Gaited horses that do dressage?

[IndieandElsie]

Does anyone have a gaited horse they compete in Dressage?!

I've been told i'll get laughed at if i attempt a dressage test on my girl (6yr old, 14.1hh trotter mare) but personally i think she's got a lot of potential for it, we've been having a few flatwork lessons and she's such a quick learner and has such a beautiful ground-eating trot, my instructor says go for it, what do you say? There's a dressage competition coming up soon and i don't know whether to just take the plunge and see what happens!!

i know the pictures aren't great, if you can see them at all lol, they are stills from a video camera!! No CC please, i have an instructor for that and i know my faults!!

Oh and i popped a picture of Elsie jumping in there too, just to show gaited horses can turn their hooves to anything and should not be considered any less than a 'normal' horse just because of their unique paces hehe!

 

[QueenOfCadence]

I say go for it . There's no harm in trying and I can see no obvious reason in the pictures why she wouldn't be able to do some dressage

 

[Trolt]

She has a lovely trot!

I'd say go for it. We do dressage with our Icelandics. Have been pulled up by a judge once as one began gaiting and the judge (quite rightly) stopped us as was worried he was lame. Luckily the owner of the venue knows us and the breed and so it's just marked as an incorrectness (similar to if a horse broke it's canter). Haven't had any problems beyond that.
We did confuse a foreign breed (inhand) judge once. In the trot up, the Icelandic refused to trot, and showed perfect gait. The judge couldn't decide if this was a perfect example of the foreign breed or not Came 2nd!!

Another friend of mine EVENTS her paso fino! They also compete in Show jumping and dressage. She just emails the venue to forwarn them, because he gaits and has no trot. Normally the dressage judge will just give her a 4 as no trot shown but the moment is completed, but they still have fun.
In her email she'll provide information on the breed for the venue owners, and then in her "competition kit" is some information on the breed, flyers and a letter from her vet to say he is not lame.

Should add that we don't affiliate at all! But it's all about having fun and learning

 

[IndieandElsie]

She has a lovely trot!

I'd say go for it. We do dressage with our Icelandics. Have been pulled up by a judge once as one began gaiting and the judge (quite rightly) stopped us as was worried he was lame. Luckily the owner of the venue knows us and the breed and so it's just marked as an incorrectness (similar to if a horse broke it's canter). Haven't had any problems beyond that.
We did confuse a foreign breed (inhand) judge once. In the trot up, the Icelandic refused to trot, and showed perfect gait. The judge couldn't decide if this was a perfect example of the foreign breed or not Came 2nd!!

Another friend of mine EVENTS her paso fino! They also compete in Show jumping and dressage. She just emails the venue to forwarn them, because he gaits and has no trot. Normally the dressage judge will just give her a 4 as no trot shown but the moment is completed, but they still have fun.
In her email she'll provide information on the breed for the venue owners, and then in her "competition kit" is some information on the breed, flyers and a letter from her vet to say he is not lame.

Should add that we don't affiliate at all! But it's all about having fun and learning

That is so lovely to read i've been eliminated showjumping once with Elsie because she was pacing round and not cantering and they thought she was lame lol! Her trot is near enough normal, well she trots like a 17hh horse not a 14hh pony but she struggles with canter, but i guess we can try walk-trot into tests till we can work out the canter, i forget she is only a baby!!
Your icelandic sounds lovely!! thank you

 

[Trolt]

That is so lovely to read i've been eliminated showjumping once with Elsie because she was pacing round and not cantering and they thought she was lame lol! Her trot is near enough normal, well she trots like a 17hh horse not a 14hh pony but she struggles with canter, but i guess we can try walk-trot into tests till we can work out the canter, i forget she is only a baby!!
Your icelandic sounds lovely!! thank you

To be fair, the gaiting is the least of my worries!! They Icelandics are only 13.3hh and I'm 5ft4... so people are normally too busy deciding that I'm too big for them, as oppose to watching what they're legs are doing
Luckily the Vikings weren't exactly small people, and seeing how Icelandics were bred for them, I don't feel too guilty!!

