So I was watching my darlings run around in the new fence this evening, and all of a sudden everyone went for a nice run. They must've been running for 10 or 15 minutes straight. I got to see all kinds of things... compare how smooth their backs are at different speeds, who has short little legs, who takes longer strides, etc. etc... then I noticed my mare doing something weird. Half the time when she ran, she... this is hard to explain... she moved her two left legs in unison to run, then her two right ones. It was actually very pretty looking! The boys didn't do this though, only her... is she gaited? Or is this just her playing around? Or is this a gait with a name like an extended something or other? Eh? I'm confused! And she's only 3, so I don't think anyone has taught her to do this for the sake of showing or anything...
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Is it a gait? Or is she gaited? Errrr?!
Replies (3)
That kinda sounds like what our old standardbred mare used to do......with her it was called a pace....as a much much younger horse she was raced...but if you could get her into to that pace while riding...she was smoother then our walking horse....and man you want to talk about covering some ground! Her and ayoung friend used to get such a kick outa whupping everything around in it....it would be so funny and such a great experience for them.
That is so funny that you mentioned a standardbred, because I was flipping through some horse breed books, and that's exactly what she looks like!
A pace eh? Hmm! I wonder if I could find some way to teach her how to do it on command. That would be so neat!!
And here she is 
That's something she would have been taught to do... My neighbor has a Standardbred gelding that was trained by the Amish as a buggy horse, and he does it by instinct now... It's a gate their taught for cart racing too, and if they dont get it right, they're not used as racers...
I have found with the gelding, its something he does when he's asked for a trot, and once you get into the rythem, it's not too bad... I just wasn't expecting it the first time he did it and ended up laughin so hard I almost fell off...
good luck with her...
