Is the Marchador and those similar how the Paso Fino and TWH all got the gaits? I know these horses were bred to go out on long days in Haciendas and Plantations… originally correct? Was the Marchador an ancestor?
Hell yes! That price? Hell no! You can buy an excellent walking horse here in Kentucky for $500, and for $2000 you’ve got a world beater (flat shod, trail).
I grew up gaited, didn’t learn to post until I was in my mid 40’s (my girls jump and eventually migrated to TB’s and WB’s). I was the exercise boy in my teens during the offseason/winter for the big lick stallions we showed the rest of the year.
The best horse I ever owned (and we’ve had 6 figure jumping horses since) was off the killer truck that my dad paid $25 for. Crooked, scrawny, fabulous personality, trick trained and he could hit a major lick! We felt sorry for the neighbor boy who had to ride his (trotting) mule when the neighborhood went riding on the weekend. Noblesse oblige.
If I were still riding, that’s what I’d be riding today. Come to Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee - plenty of flat shod horses with great minds. I’ve a little experience with fox trotters, Pasos, etc (even owned a GREAT Walkaloosa). Stay with the Walkers.
[QUOTE=Cashela;7641516]
Bahahahaha, let me just say if you find someone with a really really nice smooth gaited horse to try, you aren’t going to go back. I rode a Standardbred that I loved dearly for years, she was a trotter. When I had to suddenly retire her a little earlier then expected someone let me try their MFT. I was like what the heck was I doing riding a trotting horse all of these years? This horse just glided along.
My advice, try as many as you can before you settle on one. What one person finds comfortable, another will not. They are all different. Mine have wonderful canters as well.
Good luck and have fun 
and sorry about the loss of your Arab.[/QUOTE]
Also an Arabian fancier, I too wondered why I rode trotting horses all those years. But, try not only MFTs but also old time TWH (I always said when I got old I’d get a walker), Pasos are fun to ride but hard to keep pace with other breeds. Watch the breed videos, learn difference in gaits and ride everything…let your body decide. Once you have owned a personable Arab…it’s easy to be bored with other breeds. Hopefully you’ll find a perfect mix of comfortable and personable. To those who think Arabs are “crazy”…I have owned them for 35 yrs and have only ever been hurt by a QH, Paint and pony…oh, one poor tormented rescue Arab did kick at me in defensive mode. The others, willful not defensive or fear based.
I prefer the idea of tolting off into the sunset - little Icelandic horse for me, please!
Seriously, though, I think you’d have a ton of fun. Just don’t pick anything too wide or too crazy and you’ll enjoy years together
My little Arab is gaited. Just sayin’ … some of them are.
In fact, you can come get him! Just be here tonight, okay? He and I have been having arguments today and he’s on my black list … so here you go – a very cute gaited Arab, cheap cheap cheap. Just come quick before I get over being mad, because his normal price is really way up there! :lol:
Get thee another Arabian.
Simple answer YES! Take an experienced gaited aficionado with you. Great temperaments to go along with smoooooth ride. My last horse horse purchase in this life is a TWH but I grew with the gaited breeds. He has been awesome for me with my wrecked body.
[QUOTE=beautifuldreamer;7641620]
Also keep Standardbreds in mind. Some are gaited, some not. Most STB’s are smart, easy-going, sturdy, and healthy animals. We have an older model that paces, racks, canters, trots and ambles! Gentle as they come. Have fun finding your gaited horse![/QUOTE]
This was exactly what I was going to post.
Standardbreds have to be the most underrated breed in the entire horse world. They can do anything. And they can do it gaited, if you want. As a breed, I think collectively they have the best brains out of the entire horse world.
The only downside for your situation is without any sanctioned harness racing tracks in the state, you probably would not be able to shop for a standardbred locally. However, there are some phenomenal retraining/rehoming adoption programs for off the track STBs:
[QUOTE=La Gringa;7642431]
Is the Marchador and those similar how the Paso Fino and TWH all got the gaits? I know these horses were bred to go out on long days in Haciendas and Plantations… originally correct? Was the Marchador an ancestor?[/QUOTE]
No. Paso Finos are descended from horses brought to the “New World” from Spain. Originally a combination of Arab, Barb, and Jennet. Originally found in Puerto Rico and Columbia. There is a difference between a PPR (Pure Puerto Rican) and Columbian Paso Fino. And then there is the Peruvian Paso, a different (but similar) breed.
Wow, such a plethora of gaited wisdom. Standardbreds as riding horses? Gaited Arabians? What tha! I grew up with Arabians and never knew this could happen. We had a high-steppin’ ex-park horse broodmare who could really let’er rip, but twarn’t nothin but a stylized trot. Granted, I took 35 years off in the middle there, but still. What’s next? Racking quarter horses?
If anyone has any suggestions as to how I might go about finding an “experienced gaited aficionado” in Central Texas, lay it on me. Also, reading material. I am like unto an empty sponge with a thirst for gaited knowledge.
[QUOTE=La Gringa;7642431]
Is the Marchador and those similar how the Paso Fino and TWH all got the gaits? I know these horses were bred to go out on long days in Haciendas and Plantations… originally correct? Was the Marchador an ancestor?[/QUOTE]
The Machador traces its roots to the Alter Real Royal Stud in Portugal in the 18th Century. The horses here were 75% Iberian but 25% Northern European in blood. Remember that Portugal was once part of Spain and the King of Spain was also the Holy Roman Emperor who controlled vast territory in both Northern and Southern Europe. Fine Northern horses went South for crossing on the finest Iberian stock. One result of this history is the Spanish Riding School in Vienna.
When Napoleon invaded Portugal (a British ally) the king (who was also Emperor of Brazil) took his best stock and went to the New World in 1807. He made a gift of a horse named Sublime to a local Brazilian nobleman in 1812 who crossed this horse on native mares (of largely Barb stock) and the breed was born.
Brazil was a frontier nation, much like the U.S. A soft gaited horse that was versatile was a major advantage for a rural frontiersman. As the Walking Horse would develop (and give rise to some other breeds) so did the Marchador develop.
The Marchador shares some ancestry with Paso Fino, Peruvian Paso, Lusitano, and Andalusian. But each has been selected for some different characteristics as each had a different job. (IIRC the Andalusian and Lusitano were in the same stud book until about 1954 so they are essentially the same horse.)
One major advantage of today’s Marchador is that they are at most two generations removed from working horses. In the U.S. the horse lost its job a century or more ago. Up until the last 20 years of so Brazil was a third world country. Even today less than 85% of roads are paved. This means animal transport remains viable economically (although that is rapidly changing). The horse is strong, study, even tempered, and relatively disease resistant (the tropics can be hard on horses with weak immune systems). Equine care is often much less intensive that we generally have in the U.S. Evolution is a harsh process but produces a strong product.
The Marchador is a just Good Horse. What more can I say?!?!?!
G.
[QUOTE=WildandWickedWarmbloods;7642208]
No, get a hot OTTB mare and blast through your life with fun and speed. Fast horses, fast cars, fast men are the way for “mature” women to go through life![/QUOTE]
LOL, I’ll be 65 next week and I say go with a big assed Irish Draught Sport Horse!
Posting that big Irish trot is effortless. Sophie just goes and carries me along.
G.: The irish Draught shares quite a bit of genetic material with the Iberian horse.
http://www.traditionalirishhorse.com/traditional-irish-horse-unique-distinct-separate-breed-except-irish-horse-register/
From a distance Sophie has been mistaken for a Lusi…until you get close to her and see that she is indeed quite a large girl
Well, some say bigger is better. But I’m afraid I’d need a crane to haul my carcass up on a draft!
[QUOTE=The Crone of Cottonmouth County;7642960]
Wow, such a plethora of gaited wisdom. Standardbreds as riding horses? Gaited Arabians? What tha! I grew up with Arabians and never knew this could happen. We had a high-steppin’ ex-park horse broodmare who could really let’er rip, but twarn’t nothin but a stylized trot. Granted, I took 35 years off in the middle there, but still. What’s next? Racking quarter horses?
If anyone has any suggestions as to how I might go about finding an “experienced gaited aficionado” in Central Texas, lay it on me. Also, reading material. I am like unto an empty sponge with a thirst for gaited knowledge.[/QUOTE]
Cloud 9 walkers
On FB, the group “texas gaited dressage” has some knowledgeable members.
