this is a topic which I think is very interesting. What are good gaits for you??? Rhythm? Reach? Suspension? How important are those for scoring high??
Rhythm (regularity) first and foremost. Reach and suspension can be “built” with fitness and training. It is very hard to fix rhythm issues, especially in walk and canter. I think you also need to include scope and elasticity, since those components are all discussed in judging programs when discussing gaits.
But when you look at the many threads on this issue, I think it is more then just those components. Some judges are rewarding “front leg flingers” (for lack of a better description) irregardless of what happens behind. Especially at the lower levels. These are horses with tons of reach in front, but not correct behind - the ones I’ve seen are most often either wide behind or trailing behind. And a horse who is more “correct” but has less reach in front does not score as well. I think THAT is one of the huge complaints you are probably hinting at.
And there is a tension component that is also ignored in a horse who has more “brilliance” in the gaits - just because a horse is big and lofty in its movement does not mean it is correct in its back and contact.
So, it isn’t just an issue of “good gaits”, it is an issue of “correct gaits and training”.
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I really like your post. 2 observations regarding gaits…
Many years ago in the Catalouge of the auction in Verden there was a description of the gaits of the horses… And it did not say good or bad gaits, it described the different aspects with grades… A horse for example could get an 8 for reach but a 5 for suspension. So it was tried to just describe the gait without really assessing the overall quality. All of them were young horses with not a lot of training so it tried to describe the natural gaits.
The next thing were the try outs for these auctions. They were usually done in my riding club so we could watch how the horses were chosen. They were all presented by their riders and then the test riders got on them. And even with the very young horses, they tested half halts. They wanted to know how willing the horse was to adjustments by the riders. So I guess also adjustability is a big thing which influences the gaits.
“Good gaits” is a relative term…
A “good gait” that would be preferred for a ground-covering driving horse to be put in front of a 4-in-hand coach is NOT the same as “good gaits” that would be desired for a comfortable riding horse.
In both cases, the horse could have a clear 4-beat walk with overtrack, a 2-beat diagonal trot with parallel pairs and 3-beat engaged canter…but the “gait” itself would manifest differently for driving vs riding horse.
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While I agree, I assume since this is the Dressage Forum, we are discussing gaits for dressage…
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For me:
First priority is rhythm and basic mechanical symmetry. Second is a quick hind leg. Third is a canter with a decent amount of jump. I’d love some suspension too, but to me that is more about “flair,” can be somewhat trained, and doesn’t really affect the ability of the horse to learn and perform most of the higher movements. I know it’s not technically a gait component, but I won’t buy any horse that cross canters in the field, or can’t change clean naturally. Too much trouble down the road – fixable, but a PITA.
But ultimately I’ll ride anything with a good work ethic and half a brain. I’m too cheap to be picky, and I love experimenting with off breeds. 
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Ok I admit that I brought this topic for a reason… In discussions there are all these talks about big movers and I really wanted to analyze what gaits are and how they are put together and I am hoping to come to the conclusion that a big mover is a very unclear term. I think MysticOakRanch brought most of the points I was aiming at…
Thank you for the great discussion so far!!
I want to know too. I’ve done a lot of research and I’ve read the foot-flingers are actually incorrect, and horses who move more like Ravel or Verdades are more correct, but they don’t score as high as those flinger-things? Do they breed for the flinging feet or is it due to training methods? Some of the horses that are such PRETTY MOVERS in my opinion do not score nearly as well as what I consider ugly movers… am I wrong to think the lighter, flowier horses actually have a worse movemement than the stronger, stompier horses?
my opinion regarding gaits… A horse which uses his back looks automatically better then a horse which doesn’t. Also a horse which does not use his back has usually problems with his rhythm. And that is when all these discussions come in that the horse is lame… I think you canot even asses something like this from a video… The horse might be fine if it is going correctly over the back… And I think these front flingers which look flashy don’t use their hindlegs more effective, because they don’t use their back…
And I would say that the horses that are currently used, that seem to score well in dressage and that seem in vogue…are “repurposed” driving breeds.
By this I mean horses that people go ga-ga over with HUGE trots. These were not riding horses, but since the trot is now “THE” gait that gets high marks, then of course, that is what people buy and that is riders now try to stuff into collected work that the breeds were never meant to do.
Which leads to horses with irregular gaits, mouths strapped shut, front ends that are dissociated from the hind end, etc.
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so please what is a HUGE trot for you?? Driving horses do not have a lot of reach usually… and by the way walk counts double… So the trot is not the most important gait.
hier mal ein video von einem jungen Warmblut mit Top Dressurabstammung. Und natürlich geritten. Deshalb kann man dort auch den Trab beurteilen…
another horse another trot where are the differences
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOpHKxWMP7g
Totilas as a young horse before he was trained by Gal… What about his trot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbpiL2arT4A
now a Quarterhorse trotting…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsTCb0Aswbk
and now an interesting horse trotting What about his trot…
You are confusing the scoring versus reality. The reality is, a horse that can get a 8-9 on their trot, and an 8-9 on their canter, can get a 6 on their walk, and still be International level. The walk work doesn’t actually mean much any more. How many actual points are there in the walk work at GP? Sure… a good horse can get a 9-10 on their extended walk… but versus a 6? how many points were actually lost? 2 or 3? So what. This is the game in the competition ring.
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Your links are broken somehow. Only the last one shows up in the original post
so what should I change?? they show fine for me… maybe I quoted them wrong??
I corrected the first link… does it work now??
Regarding the links: I never did care for Totilas… before or after Gal. He always was a leg flinger… the hindleg never did like to come forward… just jump up and down. Ingrid’s young horse is lovely… and elastic and will do well. Very much a modern German WB type. The link to the “quarter” horse… sigh… Nice ammy horse. 3 good gaits that are clean and good rhythm. Nothing wrong with that. Olympic potential? probably not… Does that matter? No.
Gaits scoring has been poluted from being an assessment of the correctness of the gaits to a scoring on their inherent brilliance… which is NOT what dressage is about. That is a breed show item… not a something that belongs in a test of training. This is the argument many of us “old folks” would make. The inclusion of a “gait score” within every movement is correct only IF it judges the correctness of the gait and not items like “brilliance… etc.” i.e. Is t he trot collected… not hovering… not tense… is it in clean 2 beat rhythm. I don’t have an issue with the judge giving a couple of extra points in the collectives toward a naturally “brilliant” mover… IF it is correct as well. That is icing on an excellent cake. There are additional qualifications… such as Cadence at the advanced levels… where a horse with more natural suspension will more easily demonstrate cadence than one who tends to be earthbound… but still correct.
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Nope. Don’t know… don’t have time to debug. The links are all in my quote for those that care.
Thank you… So at least they work. And I hope the last one in my original post shows. Maybe you had problems because I was still adding the links… The last one I added after you quoted it… I like that trot…
This seems like kind of a dumb question, but when people talk about a “good mover” is this the same as “good gaits”? I feel there is a subtle difference in meaning.
The fjord looks like he has a nice,elastic, ground covering trot. And no exaggerated toe flip unless the muddy ground is making it hard to see.
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What Fjord? No Fjord in any of those links :eek:
