In the bottom (last) video, is that the seller talking? Because by her comments I can tell she doesn’t have a clue about what she’s seeing.
Keep looking.
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Thank you! I appreciate your feedback. I learn something every time I try a horse.
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Yep.
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I feel bad for him and hope he finds a good home. I passed.
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Believe me, I am being very cautious and seeking advice. I know much more now and am leaning into that knowledge. It may take a long time for me to find the right one and actually move forward with the purchase. I don’t want to go down the road I just got off of.
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts.
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Thank you! The only reason I got interested in this one was because a friend who has 3 of them reposted the sellers FB post. I “assumed” she thought he was really nice because if she had one more stall she wanted him. Then another friend saw him on person on a trail ride and said he was nice. I started watching the trainers YouTube videos and checked out her website and liked what read and heard. Plus he was near me so I thought it couldn’t hurt to look.
I am glad I checked him out and now I know more about gaited horses and more about horses that look off.
As comfy as he felt, I think I will stick to WTC horses going forward. So I learned quite a bit trying out this guy.
I wish I could find a nice Arabian or HA. They are pretty amazing.
Appreciate your feedback - thanks!!
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Great tip about the a vet experienced with gaited horses. After looking at him and realizing how different they are, I am going to focus on a WTC horse. Nothing wrong with gaited, I just don’t know enough about them or what to look for.
Appreciate the feedback.
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Great advice!
I wouldn’t be opposed to trying another gaited horse. Trying to keep an open mind.
I am trying a variety of horses to figure out what I really like/want.
Thank you for commenting.
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Thank you!
Sometimes I wonder if I really should get another horse after the emotional roller coaster of the last 18 months. But when I am at my lessons and riding a nice horse it is so amazing and I love it. And I love caring for them.
There has to be a horse out there with a good mind and healthy body. Just need to find him.
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You ask many very good questions. Let me answer a few of them.
The owner bought him 2 years ago with the intent of training and selling him.
I was not pictured in the videos, my owner and my trainer were.
We used the owners tack. She had him in a snaffle. She offered to let me try my tack but I wanted to ride in what he was used to.
I try to take something away from every experience and this one taught me quite a bit. I am going to focus on WTC horses going forward.
Thanks so much for your feedback and questions.
Huge thank you to everyone who watched the videos and/or commented. Your feedback was very helpful and much appreciated.
Going to look at another one on Sunday and will probably take a break after that. Not in a hurry. Will continue taking lessons and wait for the right one.
If anyone has anyone hears of a horse located in or near TX (ideally) that has potential, feel free to send me a message.
Merry Christmas!
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Gaited horses are NOT hard to evaluate, full stop. They walk and flex their joints just like any other horse. Lameness is lameness.
People will mean well and see a polite horse on a trail ride but have no clue about soundness. I had a fellow boarder be all excited about the very quiet palomino trail horse she bought after seeing him ridden on a long trail ride. She literally bought him at the end of the ride and threw him on her trailer. He was cute. A few weeks go by, and the weather clears up, and he got a bath. Once she rinsed his muddy hooves off the founder rings were eye poppingly bad. He was quiet and steady because his freaking FEET HURT. This was ages ago, she didn’t have the resources to invest in even trying to get him sound. She put him down a few months later.
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The ‘gaited horse tail’ is more like this- held out a little, and steady, like it’s balancing a bit with the tail.
This RMH is foxtrotting, the front end is ‘walking’ with varying degrees of animation while the hind end is trotting. The sound of this rhythm is produced by one front foot touching the ground a split second before the diagonal rear foot, and then a pause followed by the other front foot and then the other rear foot a split second later. This rhythm has been described as having the same cadence as "a chunk of meat and two potatoesSo yeah in the last Gunner video there were a couple of strides of foxtrotting, then he was trotting, then he was ‘rackaloping’ so almost cantering out of a rack…gaited horses can be confusing to ride because they have so many footfall patterns to choose from…and note that I’m not talking about Paso Finos or other breeds like that- I’m speaking of TWH, rackers, KMH, RMH, MFTs: those breeds are all from a wad of horses of very similar or the same line of horses from the hills of TN/KY/NC etc.
If you ask a walking-gaited type of gaited horse to gait on hard enough ground to hear the footfalls, then irregularity is easy to hear, and the head bob will be out of time if it hurts.
A racking horse’s head and a foxtrotter’s head doesn’t nod like a TWH does in gait, so any head bob in a rack or a foxtrot is a soundness issue.
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this is a sound TWH who is naturally pacey and tense, working on a dirt road to try to ask for more length of stride in his walks, not faster steps/shorter stride. The audio of the 1 2 3 4 is interesting to listen to- when he cheats/get quick, when I growl at him lol, etc. the video quality is poor, but the audio may aid the rider wondering what a solid ‘walk’ in gait should sound like.
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If you do want to consider more gaited options, Ivy Starnes is near Fort Worth and would be a great resource for learning and possibly buying. She is very dressage/centered riding/balance based- no gimmicks.
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Goodness. What a sad story.
FYI - Ivy Starnes is the owner of the gaited horse in question. I enjoyed meeting her and have watched several of her videos. We both share a love of dressage done correctly.
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Ugh!! That’s very disappointing to hear 
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Great visual. Thank you for sharing.