Reading:
Anita Howe
Gary Lane
[QUOTE=The Crone of Cottonmouth County;7643020]
Well, some say bigger is better. But I’m afraid I’d need a crane to haul my carcass up on a draft![/QUOTE]
LOL, Sophie is a hair under 16 hands but
https://picasaweb.google.com/103406099668134314917/Apr10?noredirect=1#5464937229065919394
AKA mom’s handicapped access
Crone, check out this thread from a few years ago: http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?308862-A-Gaited-Arabian&highlight=Arab+gait
It includes a couple of short video clips of my little Arab doing a very smooth running walk. Let me tell you that he is very very good at it now and it is sooo much fun to ride! (Rocky can be a block head, but he has some wonderful traits, too. Gotta love the little guy’s “try.” – and yes, he is a short 15h, maybe 15.2 at most).
Honestly, catch me at the right time, and you can just have him. (reference occasional block-headedness …)
That thing is awesome! I’m totally showing that picture to my handyman so he can agree to build me one and then not do it for six months like he does with every project!
For what it’s worth, even 16 hands seems huge to me. At 15.1 my fat hunter towers over my little Arabs; we often refer to her as “Gigantor” and I cannot mount her from the ground. I’m within healthy height/weight parameters, but the old joints just aren’t what they used to be. They don’t call me “Crone” for nothin!
Well, actually, ‘gaitedness’ can crop up in any breed. My Mom grew up in East Texas and proclaimed (though never a big rider) that she didn’t want to ride anything that didn’t ‘singlefoot,’ and I recall growing up riding a few stock horses that came with that feature.
Julie Campbell’s book about horses in Virginia notes that way back when TB’s were being developed, it wasn’t uncommon for the horses at the races to ‘gait’ to the start, gallop the race, and then ‘gait’ back to the enclosure.
Nobody has yet mentioned gaited mules, but they’re very popular in these parts.
[QUOTE=The Crone of Cottonmouth County;7643076]
That thing is awesome! I’m totally showing that picture to my handyman so he can agree to build me one and then not do it for six months like he does with every project!
For what it’s worth, even 16 hands seems huge to me. At 15.1 my fat hunter towers over my little Arabs; we often refer to her as “Gigantor” and I cannot mount her from the ground. I’m within healthy height/weight parameters, but the old joints just aren’t what they used to be. They don’t call me “Crone” for nothin![/QUOTE]
Be sure to use a canoe paddle for the railing
First, I had to look and make sure this is a current thread, as there are so many replies. I’ve messed up on replying to outdated threads a few times lately:(
[QUOTE=The Crone of Cottonmouth County;7641485]
I recently had to put down my favorite little Arabian, and although it is a sad business I need to fill the vacancy so my herd functions properly. So I says to my sister I says, let’s go Arabian shopping! And she says back, "are you CRAZY, you’re 55 years old and a lousy rider and with your crappy bone density you’re just about one little snort-and-blow away from a broken hip."What a wonderful sister - lol lol lol Said as only a sister could say without having to get the dueling pistols out;)
And she sent me this link as a joke. [If you don’t feel like clicking, it’s quite a handsome buckskin Missouri Foxtrotter who is dead broke and trick trained and has done time at Clinton Anderson’s. The video is pretty swanky and the NH dude riding the horse isn’t even a douche. They want every bit of $28,500 for this unshown 9-year-old gelding.] I laughed and laughed.I did not open the link - not for 28K, I imagine you may still be laughing
But it got me to thinkin’. At this point in my life I’m mostly just trail riding around the farm anyway. I have no real reason to buy another hot, exciting horse just because that’s what’s always been in that stall. Maybe my sister’s right.I love my Arabs. Had Arab/crosses from the time I was 12 until I was 43 and my physical therapist demanded I stop riding horses. I don’t think so — went to Tennessee Walkers – bought a very forward but well mannered coming three year old who will be 27 this October:yes:
I still have an Arab but I rescued him 21 years ago and his current job is to give happy horse memories to children who may never see a horse again. He used to be a lesson horse for young children and an excellent one
Maybe I do need a smooth, sure-footed, Western-y gaited packer (perhaps a slightly less expensive one than the buckskin) to tote my ass in comparative safety up to the mailbox and back.You can ride a gaited horse any way you please; all you have to worry about is putting a saddle on the horse that will allow those “gaited” shoulders to perform their wide sweeping motion. Folks in this day and age are so caught up in “gaited saddles” and most of them don’t fit, they have completely forgotten about Plantation Saddles – Google them, you will get a pleasant surprise:)
But I know jack about gaited horses generally and even less than jack about the various breeds individually. As Bluey mentioned in another thread, they usually kind of look slightly crippled to me, but I could totally get over that if it meant my skeleton wouldn’t be rattling.[B]I apologize for not reading all the threads BUT, not all gaited horses looked crippled. It’s like any other breed that has been bred more for the show ring than for real work. There are going to be serious flaws and it seems we’re seeing more and more
My equine chiro’s husband trains Quarter HOrses. He can’t believe my Tennessee Walkers are are Tennessee Walkers. He said he may have to re-think his opinion of them because my three are well put-together and well-muscled. Even my coming 27 yr old who has some muscle waste due to Equine Metabolic Syndrome.
