The first thing I would say is that there are riders who would "settle" for a fox trot as a nice intermediate gait for a trail horse. Maybe that's where he's headed.
The second thing can be taken with a grain of salt. There's a gaited horse breeder on another list who insists that her horses walk for 100 miles before she asks for gait. She wants them to be swinging along at a nice relaxed flat walk. Then she will ask for (in her case running walk) gait when going down a slight incline, praising when the horse produces it. She claims it works. Nancy
