Gaited horses possess a unique ability to perform multiple “gears” beyond the standard trot. For any gaited horse owner, the primary objective is to consistently achieve these gaits without the horse reverting to a trot or pace. It’s also crucial to ensure your horse isn’t exhibiting a stepping pace, which, while comfortable for the rider, can cause significant physical harm to the horse over time. The good news is that training your horse into its natural saddle gait is a straightforward process, achievable through consistent walking.
Before embarking on this training journey, it’s essential to ensure your horse is comfortable with its tack and has freedom of movement through its back. Any discomfort or physical restriction can undermine your training efforts. When you begin riding, utilize the impulsion aids you are most comfortable with, such as a crop, spurs, or long reins. Achieving a correctly timed saddle gait requires the horse to engage every muscle in its body, so persistent encouragement of this gait is key. It’s important to avoid trainers who rely on shortcuts like unnatural shoeing, weights, chains, or other artificial aids, as these can compromise your horse’s soundness and are not effective long-term solutions.
Achieving the Desired Gait
Here’s a detailed, step-by-step technique to help your horse achieve a smooth saddle gait.
Step 1: Initiate an Active Walk
Begin by mounting your horse and asking for an active, vigorous walk. The key is to prevent the horse from immediately transitioning to a faster gait. If your horse attempts to speed up, use a light rein cue to check him while simultaneously employing your seat and legs to maintain forward momentum. Encourage your horse to walk as fast as possible without changing its gait. This exercise is often referred to as “working the walk.”
Step 2: Maintain the Active Walk
As you apply these cues, your horse may naturally try to increase its speed. Be prepared to anticipate this and take swift action to prevent it. The moment you sense your horse beginning to slow down its steps, sit back and use your leg and impulsion aids as strongly as needed to maintain the desired speed. A helpful tip is to avoid continuously using your boot heel to prompt your horse forward, as this can lead to the horse ignoring the constant, irritating nudging.
Step 3: Increase Collection
Once your horse is willingly “working the walk,” begin to increase the degree of collection. This maneuver is vital for maintaining correct form and timing, while also enabling you to achieve greater impulsion and speed. To do this, guide your horse to the edge of its ability to maintain the walk without breaking into a faster gait. If your horse starts to break gait, perform a halt that resembles a “mini” sliding stop. Keep your hands low, push down into your seat, and apply leg aids while simultaneously exerting backward pressure on both reins. This action should encourage your horse to shift its weight back onto its haunches. From this halted position, continue applying backward rein pressure to encourage a couple of steps backward. Then, halt again and slightly slacken the reins.
Step 4: Re-engage in an Active Walk
Following the halt and backward steps, ask your horse to transition back into an active walk. Maintain light rein contact to encourage the horse to keep its weight shifted rearward. This action lightens the forehand, promotes engagement from behind, and consequently enhances the speed and timing of the gait.
Troubleshooting Tip: If your horse raises its head or frets with the bit in response to rein pressure, slightly lighten your rein contact. This might indicate that you are requesting more collection and impulsion than the horse is currently capable of, potentially overworking its topline muscles. However, avoid excessive rein slack, as this allows the horse to shift its weight forward, making it difficult to perform a correct gait due to being heavy on the forehand. As your horse builds muscle and stamina, it will respond more effectively to your cues.
Step 5: Enhance Collection and Speed
Once your horse reliably responds to the halt and rein-back exercise—which typically takes only two or three riding sessions—you can begin requesting greater collection and speed using the half halt. A half halt is fundamentally similar to a full halt; however, the instant your horse hesitates in response to your rein and weight aids (signaling a backward weight shift), maintain rein contact and encourage it to move forward more actively. By consistently working the walk, and progressively increasing collection, impulsion, and speed through practice of the halt, rein-back, and half halt, you will undoubtedly become your horse’s most effective gaited horse trainer.
Identifying the Stepping Pace
As you train your horse to gait, it may raise its head, hollow its back, and revert to a trot or, more problematically, a stepping pace. This behavior allows the horse to avoid engaging the major muscles along its entire topline, resulting in a shuffling motion of the legs—an easy, lazy amble. While the stepping pace can feel smooth to the rider, it is considered incorrect form and can be detrimental to the horse’s hocks and stifles. Furthermore, it hinders your ability to achieve consistent gaits.
There are two primary indicators from the saddle to distinguish a stepping pace from a correct, square gait: Firstly, if the horse transitions abruptly from a slow walk to a fast gait without any discernible “middle gear” or smooth transition. Secondly, if the horse’s head moves from side to side rather than up and down, which is characteristic of a lateral or pacey gait. It’s worth noting that some horses naturally exhibit a slight inclination towards a lateral gait. However, if your horse is maintaining correct walk form, its mane should exhibit an up-and-down bobbing motion. Any correctly formed gait will ultimately be expressed through some degree of head nod or shake.
