Gaited Horses -opinions please

I have ridden a gaited horse in Steam Boat, Colorado! It was a fabulous holiday and she was very comfortable - exactly what you want when going up and down mountains!!
 
Pip is gaited, when he wants to be. Its a real pain when driving multiples as its hard to get im to walk, but it is very confortable to ride!
 
It sounds like a smooth, comfortable ride. I hope you enjoyed it.
smile.gif
 
I am absolutely addicted to them (well, ok, I would be biased, we own 5 Icelandic horses;). They are very versatile. Apart from having a lovely nature, they make a very comfortable ride that make great companions and trail horses. Icelandic horses can have either 4 or five gaits. 4-gaited horses are generally better if you also want to do a bit of jumping and dressage for fun. In terms of competitions, they are best entered into special gaited horse competitions, which are a mixture of dressage and showing. However, they will also do other things such as le trec, games, horse ball etc.

Aimee
 
Pip does a gait which is like half walk half trot, like icelandics and half canter half trot, probably is a word for it. He is 1/4 hackney, 1/4 TB 1/2 welsh so don't know where he gets it from, in all the pics he is trotting as we discourage it, he is impossable to stop doing it in the pair if you let him get away with it so you get literaly hundreds of penalties in th 1KM walk.
 
He does what ever you want. Probably not true gaited because of he breeding, but he does walk, and flat foot walk, depends what you ask him!
 
One of my neighbours owns and breeds Tennessee Walkers and Paso Finos and they are gaited horses. They absolutely rave about them. Gaited horses are supposed to be incredibly comfortable to ride - I've been on one but only for a couple of minutes so can't really say what I thought; strange and certainly not like a normal horse, is what I'd say LOL!!

They look quite weird though. I ride out with my neighbours a lot and I become a bit fixated with watching their horses; they always seems awfully disjointed to me and look odd.....but they certainly don't have any trouble whatsoever with keeping up as their gait is pretty fast.
 
I knew a gaited horse at college (on the riding school). He was half saddlebred (I think?) And used to pace rather than trot. But the people tried to teach him to trot and he ended up getting very confused and upset and had to leave the school. I'm sure they're not all like this, just my personal experience.
 
That depends
grin.gif
Two of ours are generally quite calm and settled, and one of them is a real dressage crack, he has a lovely suspended trot and canter. My mare on the other hand seems to think that she is a hot-blooded Arab- I don't know another horse that is as highly strung as she is
crazy.gif
Riding tölt (that is their fourth gait- see my little pic on the right) again depends on the horse's confirmation, their level of training and natural aptitude- some rather tölt and getting them to trot can be quite tricky, some have to learn to tölt and would trot when being lunged or moving free. Generally, five-gaited Iceys will have more 'natural' tölt. below I have included a pic of an Icelandic stallion in their fifth gait, the 'flying pace'. It does feel amazing when you ride it!

61402x**UA-1et8FuZqDUnd-Kk93UqgzA*nfv4xQp5Fd3Ig=_l.jpg
 
Thanks for the information, everyone. I really appreciate your replies.

That's an amazing picture, Valdis. It looks like he's flying.
shocked.gif
Do icelandics make good trail horses?
 
Like Valdis, I also have an Icelandic - he is 5 gaited, he walks, trots, tolts (a four beat running walk which can be as slow as a steady trot or as fast as a gallop), canters and paces. He is very forward going and we took part in long rides together. I have been to Iceland several times and they love their horses to have spirit - their horses are "trained", never broken. I have had my Icelandic 10 years and he is the most amazing horse, even though he is now retired.
 
OOh, that's a gorgeous picture of the Icelandic. About a month ago I went to Iceland for a week long riding holiday and have to say it was truely amazing. I rode 7 different Icelandic horses in 5 days and got to ride with a herd of free running horses (and do a bit of herding). They really are the most incredible horses and I hadn't ridden one before I went. To be honest I chose the holiday cos I wanted to see Iceland but didn't have anyone to go with so wanted an organised trip but those little guys just blew me away! The tolt is so comfy, I was really worried that I might not have the fitness really for 7 hours in the saddle but the tolt is really comfy and didn't tire me out as much as rising trot would have! I rode a selection of horses definitely not trekking plods by any stretch of the imagination. My favourite two horses where really spirited and rode miles bigger than the 13.2hh they were (and I'm 5foot 8!)I was also amazed by how sure footed they were, we were tolting over terrain that I wouldn't dare trot over. I'm already saving up for my return trip (may take 2 years!). I really wanted to try riding Icelandics in the UK as I love natives anyway but these guys were cool unfortunatly there don't seem to be many, especially near London. Sorry for the long post but I'm still very excited from the holiday!
laugh.gif
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top