PACER

[minigammo]

took on a 5 year old mare in jan of this year. skin and bones when I had her so I spent about 7 months doing ground work with her and getting her to trust humans again.
the one problem I have found is she paces. She has got better over time.. but will she ever stop pacing?

 

[wkiwi]

I come from NZ where a lot of pacers are used as hacks and I would have to say that some horses will always keep pacing even if they also learn to trot properly. Particularly likely to revert when stressed/excited.

Mind you, if you want her for hacking then many people find it a lot more comfortable if the horse paces, and in general they are thought to be very good natured!

 

[minigammo]

that's when she does it
well I was just thinking happy hack, But......... One of the girls on my yard has asked if I will do intro dressage early next year.... :-/

 

[wkiwi]

No reason why you can't do a bit of dressage. She may pace to start with but I have known people jump and event pacers so I would just do whatever you like and just be aware that she might lose marks is she gets excited and paces instead of trotting. And of course it certainly won't matter at all when hacking.
Have fun with her!

 

[minigammo]

I intend to thanks

 

[wkiwi]

There are a number of sites like this on google, with tips for doing dressage on a pacer. I think pacers are undervalued and not sure why more people don't want them.
http://www.jmacresrescue.com/why-adopt-a-standardbred.html
http://www.horseproblems.com.au/retraining_the_pacer.htm

 

[minigammo]

ahh thank u for the links,
I think it may be because they look messy when trotting. I do love seeing skye waddle over to her friends when she's turned out lol.

 

[Tammytoo]

Pacers have fantastic stamina, so you could try distance riding with her as well. They also have lovely temperaments as I am sure you know already.

Lots of work over trotting poles does help a lot.

Good luck with your dressage test.

 

[MissGee]

I had a pacer - lost him last year at the grand old age of 32!! He was brilliant, we did a bit of everything together and he always entertained all the fence judges when pacing round a xc course! ;-)