I havent ridden in almost 25 years and have started to get back into trail riding. I have a few spinal issues, thoracic scoliosis for one. I was in a car wreck recently and now I have buldging discs in my curve. also a neck injury. I did some riding in the fall with little to no discomfort. Ive just lately started feeling major pain in my left hip along with difficulty in walking. I wanted to buy my own horse in the spring and a friend suggested a gaited horse may be easier on my back. my spine cant be fixed without major surgeries and now a possible hip replacement? what next?? any breed advice is much appreciated!
After 40+ years of riding non-gaited horses of many different breeds, I bought a TWH. Wasn’t specifically looking for one; just wanted a sane, comfortable and sensible horse for trails and foxhunting. I have a lot of back pain due to a herniated disc and arthritis in my lower spine. I have to say the new guy has made a HUGE difference for my back - after several hours in the saddle foxhunting, I have very little pain now, whereas before I needed ice packs, pain meds, etc. after every hunt meet. Going gaited has made a difference for me. And it’s fun (once you get used to the weirdness of it all…
)
I also think having the right gaited horse matters - this guy is older, “been there done that,” not much bothers him, and he is very light and obedient to the aids. That enables me to relax, which I know helps me stay more comfortable in the saddle for hours. I spent 2 years looking at horses and tried a couple of other gaited ones along the way; those were more high-strung and not as responsive as the one I ended up buying, and I did not find them fun to ride. I’d say give it a try - you might be pleasantly surprised. I know I wish I had considered it sooner!
ETA - if you don’t know much about gaited horses I suggest taking along a knowledgeable friend or pro to give you guidance - this was helpful to me.
thank you for the reply, twh are very beautiful. Ive heard good things about them. I was also told about morgans. I will certainly look into them:)
I’ve ridden probably 8 or 10 different gaited horses, mainly TWH but also a couple of pacers and a Missouri Foxtrotter, and every single one of them felt different. All but 2, the Walker we bought for my husband with serious back problems and the MFT, did not live up to the hype. Those two, OMG, amazing. But at least half the gaited horses I’ve ridden were less easy to sit than a non-gaited horse with a good canter. And all but the handful with the strongest natural inclination to gait and/or loads of training took a lot of encouragement to perform and hold their gait, and it could be pretty jarring when they ‘broke’.
Like most horses, their personalities covered a pretty broad range. However, even the more high-strung had a good sensible streak and were reasonably calm with a light hand.
In general, what I’ve observed: Individuals vary widely on the type and quality of gait, so make sure YOU test ride and make sure it’s very comfortable for YOU. Horses like TWHs that have a strong STB influence can get very pace-y and have a poor quality running walk. They’re popular and a lot of mediocre horses have been bred. The good ones will do a running walk and rocking horse canter on their own in the pasture and with minimal encouragement from the rider–waterskiing on the mouth and leaning back behind the motion is not necessary. My husband’s walker gaits smooth as silk in a balanced eq seat, on a loose rein with a french link snaffle. The MFT was the same.
The smoothest horse I’ve ever ridden in 55+ years is a little Paso Fino mare. I rode her for over an hour and wasn’t the slightest bit sore at all subsequently.
There is a young, grey Paso Fino mare for adoption at Project Sage Horse Rescue in NY. They say she needs training though. She’s so cute!
Most Walking Horses don’t do a natural running walk–it has to be coaxed out of them. Sometimes their shoeing has to be tweaked, their bit needs to be changed, etc. I wouldn’t say they are for people who haven’t owned one before.
You can get some Standardbreds that will do a smooth amble. There are a couple at New Vocations right now that might work for you–videos on their site. If you talk to Dot Morgan she’s good people and can tell you if the horse will work for your purposes. They may need
some additional training as they probably haven’t been under saddle for long. Dot is good at
assessing the horses’ abilities.
When push comes to shove you have to deal with horses on a case by case basis. I’ve known exceptions to every rule…
Best of luck!
I think a Paso, a Racker, an Icelandic, something on those lines. Those horse’s gaits just eat up the motion in their bodies…you just sit up there and giggle.
I own and LOVE three TWHs, I’ve had 5. They all move differently- I wouldn’t recommend a walker for hip pain-they walk like streetwalkers. LOTS of swing
thanks everyone, the last horse I rode believe it or not was a halflinger, she was older, about 14 I think so she was gentle and a direct rein which i was not used to but I had a good time with minimal soreness. I have an appointment next week to further access the hip issue. I just find that “horse time” brings me the peace I need. I will certainly look for the breeds that everyone suggested and test drive before I buy 
[QUOTE=katarine;7450299]
I own and LOVE three TWHs, I’ve had 5. They all move differently- I wouldn’t recommend a walker for hip pain-they walk like streetwalkers. LOTS of swing ;)[/QUOTE]
Amen!