 

[IndieandElsie]

To be fair, the gaiting is the least of my worries!! They Icelandics are only 13.3hh and I'm 5ft4... so people are normally too busy deciding that I'm too big for them, as oppose to watching what they're legs are doing
Luckily the Vikings weren't exactly small people, and seeing how Icelandics were bred for them, I don't feel too guilty!!

LOL i bet you look fine, i'm 5ft5 and Elsie is 14.1hh, luckily the big paces make her look bigger, every one is so suprised how titchy she is after seeing how large she looks in photos!!

 

[nikCscott]

My french trotter went from harness pacing, home before us to JA show jumper in 3 years. Trotters are amazing jumpers.

Go for it I'd have a trotter again- best bond i had with any of my horses x

 

[Trolt]

LOL i bet you look fine, i'm 5ft5 and Elsie is 14.1hh, luckily the big paces make her look bigger, every one is so suprised how titchy she is after seeing how large she looks in photos!!

She looked small in the jumping pic - but the flat work pics, she could be 17.1hh!!

 

[fallenangel123]

I used to do dressage with my hackney mare, not gaited I know, but certainly out of the ordinary. Some judges loved her, but some judges just didn't like her action and despite working nicely she was marked quite harshly against TB's and WB's.

From the pictures tho she looks lovely, I hope you do really well!

 

[MissTyc]

I do with two gaited trotters -- have worked very hard and mostly they are superb in the ring. Then occasionally we will have a "bad" day and get a comment that walk or trot is "tending to the lateral" or something like that. I haven't managed to produce an out and out pace during a test except for once during a spook :lol:

 

[wattamus]

my friend got a standardbred gelding for free (who had harness raced). She worked so hard on him and he did dressage and i think he got a 9 for his paces! it is possible x

 

[IndieandElsie]

my friend got a standardbred gelding for free (who had harness raced). She worked so hard on him and he did dressage and i think he got a 9 for his paces! it is possible x

oh that is incredible, well done her!!x

 

[IndieandElsie]

My french trotter went from harness pacing, home before us to JA show jumper in 3 years. Trotters are amazing jumpers.

Go for it I'd have a trotter again- best bond i had with any of my horses x

amazing!! yes they are so scopey, my girl clears 4ft3 with ease and she's only 14.1hh, want to bsja her at some point!!

 

[IndieandElsie]

I used to do dressage with my hackney mare, not gaited I know, but certainly out of the ordinary. Some judges loved her, but some judges just didn't like her action and despite working nicely she was marked quite harshly against TB's and WB's.

From the pictures tho she looks lovely, I hope you do really well!

oh i love hackneys, such beautiful horses!! thats what im worried about, horrible judges!!

 

[ElvisandTilly]

I have a French Trotter and we tried dressage at our local riding club to recieve the types of b*tchy comments of 'he had a leg in each county...' ...'his legs are all over the place'... blah blah blah.....

This hasn't put us off! We are now doing collected, medium and extended trot at home just need to win over my nerves for us to do the same at competitions in intro tests then we can start work on the canter!

My lad still trots with his legs going wide in the field etc and we still get the usual comments that he looks like he doesn't know what he is doing with his legs from people who don't understand how the trotters gait looks. He now works correctly under saddle and is getting better and better the stronger he gets .

Go for it!!! Let us know how you get on

 

[Mancha]

I did lots of dressage with my trotter, quite successfully! Intro's he could get 75% because he has such lovely trot work, anything above prelim with canter work and his marks werent as good as cantering wasn't natural for him, although that said he still managed to do quite well in the 7 years i competed him, we had a couple of comments that his canter appeared four time in places, and just general comments about balance etc, as his canter could appear rushed and flat sometimes. He managed to win a fair few classes though