Gaited horse that won't gait?

[4horses]

How do you train a gaited horse that won’t gait?

I rescued a Paso Fino. I even spoke to his breeder and

​​apparently he is out of some very impressive bloodlines.

His prefers to trot and canter. He has a lovely smooth trot. It has a little bump to it, but he is so smooth even at a fast trot, especially after riding my clunky trotting horses. I’ve just started riding him as he had been starved nearly to death. He is extremely green under saddle. The last month we have done exclusive groundwork - trying to build trust. Some idiot beat the daylights out of him so i had to start over from scratch.

He would literally shake from head to toe when approached. We did Join up (thank you Monty Roberts). It took an hour and a half to get him to approach me- it should not have taken that long! I think that was our turning point -he no longer shakes and I’ve seen some real improvement in attitude. His eyes are starting to look happy, like just maybe he is starting to like me.

He really doesn’t gait in the field or on the lunge line. Once or twice I’ve seen him relax and slow the trot on the lunge and it sort of looks like he is starting to gait.

I wonder if trail riding him with another Paso will help get him to gait? He actually has a very calm non spooky personality once you get past all that fear. The only thing he spooks at is scary people.

We are still working on walk, trot, whoa and turn in a circle in the round pen. He has a long way to go!

[OTTBs]

“I wonder if trail riding him with another Paso will help get him to gait?”

Maybe. My TB seemed like she was imitating an Andalusian’s style when ridden in the ring with him, and I think she picked up the rack when we boarded at a barn with a 5-gaited saddlebred.

[goodhors]

It could be the shoeing or trimming, balance of the hoof, in allowing him to gait easily. You need a Farrier who does gaited horses, Pasos in particular. Wrong trimming or shoeing can really mess up the stride timing on the horse, not allow him to gait correctly. If horse had wrongly managed hoof care from a young age, horse may not know how to gait. Has no muscle memory of the gaits. Along with that issue is that trotting is easier for horse than gaiting, so horse quits trying or won’t bother to gait anymore.

Other breeds will have this same issue, not gaiting, for those same reasons. I cringe when folks say how (example) their TWH trots or they are teaching it to trot for Dressage. Such a horse is NOT supposed to trot EVER. Not in the list of gaits on a good TWH. The TWH and many other gaited breeds are made and developed for the comfort ride, sacrifices by giving up his use of the trot gait.

Consult some Paso folks to locate a gaited horse Farrier, learn how Pasos are trained and developed to perform their various gaits as horse grows up. Perhaps there are rider aids you can use to help horse “get it” in his training. I do know it is a slow building process, to confirm horse in his gaits, build the needed muscling to do them for long times.

Get over how horse was treated in the past, you can’t go back to change it. You have to work with what is in front of you. Slow, but he DID finally join up, so he will try for you. Just may take him longer to understand what you are asking as you continue.

[pluvinel]

Why do you want this horse to gait?

Even though it is a Paso, some gaited horses don’t/won’t/prefer not to gait. Pasos are descended from old spanish horses that had a natural “ambling” gait. That tendency was enhanced thru breeding.

But as with all things biological, there are variations. And perhaps you have one of those horses who are a throwback to their original ancestors.

Why try to force a horse to do something it does not offer naturally? Why not enjoy the animal you have? Perhaps as he relaxes and gets to trust you he will offer to gait naturally. But until then, let the horse present what gait if offers…and that is probably a really comfortable trot.

[merrygoround]

Sometimes when these horses are weak, they do not display their gaits. Give him tome and conditioning.

[Guilherme]

This is a puzzle, and like all puzzles requires some thought in solving.

The first thing would be to get someone to video you riding the horse in a normal fashion using your normal tack. This will give a “baseline” to work with.

Then do the same with horse on the longe on in a round pen. This will give a second look at movement.

Now you can start to think about individual items.

First, tack. Does it fit, is it properly adjusted, in good condition, etc.

Second, rider skill. This can be a real “smug basher” for some folks so don’t do it if you don’t want people to comment on your skill. But do do it if you want a comprehensive solution to your problems. At this point some folks will also blow this off with a comment about how many years they’ve been riding, how many ribbons they have, etc. Sorry, a mill doesn’t turn on yesterday’s water nor a ship sail on yesterday’s wind. It’s not what you did yesterday that counts, it’s what you do TODAY. So have the gumption to get video’ed.

Third, conformation. If the horse is well built for a Paso then the problem isn’t there. But not all Pasos, even from good blood lines, have good conformation. A comprehensive conformation review might also disclose residual effects of old injuries or other issues. It’s something that NEEDS to be done.

Fourth, strength and fitness. A lateral gait requires more strength and energy from the horse than a diagonal gait. This is true even for soft diagonal gaits (which do exist, particularly in Iberian horses). A horse in regular work will perform better than one that is not.

Fifth, the feet. Gaited horse people almost universally suffer from a “foot fetish.” You don’t need a “gaited horse farrier.” You need to have a farrier who will trim the horse to anatomical correctness for that horse. Not to some arbitrary standard in a book or a video or a judge’s mind’s eye. You have to find what’s right for this horse. The farrier who can do this might also have a lot of experience with gaited horses; or not. I’ve put this item last so it will be the last thing you might remember which ought to give it some special relevance.

