It is really a shame that many people do not understand why horses with these gaits are good for upper level work. That’s very sad. All they can know, however, is their own little world trhat they are in, which most likely, given the statistics for USA dressage, doesn’t include any experience with training upper level horses. Sure, a few people have that experience - most don’t.
This horse isn’t ‘passaging’. He is excited, so his gait has hesitations and moments where he pops up or lifts too much. You are mistaking that for a passage, which is also pretty sad.
However, because he can lift himself up and because he can bend all his joints and move with such fluidity, it shows he will be a superior dressage horse. He has an unbelievable freedom of motion.
Because of his fluidity, freedom of motion and innate strength, he has much less chance of getting hurt during the training process. He might get injured in the paddock or while being transported or getting loose, but he has far, far MORE chance of holding up to the work. The work is hard. It takes many, many years to train an upper level horse, and it is more hours in the saddle than most horses will be able to physically withstand.
Sad but true, and something most people don’t want to believe - but the majority of horses that people attempt to get to the upper levels, will not make it. They will get arthritis in their hocks, usually, because they are working harder to try and do the work. We don’t want to believe this, but sometime, look around you. Talk to people - you won’t always get a straight answer, but quite frankly, a lot of horses can’t stay in upper level work. They have to drop down, get retired, or do light work. Why? Because they don’t have the conformation or the movement to make the work as easy as possible for them.
The only other choice with these horses is to do substandard work, without the degree of collection, the activity, the impulsion, and without the range of motion. That is what most less physically able horses do. They simply do poor quality work. They may win awards and give their owners a lot of pleasure, but they won’t perform in the elite ranks. They may win at local shows, but they won’t win where this horse is going.
And, there is a difference between schooling a horse like this and a horse that doesn’t move like this.
There IS a difference.
I had a horse, nowhere near as nice as this one, but pretty damn nice, and a step up from the previous horse in gaits and balance. He had more lift to his canter and balanced like this one - like a little rubber ball, all in one perfectly balanced little package. No, not as good as this one, but pretty damn good.
And the previous horse, after 6 years of schooling, did not, for example, counter canter as well as this pretty damn nice horse.
People want to believe any horse can win the Olympics, and any horse can do grand prix dressage at a competition, and any horse can do FEI.
Sure they can. But competitively? Stay sound? Do it without straining their body? Do it with such grace? No. Don’t even try to kid yourself.
This horse can.
