that I like and typically if they have that good canter they will have a good jump and good gallop for eventing.[/QUOTE]

I’m not sure I completely agree. Holsteiners are famous as jumpers and for their excellent canter, but they IN GENERAL do not have a good eventing gallop.

[bornfreenowexpensive]

[QUOTE=vineyridge;7740724]
I’m not sure I completely agree. Holsteiners are famous as jumpers and for their excellent canter, but they IN GENERAL do not have a good eventing gallop.[/QUOTE]

I didn’t want to get into to much detail but it is the type of canter that tells you whether they will have a good gallop. There is more than one type of canter that has a good jump. If they have too much knee action or climb, they may jump well but not cover the ground enough for upper level eventing (4*).

[gumtree]

[QUOTE=Winding Down;7738103]
I have a young mare who sounds like the other rider’s horse. She hasn’t learned how to gallop and flatten out as you describe. Her conformation is such that she is short backed and very uphill so she prefers to lift her front end and move accordingly. She has the best canter I’ve ever sat on. I am pretty sure she will get the hang galllping with practice. She can certainly tear around the field. My ISH (3/4 Holsteiner) can gallop flat out with no problems. But he is not built uphill although he is a fooler in that he does lift his front end and people think he is uphill.

So the conformation of some of the warmbloods may predispose them to prefer an uphill and not flat out gallop. FWIW, the gallop that UL level horses use is not a flat out gallop. It takes (literally) years to train a horse to do a proper gallop so as to jump effectively and manage certain questions xc without losing speed. That is where the uphill and bouncy horses may succeed as they can increase speed while still maintaining a level of engagement necessary to negotiate the more diffdcult questions.

So, it sounds what you have is a race horse gallop which is fun to ride but not that useful on a xc course.[/QUOTE]

I only work with Thoroughbreds for flat and jump racing. I have never found being uphill, or downhill made much if any difference in their abilities and or feel at a gallop and or over fences.

“It takes (literally) years to train a horse to do a proper gallop so as to jump effectively and manage certain questions xc without losing speed”

Again, I can not speak for other breeds. But with Thoroughbreds I have not found this to be true. Timber horses need to jump effectively, so as not to crash and burn and they need to do it efficiently to have a chance of winning. We are not running to the fences in a “flat out gallop” at least we don’t want to be, but certainly faster then an eventer.
Most are running over fences within months of coming off the track. Especially hurdles.
Some good Timber horses put it all together quite quickly. Some need a couple of seasons to perfect their game. The really good ones IMO and experience are really good at it from the get go.

Maybe we go about it differently. I don’t know haven’t spent much time around H/J and event trainers when they are just starting off with a new horse.

I have a now retired Timber horse that nailed it from the get go. My partner who is a jumper rider took him to Wellington shortly after the Jump season was over in November. His first season. He was 4th in his first jumper show several weeks latter. People could believe he had run over fences a couple of weeks earlier. He was with a BNT down there.

But, when he came back they had changed his “style”. Taking off from the bottom of the fence which is what a show ring jumper needs to do. Over fences no so much. Want them be some where in the middle from a short one, “not chipping in” and a long one. I was surprised how long it took for him to get his “old form” back. Won’t do that again. Much easier to re-school for ring after jump racing then to re-school from the ring to jump racing. IMO and experience.

[gumtree]

[QUOTE=Heinz 57;7738367]
Even your OTTB had to be taught how to gallop - his education was just much earlier than non-racing horses…[/QUOTE]

I haven’t really found this to be true with the TBs I have broken/started. They all galloped without much effort or encouragement. More then I wanted most of the time. They did however have to be taught how to “race gallop”. Gallop in hand and at the speed and tempo desired.

Totting is a different story IME. Especially for any length of time in the beginning.

Never found it to be much trouble or hassle to train with the majority of them. All are going well within month or two. Pretty predictable within 3. In 4 to six month I look forward to getting on them. Before that no so much. Can’t wait till they become “real” horses. Kind of like puppies to good dogs.

[gumtree]

[QUOTE=bornfreenowexpensive;7740641]
really? Because most of the foals that I have canter right away. They gallop a bit later but they certainly come out of the box with a canter. Trot often takes several months to see. Canter has three beats. A gallop has 4. I think they are both natural gaits.[/QUOTE]

This had been my experience with Thoroughbreds.

[normandy_shores]

My little PMU eventer doesn’t have much of a gallop. He lacks the desire to go that fast and doesn’t really flatten out and GO.

[Christa_P]

I had a homebred WB/TB that never did figure out a gallop - and I tried. One time I took him out on a track a the farm I was boarding at and tried to get him going, after a lap and some he finally went into a sort of hand gallop. OTOH he had a truly natural hunter canter :).

