>>> Well I got the last one wrong but here goes. Lateral gait.
Don't be too hard on yourself. Instead of saying you were "wrong" last time, congratulate yourself for seeing that both are lateral gaits. That's a good start. >>> Looks like the hind goes down slightly before the front on the same >>> side. The head moves sideways a bit. I would go for stepping pace. I agree with your analysis, so another atta-girl for you. (Again, assuming MY eyes are in straight today!) Personally, though, I'd call this one a "pace". That's a distinction by degrees and I'm not worry about arguing over such a minor distinction. This is subtle and I think there's not enough difference in the set-down time of the lateral pairs to bother calling it a step-pace as opposed to pace. If it makes you feel better (it does me!) the late, great Lee Ziegler used to talk about gaits "morphing" one into another. Now, if someone said this horse were trotting, or "tolting", I'd think a discussion would be in order. Now, what does seeing that he's "pacey" in this little video mean? Is that all he can do? Or is he pacey because he's not balanced yet? Or, did someone just happen to video him the moment he decided to pull pace out of his "bag of tricks"? Or...might his saddle not fit? Or is he uncomfortable or simply not relaxed for some reason - maybe he's just distracted by his buddies who might be calling for him out of our sight? I have no idea without knowing him, but if he were mine, those would be my next questions. I've seen all of these factors make a multi-gaited horse pace, when they have other gaits in their range. Karen Thomas, NC
