Orangehorse
Well-Known Member
I recently read a very long and interesting article on Gaited Horses on an American feed, I'm sorry that I can't find the link.
Athough I'm fairly familiar with the concept, it told me things I didn't know. Basically a horse gaiting can be diagonal, or pacing, or a running walk, and is when the horse always keeps one hoof on the ground, so there is no moment of suspension as in a diagonal trot.
Out of about 350 horse breeds in the world, there are about 15 gaited. The Icelandic, an Indian breed and the North and Southern American ones, where they are most common, the horses having descended from the imported European breeds from the 17th century. There is a genetic link in all these horses and it means that some can be trained to gait even if they don't show it naturally. Others can't be! So some Morgans will exhibit it naturally and others can be trained to do it.
Saddlebreds are the most common and familiar, the various Walking Horse breeds, the Paso Fino breeds, the breed from India, as mentioned above, the Morgan, and some others I can't remember, but American.
The advantage of the gaited horse is that it is very smooth to ride, surefooted (keeping one hoof on the ground at all times) and can move quickly and easily over long distances without fatigue. Which before the invention and use of carriages and improved roads, was what travellers valued.
Athough I'm fairly familiar with the concept, it told me things I didn't know. Basically a horse gaiting can be diagonal, or pacing, or a running walk, and is when the horse always keeps one hoof on the ground, so there is no moment of suspension as in a diagonal trot.
Out of about 350 horse breeds in the world, there are about 15 gaited. The Icelandic, an Indian breed and the North and Southern American ones, where they are most common, the horses having descended from the imported European breeds from the 17th century. There is a genetic link in all these horses and it means that some can be trained to gait even if they don't show it naturally. Others can't be! So some Morgans will exhibit it naturally and others can be trained to do it.
Saddlebreds are the most common and familiar, the various Walking Horse breeds, the Paso Fino breeds, the breed from India, as mentioned above, the Morgan, and some others I can't remember, but American.
The advantage of the gaited horse is that it is very smooth to ride, surefooted (keeping one hoof on the ground at all times) and can move quickly and easily over long distances without fatigue. Which before the invention and use of carriages and improved roads, was what travellers valued.