His dam, an OTTB, and 1/2 brother, unraced but full TB, both had great gallops.

[DoubleDown]

Not to hijack, but how do you teach that gallop?

[billiebob]

I was just thinking about this the last time I did hillwork with the cowpony I ride. As quick as he is, he doesn’t have a very good gallop. He will flatten out, kind of, and doesn’t pull or get too silly, but he’s just not a TB.

Purely for comparison purposes (well, maybe not really :lol:), I galloped the TB tonight and…yeah, no contest. My TB has an awesome gallop, smooth as silk.

Granted, my sample size is smaller than most of you. I’ve mostly galloped TBs and TBx polo ponies besides the 2 mentioned above. I really don’t think there’s anything better than a horse with a good gallop.

[emirae1091]

[QUOTE=vineyridge;7740724]
I’m not sure I completely agree. Holsteiners are famous as jumpers and for their excellent canter, but they IN GENERAL do not have a good eventing gallop.[/QUOTE]

It my limited experience (my Holsteiner TB mare that leans strongly toward Holsteiner), this is definitely true. She has a phenomenal canter, but we are having to ‘practice’ how to gallop!

Fortunately we’re not aiming for upper levels, so if it never works out, I think we’ll be okay.

[slp2]

I don’t really know the answer to this question–but have two humorous stories about the difference between a Tb gallop vs. your garden variety gallop. My OTTB was never much of a racehorse but did have a short career at the track. One time we were on a hunter pace (riders went out in groups of 2-3). There was a point on the pace where the trail opened up into a big field. There were 3 rather rude riders who blazed past us on a group of Arabs. They were flying along–legs skittering in their form of a “gallop”. My horse was in a nice canter when they passed us. For some reason, that triggered “racetrack” in my horses brain and suddenly, she flattened out, and started taking these long HUGE strides. I had never felt this “next gear” before! Needless to say—she passed the Arabs like they were standing still. The gait she got into was a pretty amazing. And she was a slow racehorse! But the biggest difference I noticed was the length of stride she had (vs. short, quick strides of the other horses). BTW–nothing against Arabs–I have owned one and like them–but the average Arab usually cannot gallop like a Tb.

Second funny story was when a friend of mine was riding my mare with another friend on a very fancy WB (imported from Germany UL dressage horse). They were out in a field and both were cantering and started to pick up speed. The WB just started to porpoise around–going more “up and down” than forward. My friend said that my mare practically rolled her eyes at the big guy as if to say: “You call that a gallop? That’s ridiculous. I’ll show you a real gallop!” Then she kicked it into Tb gallop gear—again, leaving the WB leaping around behind her. This WB has a HUGE stride–but he spent too much time in the air to really have any speed. It’s pretty interesting to watch the horses at an event and look at their canter/gallops and see how differently all of them can move!

[JenEM]

@slp2;7742105

I don’t really know the answer to this question–but have two humorous stories about the difference between a Tb gallop vs. your garden variety gallop. My OTTB was never much of a racehorse but did have a short career at the track. One time we were on a hunter pace (riders went out in groups of 2-3). There was a point on the pace where the trail opened up into a big field. There were 3 rather rude riders who blazed past us on a group of Arabs. They were flying along–legs skittering in their form of a “gallop”. My horse was in a nice canter when they passed us. For some reason, that triggered “racetrack” in my horses brain and suddenly, she flattened out, and started taking these long HUGE strides. I had never felt this “next gear” before! Needless to say—she passed the Arabs like they were standing still. The gait she got into was a pretty amazing. And she was a slow racehorse! But the biggest difference I noticed was the length of stride she had (vs. short, quick strides of the other horses). BTW–nothing against Arabs–I have owned one and like them–but the average Arab usually cannot gallop like a Tb.

I agree with this, from my experience, too. I’ve galloped my (not very successful) OTTB both on a training track and out in the field. That fourth gear feels like nothing else. It’s amazing. Then this spring, I was in Ireland, and got to gallop a Connemara pony on the beach. It was incredibly fun, and it was definitely a gallop, but it was a lot shorter and faster strided than that long, groundcovering gait my mare has.

I think the gallop is a natural gait all horses have, but whether they’re all as good as a breed like the TB which was bred for generations to gallop, and gallop well, is another matter entirely.

[tbchick84]

I’m thinking nobody can really know the answer to this, but I wonder if that smooth 4 beat gallop is actually easier for them? I have to work my butt off to get a nice canter out of my horse, but once we hit that first flat gear, he actually seems to relax, not tense up. I was up in the same field today. It was at the end of a long ride and the grass was a little wet, so we came just short of flat gallop. For the first time since I’ve had him, I kinda wished for that gallop. All this time, I’ve watched races and thought how busy all those legs looked flying down the track. Now I feel like I know a secret.

