>>>> I do understand that you are all discussing horses for whom pace is not >>>> a natural or accepted gait, but as the owner of a lovable off-track >>>> Standardbred who paces as a result of generations of breeding for pace >>>> ... what can I say? For Twist is is not laziness, saddle fit, >>>> whatever. It's is what he was bred to do.
That may well be true for Twist, Nancy, but did you know that many off-the-track SB pacers aren't particularly pacey? My friend and trainer, Shirley, has started several ex-pace-racers on their way to re-homed, and not a single one she started was pacey. I remember that one actually preferred trot - maybe with a little weak foxtrot - one was a LOVELY run-walker and one was a saddle-racker. (I still keep up with that run-walker, who now belongs to friends of ours.) I believe that all could trot, at least that I remember. She did this work about the time I got Icelandic's so I went and helped her some, and watched a lot, and rode a few of them. It absolutely amazed me that there was so little pace in the small sample she worked with. The trotter went to a home where he was used for low-level dressage, believe it or not, even though he'd paced as a racer. I've heard Christine Schwartz say that she things the range of gaitedness in Standardbreds may be most like the range found in Icelandic's - I think she rode some SB in Germany as a girl. I don't have lots of SB experience, but based on the little I saw, I sure wouldn't argue. It's just more evidence of how much mechanical means can affect gait. The SB's racers are hoppled (hobbled?) such that they HAVE to pace. I'm pretty sure the horses she got to train were just a random sampling of Standardbred pace horses - she certainly doesn't profess to the a "gaited horse trainer" - just a good, sensible trainer. I suspect that your Twist is just one of the naturally pacey ones - there's a variety of gaitedness in any breed, so that's probably just what the DNA dice rolled for him. Karen Thomas, NC