All of the above is a beginning, not an end.

Good luck in your program.

G.

[Jackie_Cochran]

This can take time. Gradual conditioning helps get the horse’s back and legs strong enough to gait.

With my Paso Fino mare she “collected” herself when gaiting. It took me MONTHS of daily riding, starting off under saddle at 2 1/2 years old, until she got strong enough to “collect” herself. Since she was narrow between her jaw bones I could not force this collection, it had to come from “inside” herself as she figured out HOW to gait under my weight.

After the preparatory months of conditioning the aids I used to get her to gait were LATERAL aids. When my buttock went up at the walk I gave the rein on that side an extra “feel” while applying my lower leg on that same time, sort of like a small Pony Club kick. I released both the rein and leg aids immediately, and I alternated my lateral aids, using them on the same side as my buttock going up.

At first her 4-beat gait was a crawl, like a slow walk, and it took a few months of GRADUAL conditioning until she gaited faster, to the equivalent of a horse’s normal trail trot, in the four-beat gait.

My mare was a pacer, but I have used the same aids to get trotters to gait (I usually get a fox-trot with the trotting horses–Arabs, 7/8 Arab/1/8 Saddlebred.) If the horse does not have any gait in them these aids don’t do anything but irritate the horse. A horse that has a gait in them tend to respond some at first, just a little movement of their backs with what feels like a tiny irregularity in the walk. Sometimes it is difficult for someone on the ground to see that the horse is starting to gait, but the rider feels the movement of the horse’s back changing, from “swinging” from side to side to a movement sharpish diagonals forward of the seat bones, alternating sides. \ /

Give your horse good conditioning rides and have fun! A good time to ask for a gait is when the horse looks like it feels proud of itself, it is called “brillo” in the Paso breeds. A little feistiness adds brilliance to the 4-beat gait. This is not totally necessary, with my Paso I concentrated on calmness and ho-hum attitudes and I got her into the 4-beat gait, but she was a little fire-cracker at heart.

[Leather]

What are his bloodlines? As pasolover2 said, some lines are more trotty (or trocha).

Agree that you don’t need a “gaited horse farrier,” just make sure his feet are trimmed to what his foot/conformation dictate.

I wouldn’t worry too much about him not gaiting on the longe or in the round pen, especially if he’s out of shape. Same thing with in the pasture–most Pasos I know will trot in the pasture (unless they are true fino horses).

I’d work on conditioning at the walk before asking him to gait.

When he is ready to ask for gait, it’s often helpful with a trotty horse to ask when going down a slight decline. They will naturally tend to ventroflex (hollow) their backs which is needed for the gait.

You may also need to change your body position a bit. I’m not talking going into the “feet on the dashboard” position but some small tweaks. You should be in more of a “dressage” riding position if not even sitting a little deeper, and maybe raise your hands a bit more at first.

When I first got my first gaited horse (Paso) I found it invaluable to understand the mechanics of gaiting. She tended to be trotty, and using what I learned about body position (both horse and rider) I was able to get her to reliably corto. I’m now using that info to get my pacey TWH to even out (but it’s essentially the opposite).

Good resources for learning about the mechanics of gaited horses:

Lee Ziegler articles (she also has a good book Easy Gaited Horses): http://www.lizgraves.com/lee_zieglers_classroom.html

Liz Graves: http://www.lizgraves.com/articlen.html

Snippet of getting a trotty horse to gait: https://youtu.be/Pk9exLR1HxQ

[sdlbredfan]

Do you have some pictures to share? (so we can assess the horse’s conformation and muscling)

How long have you had this horse? Are you providing a high quality feed, with enough protein for the horse to build or rebuild muscle mass?

If horsey was starved, as you said, it might take up to a year of re-feeding, attention to hooves, and gradually building up muscle strength before you can really expect to see a transformation. You said you have ‘just started riding him’. That means you are probably rushing the horse to do things that it does not have the muscular strength to do yet. Even with an inherited tendency to amble or ‘gait’, that usually puts extra stress upon the joints and ligaments of the hind limbs.

Last but not least, what does your Veterinarian say? If you have not yet had this horse’s soundness evaluated by a Vet do that ASAP. Since he will trot, doing a lot of posting trot, remembering to change ‘diagonals’ so you exercise each diagonal pair of legs equally, will help build up haunch strength. Good luck, and keep us posted.

[dacasodivine]

My horse will not gait if the saddle interferes with his shoulders. Western doesn’t work. English is okay. Treeless is his favorite.

The other advice given to build up strength is good. But your horse may not gait. Not all do. As long as he’s not rough, I wouldn’t worry about it too much.

[4horses]

Thought I would update this post! He finally has started to gait under saddle but it is a pace rather than a 4 beat gait. But i will take what I can get. It is very smooth and comfortable. He only picks it up at the speed between the trot and canter. He has also started pacing on the lunge. It took over a year to even get a hint of gaiting. I kept feeling 3 steps of something under saddle, until I went on a trail ride with my friends horse who paces. Now that he has found it, I’m seeing it more and more!