[sirensong4]

I’ve experienced the low-flat out gallop on TBs only (although that is what the majority of my horses have been). According to my GPS, Roxie has never, even on her fastest day, downhill with a tailwind, headed back to the barn at dinnertime, ever gotten to 20 mph. What’s an average TB? 35 mph? I should start a clique–the “I get time faults at Beginner Novice” clique.

[Foxglove]

Daughter was at a Dorothy Cowl (Crowel?) clinic where she was helping with preparing the riders for their first 3-Day. She asked that one by one the riders gallop on the flat across a large field. Daughter had a lovely OTTB, big fellow but built like a greyhound. Dorothy asked her to go first. Daughter did and opened him up to full speed across the field. It was like watching an Indy 500 car on race day. It looked like they were barely moving, but they went from one end of the field to the other lightening fast.

Dorothy said, deadpan, “Maybe not that fast.”

She later awarded Daughter a prize for cross country --closest to optimum time, I think. As far as I know that was the only time Daughter rode the horse at “race horse speed.” I’m glad I was there to watch --it was clearly not a canter! Much flatter and truly “ground eating.”

Foxglove

[PaintedHunter]

Ollie came to me with a four-beat canter - does that count?:lol:

[tbchick84]

Love this. Instructor says gallop, daughter gallops. She listens well, she’ll go far.

I did give my guy about 2 weeks of no running around in fields, just walking on a loose rein. Still building muscle, just no temptation to run. I finally fires up the thrusters yesterday for a nice forward canter and got exactly that. He didn’t fight be at all and we had a nice ‘yes maam’ canter. Hunter pace coming up Sunday. Supposed to be perfect weather. Can’t wait.

[QUOTE=Foxglove;7760101]
Daughter was at a Dorothy Cowl (Crowel?) clinic where she was helping with preparing the riders for their first 3-Day. She asked that one by one the riders gallop on the flat across a large field. Daughter had a lovely OTTB, big fellow but built like a greyhound. Dorothy asked her to go first. Daughter did and opened him up to full speed across the field. It was like watching an Indy 500 car on race day. It looked like they were barely moving, but they went from one end of the field to the other lightening fast.

Dorothy said, deadpan, “Maybe not that fast.”

She later awarded Daughter a prize for cross country --closest to optimum time, I think. As far as I know that was the only time Daughter rode the horse at “race horse speed.” I’m glad I was there to watch --it was clearly not a canter! Much flatter and truly “ground eating.”

Foxglove[/QUOTE]

[netg]

[QUOTE=slp2;7742105]
I don’t really know the answer to this question–but have two humorous stories about the difference between a Tb gallop vs. your garden variety gallop. My OTTB was never much of a racehorse but did have a short career at the track. One time we were on a hunter pace (riders went out in groups of 2-3). There was a point on the pace where the trail opened up into a big field. There were 3 rather rude riders who blazed past us on a group of Arabs. They were flying along–legs skittering in their form of a “gallop”. My horse was in a nice canter when they passed us. For some reason, that triggered “racetrack” in my horses brain and suddenly, she flattened out, and started taking these long HUGE strides. I had never felt this “next gear” before! Needless to say—she passed the Arabs like they were standing still. The gait she got into was a pretty amazing. And she was a slow racehorse! But the biggest difference I noticed was the length of stride she had (vs. short, quick strides of the other horses). BTW–nothing against Arabs–I have owned one and like them–but the average Arab usually cannot gallop like a Tb.

Second funny story was when a friend of mine was riding my mare with another friend on a very fancy WB (imported from Germany UL dressage horse). They were out in a field and both were cantering and started to pick up speed. The WB just started to porpoise around–going more “up and down” than forward. My friend said that my mare practically rolled her eyes at the big guy as if to say: “You call that a gallop? That’s ridiculous. I’ll show you a real gallop!” Then she kicked it into Tb gallop gear—again, leaving the WB leaping around behind her. This WB has a HUGE stride–but he spent too much time in the air to really have any speed. It’s pretty interesting to watch the horses at an event and look at their canter/gallops and see how differently all of them can move![/QUOTE]

I’m not sure what my WB filly’s real gallop looks like - because when my OTTB (distance runner!) goes into his full out gallop she passes him in her extended trot. Despite being largely TB, I suspect it would look porpoise-y, given how much air time she gets when playing and how far under her her legs stay at all times.

[Hinderella]

I’m certainly no expert and neither of my horses were TBs, but it seems logical to me that TBs (and some QHs) would naturally have a better gallop gear because of generations of breeding to get just that. My little QH does have another gear, but I’m quite certain it’s nothing like your TB’s gallop

[devvie]

Definitely a big part of riding for me is that need for speed! I’ve owned two TBs, and the horse I ride now is 3/4 and has such a fun gallop.