Meaning, whatever breed you settle on, look for an older horse that was foaled by older parents. The further back you can get on any blood lines, the better, IMHO.
My 19 yr old TWH is only 5 generations from “Old Glory” and 5 or 6 from Nell Dement. That is because his parents were both in their mid-20’s when he was born. He looks more like the Old Timey TWH’s than the two who are older than him. [/B]
Anyone got any suggestions? [B]Study each gaited breed, not only for their ways of going but also for their generic personality traits.
Keep in mind the same intermediate gait will feel different on different horses.
Meaning, I have two Tennessee Walkers who perform the running walk; it feels completely different on each of them. One is 16.1H and a longer-backed, lanky, athletic-built horse.
The other is the old timey looking fella who is 15.3H shorter backed, built like a stocky Quarter Horse. When I first bought him, I had to close my eyes and listen to his footfall to be sure what gait he was performing.
Each horse’s intermediate gait will feel different to your back. I have Grade III spondylolisthesis; the most comfortable horse for me to ride is the TWH who performs the smoothest Stepping Pace anyone has ever laid eyes on:confused: [/B]
Can a crone transition to gaited at this late date?D88n Skippy you can:yes: You would just be surprised at how easy the transition is. Where Walking Horses are concerned, just sit down and back on your pockets, lengthen your stirrups to where you only had a slight bend in your knees, lower your reins, say “Walk On!” and pretend you’re working a hula hoop in Days of Olde:yes:
Where do I even start looking for one?I have belonged to a Gaited Horse Forum since 2003. There’s a lady on there, at this very moment, who just tearfully announced she has to reduce her herd, plus there are other nice horses on that fforum for sale. They are on the pricey side, IMHO, but nowhere near the 28K MFT your sister lovingly found for you - lol lol
Or should I just forget about it and take one of the free horses everyone and their dog is suddenly trying to give me?Pursue the gaited horse and forget the freebie; you’ve been at this long enough to know nothing is free and it will probably start you back drinking or drinking even more:lol:[/QUOTE]
I would advise staying away from those fancy schmancy Gaited horse dealers that have those very nice websites. There are a few that are legit but there are more that many on the gaited fforum do not like their “re-training” methods.
I also know of a couple TWH breeders who are breeding strictly “Heritage Walkers”, meaning, while they have reached a point where they have no choice but to infuse show blood lines, they are being extremely careful to pick what they feel will make good trail horses. There is also the McCurdy Walkers, who claim no relation to the Tennessee Walker - lol lol Well ok, say what you want but the McCurdy’s are also pleasure Walkers.
B]PM me if you’d like to pursue the horses the lady I mentioned has for sale or even if you want to see pictures of my old timey looking TWH’s. The coming 27 yr old is only 14.3H and was a tough as nails trail horse; he has a huge heart and work ethic. He is still the strong alpha-dominant:)[/B]
Well I see only part of my post is in color, so you could pick my comments out.
Here’s the link to the Tennessee Walking Horse Heritage Society. The video shows a nice looking TWH performing the running walk. These Heritage Horses are not skimply built like many of the show blood lines.
Also, if you want a shorter TWH (my 14.3H fella is legally considered a pony in the Walking Horse world) it is fairly easy to find one.
http://twhheritagesociety.com/Certified%20Horses.html.
Yes, I am trying to sway you toward a Walking Horse. I love their heart and their sense of forgiveness. The fact they are so forgiving is what gets them into so much trouble at training barns - unsavory trainers take advantage of their willingness to please:(