As much as I love the TWH, if they are actually walking then their movement is not always kind to the hips and can make me sore if they are a bigger mover. However, I still love a horse with a lot of swing!
Paso fino, smooth as silk, tend to be on the smaller side and very hardy (pretty too)
magnolia50,
Frequently hip pain is actually caused by back issues and there is nothing wrong with the hip, just an aggravated nerve up at the spine. Been there, done that! An older friend had a known back issue, disc issue in her lower back. She was a very experienced RN, working as some sort of shift manager at one of our local hospitals. She began to have hip pain, had it “looked at” by a surgeon at the hospital and was told she had a hip replacement coming.
She thought about her own symptoms and got an appt with an old friend up at Johns Hopkins, another surgeon. He diagnosed it as being caused by a disc problem. Eventually she had back surgery done and still has her original hips.
I began to have sever hip pain in my mid 40s. I had damaged a disc in my lower back a couple of years earlier. I rode hunt seat at the time that my hip began to hurt. I then discovered endurance riding and switched to an endurance saddle which had a very different stirrup bar placement. My stirrups with that saddle were much further back under my hips which changed my entire posture while riding. In the english saddles I had to ride trot and canter with a forward tilt because the stirrup bars are so much further forward and you have to shift your upper body weight more forward over your forward placed heels. With the endurance saddle I could sit much more erect, no rounding of my lower back from leaning forward, reduced back pain and miraculously no more hip pain! Posture is everything.
I have riding buddies who ride various gaited horses and some that ride western. They site erect because they don’t post. Yes, their saddles have very forward stirrup placement but if you don’t post or 2-point you can sit very erect and keep the posture of you back much more upright which helps keep pressure of that bulging disc.
I am not a health professional, just a long time rider who is getting old and creaky. I’ve had my share of injuries and from my reading and experimenting I have learned how important posture is to pain management.
chicamuxen
I’m going to third (or fourth) the suggestion of a Paso Fino. Sit there and relax. And yes, they are on the small side, so easy to mount and dismount. Mine is 14.2, which is fairly large for the breed.
I haven’t read all of the posts. My advice to you, if you want to go gaited, try as many as you can. I have ridden only MFT’s and some of them were so smooth you could have held a glass of water and not spilled a drop. Others moved so wonky that it made my back hurt and I wanted to cry. Some of those horses that I didn’t like others thought were smooth. If you look at MFT’s I would stay away from the ones that they are breeding for showing as I think they do have that wonky canter.
I have three. One has a wonderful gait when she is in the mood, I think she moves much like a Paso to be honest, her canter is to die for. My heart horse Cricket likes to do a stepping pace. While it is better then sitting the trot, it isn’t as smooth as I would like it to be and I don’t want her pacing anyway, she also has a lovely canter. My little gelding doesn’t gait a lick but has a great canter.
So try as many gaited horses as you can
I’ve ridden Pasos, Walkers, and Foxtrotters. My preference, in this order, is Paso, Foxtrotter, Walker. I thought the Pasos were the smoothest of the breeds I’ve ridden. I’ve found that getting a good canter on a walker harder than on a Foxtrotter.
Also consider the Mountain Horse breeds - the Rocky Mountain and the Kentucky Mountain. Usually between 14.2-15.2h, generally smooth gaits (although a friend got a pacey one), and a willing, easy-going personality. But like everyone else says, try each candidate yourself, more than once if you can.
My own guy is a Paso/Rocky cross, which I thought was an odd combination, but all of his gaits are smooth even the trot he’ll do when we’re with a trotting horse group. Good luck and have fun looking…
I’m a recent convert over to the walking horses, from regular gait horses. There is a big difference in how individual walkers move, but for my broken up body they are the way to go. Even the pacy old red mare has less jarring to her gait, and the good gaited horses are really nice to ride. I have a baby colt who was a rescue, and is showing signs of having really nice gaits already including a very smooth and easy canter on both leads. I can’t wait until he’s old enough to ride. He’s also very sane and easy to train.
We get a lot of folks buying Paso Finos who have hip issues. A client told me that they don’t ‘rock’ (I assume she meant pace) the way some other gaited breeds do so it was easier on her hip. The gait is natural, but there is a WIDE variety of ‘modes’ in the Pasos, from largo horses that can gait at a TB canter speed to fino horses where you could beat them at a footrace without breaking a sweat. You probably aren’t interested in a fino horse. As others have suggested, ride a bunch and see what works best for you!
I was going to try one at some point, a lady I work with has one and that was her suggestion. I hear good things about them.
