Nearly all pacers can trot. Some are even sacked because they won’t pace properly in a race. As @LilyandBaron said they are varied: some pacers naturally trot unless forced to pace in the cart, some do a mixture of trotting and pacing at liberty and under saddle, and some pace everywhere all the time.
If you have one that sometimes trots and sometimes paces, there are lots of resources available on training the trot (and the canter).
Those of you who love dressage Arabs, someone go buy this horse so I can stop thinking about him. (I already have a horse, he is adorable, I only want one. Mine is limited by a chronic injury; he is totally worth it, but someday …)
This one is 15, and his photo on Dreamhorse has expired but I thought he seemed lovely for what I would be looking for, namely a partner, with that Arab flair, for casual dressage, recreational trail riding, and small shows. (He may have sold by now, but, I keep his ad just for morale.)
my young Standardbred is a natural born pacer. He has a trot, but it’s not beautiful. I’m training him to drive. He’s just turning four and 16h. I’m actually not really interested in riding him. He’s so tall and well…he paces, don’t know how that would feel to ride, guessing not so great.
His temperament is calm, obedient and not the tiniest bit spooky. He’s people-y, never met a stranger. He’s gonna be rock solid in harness, i just know it. Ground driving, pulling all kinds of weird stuff on a single tree, is going well.
The pace isn’t that weird. At higher speeds, not comfy, but not as weird as I’d thought. And at slower speeds, where you kind of break the two beats into four, it becomes a stepping pace, which is very comfy to ride. If you love driving, no reason to ride, but I wouldn’t let the gaits dictate that decision.
He sounds like a wonderful horse! I think Standardbreds are underappreciated.
Pacing is a lot less uncomfortable than it looks. A beginner who hadn’t fully mastered posting would find pacing much easier to sit than trotting.
I’ve always wanted an Akhal-Teke. Love the color (duh!) but also their personality. Reminds me a lot of longhorn cattle – self-possessed, friendly, resourceful, with a real independent streak .
Agree! There was a cute gaited horse at a barn I boarded at before I had my farm that the owners let my non-riding husband use on trail rides with me. Hubby was very comfortable pacing on him, whereas he thinks trotting is the actual devil. Like, he sees people trotting and winces LOL.
i plan to saddle train him when he gets older, just-because, so i guess i’ll find out first hand. His measured pace is not a fast gait. When they all come in from the pasture and he goes into his pace he does lose ground to the rest of the herd. It feels to me, just from watching him, that he really enjoys going that way. He’s a handsome guy. blood bay. no white except one short ankle-sock. His BODY is beautiful, his face…well, it’s an acquired taste, domed forehead, narrow face, sweet eye, and mannnn is he ever cuddly. Like a big red puppy.
i adopted an Akhal-teke ‘sporthorse’. Sire AK, dam Arab x TWH. He is actually ‘king’ of my domestic herd. He’s 17, his name is Midas and he shines like gold, truly. Almost need sunglasses in the sun lol. Photos of him all look like they’ve been enhanced.
Forget the labels and assess the horse in front of you. Does he/she have the conformation/constitution/brain to achieve your goals ?
Of course - as noted in my OP, each horse is an individual. But breeds are a thing - they have been bred to have unique characteristics. So if we accept that breeds exist, it’s a fair and logical question to wonder which breeds are most likely to have a large percent of individuals with dressage aptitude. And which of those breeds that regularly show dressage talent are budget-friendly options.
We need pics of this horse now!
Sounds like you don’t want anything with spook, but other behaviors may be OK.
What about a Morgan? There are a lot of lovely more purpose dressage type Morgans being bred and they can be lovely jack of all trade horses.
Any suggestions on where to find these horses? Breeders to seek out? Thanks!
There are some wonderful Morgans in Dressage Facebook groups. I would probably start there.
In addition, the Morgan Sport Website is starting to gather stallions & farms that have/show sport Morgans (whether CDE, eventing, dressage, endurance etc).
http://morgansportresource.com/
I’ve always wanted an Anglo-Arabian.
I bought my OTTB in the fall for just this purpose. My goal is 3rd/bronze medal. I don’t have purpose-bred WB money and I don’t mind doing the training myself. The OTTBs I have worked with have great brains and I feel like being on the racetrack gave them a real “been there, done that” attitude. They can be pretty forward, but they’re also very in-tune to the seat.
There’s a really nice 4th level OTTB at my barn. I am thinking they will be able to go higher yet.
PSA - There’s a buckskin Morgan x Andalusian for sale on dreamhorse… I won’t be shopping until summer at the earliest, but what an interesting cross! I will def look at OTTBs and ASBs, but adding Arab/crosses and Morgans to the list, as well as QH. On most websites, I search for age, height, and location, not breed. But there seem to be more options in the various FB breed groups. I’ve joined some Morgan and Arab ones;)
Since you mention “save” I’m going to lean towards options that tend to be on the more economical end and breeds that sometimes are overlooked or given a bad reputation. I would expect to be able to find any of these three in the sub $10k range for a started, good minded, sound horse. Depending on your geographic area you may have dozens of options or next to none, but I like all three.
Arabian or Morgan bred for western work (yes, very different breeds but I think a lot of similarities with pros/cons)
Pros: tend to have a bit more slope to the croup than those bred for in hand work or park classes, expectation of a good canter, good brains, hard workers
Cons: A lot that I see are started as 2/3 year olds, there may be some contact issues to work through depending on how they are started
Saddlebred (some dressage people feel that 5 gaiters have better canters)
Pros: Such good brains, amazing work ethic, very clever and tend to progress quickly once really solid basics are in place
Cons: you’ll have to pick through a lot of “oh heck no” options with bird chests or necks that tie in so low they will never honestly connect back to front, breeders have no clue how to market for the sport horse market (think 5 second canter going away from the camera being seen as “canter footage”), started young, hard to find something started but still barefoot or in plain kegs, snorty/high headed - very different than spooky but the showy externalizing of thought is bred into them.
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