RE: [IceHorses] Paceyness
I have a friend who breeds gaited horses who has a rule for herself of walking the first 100 miles. I think that's a good, safe rule of thumb. I don't LITERALLY follow it, at least not all the time, but we sure do a LOT of walking for the first period a horse is under saddle - for some that may be a few months, but for others it may be a lot longer. Right now, I'm DYING to start gaiting Melnir, and I have a few times, and will continue to some - his gaits are easy and natural. He's nine, not exactly "young", but since I have so many other horses and he's been a breeding stallion, I keep reminding myself that, despite how he seems, he's still a green horse. To keep us both interested, we're doing a good many leisurely trail rides around the property and the neighborhood. Since it's hot now, and our trails are prone to stump holes, we aren't so tempted to pick up the speed. BTW, I think that's also a reasonable rule of thumb for ALL horses, gaited or not...the only thing up for debate in my mind would be for how long to keep it up. Overall, I think walking is an under-rated gait. It builds strength, but also encourages relaxation! Karen Thomas [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [IceHorses] Paceyness
On 7/10/07, Nancy Sturm <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I have a friend who breeds gaited horses who has a rule for herself of > walking the first 100 miles. > > Nancy > AHHA you somehow accidentally stumbled into one of my personal pet peeves traps :) I can never let this one pass without clarification... I would read this when trying to cure jaspars pace and Lee and Liz and everyone would say the key to gait is walk walk walk. And at the time all i did was walk jaspar everywhere every single day. I put literally hundreds of miles on him at the walk, teh normal walk, some call a dog walk. That does absolutely nothing whatsoever for a gaited horse's gait. NOTHING. what helps a gaited horse;s gait is miles and miles at the FLATWALK. which is a step up from a walk. Builds muscles, fitness, wiring for gait. Been there done that... with my fox, one of the most awesome naturally gaited horses on the planet, since he is so green and I ride him so little so he is never in shape, I alternate between dogwalk and flatwalk, let him flatwalk til he starts losing it, the timing, the rhythm and smoothness, and let him choose when to come out of it, let him rest by dogwalking then let him move back into the flatwalk and once in it I try and keep him going as long as he can do it. thats the key. the flatwalk. Janice-- yipie tie yie yo
Re: [IceHorses] Paceyness
I have a friend who breeds gaited horses who has a rule for herself of walking the first 100 miles. Nancy
RE: [IceHorses] Paceyness
>>> Oh - someone in Twist's past spent some nice ring time with him and one of >>> the things he does nicely is a half pass - maybe that's what they were doing. The first thing that Lee Ziegler would recommend for pace was the neck-stretching exercises, encouraging the horse to go 'long-and-low' for periods, then gradually asking him to bring his head up to a more normal position - NOT to a high position, just normal for his conformation. And of course, ANY horse (whatever the gaitedness) will benefit from exercises that work on his overall flexibility...but only if they are done correctly of course. And, since some horses pace when tense, anything you can do to relax the horse is bound to be a big help. I can't count the times I read Lee preach, 'walk, walk, walk!' at least for the beginning sessions. I personally think that's why so many gaited horses get called "hard pacers" - the owners or trainers push for "gait, gait, gait" before the horses are conditioned, or while they are in some sort of pain. I know that some horses will be pacey no matter what, but even a so-so step-pace can be a huge improvement over the hard pace, as I'm sure you already know... :) Karen Thomas, NC
RE: [IceHorses] Paceyness
>>> They would equate pacyness with how deeply ingrained it is as a primary >>> intermediate gait and not how uncomfortable it is to ride. I tend not to believe the "ingrained" part as much as some people do. I do believe that habit and muscle memory are factors, but I also suspect that, many times it's simply easier to say it's "ingrained" than to keep looking for a cause. Don't get me wrong, I don't doubt that some horses have conformation leading them to pace, and may be pacey no matter what...but it takes time to do the investigating and exercises to work on improving it, and I suspect many people don't want to be bothered. (I'm thinking of one really pacey horse in the area who I'd bet money simply needs a saddle that fits.) Anyway, I think it's a multi-faceted problem that needs to be addressed in detail on an individual basis. You've probably noticed by now that I'm not the kind of person to accept "ingrained" as sufficiently detailed...:) Karen Karen Thomas Wingate, NC No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.476 / Virus Database: 269.10.2/891 - Release Date: 7/8/2007 6:32 PM
Re: [IceHorses] Paceyness
Oh - someone in Twist's past spent some nice ring time with him and one of the things he does nicely is a half pass - maybe that's what they were doing. Nancy
Re: [IceHorses] Paceyness
On 7/9/07, Nancy Sturm <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > In my limited experience and based on the opinions of the folks on the > gaited endurance list, a hard pace is going to be an uncomfortable ride no > matter what. They would equate pacyness with how deeply ingrained it is as > a primary intermediate gait and not how uncomfortable it is to ride. > > Nancy > when i first started riding jas pace was very very deeply ingrained. I think the "Cure that pace!" stuff really helped. how to "break up the pace" by doing cavalettis and figure 8s etc at varying speeds, going up and down hills etc. One thing Liz did at the clinic last year was have you do a half pass. I could see that would be very VERY helpful for pace, I could just feel it. Because it was something I learned on my own a similar thing, where if Jaspar started getting too pacey I would sorta lightly apply pressure to one rein while keeping him going straight. hard to explain. But she taught us to do it right and I could feel the horse's body bend into a whole nother frame instead of just his nose move. Janice-- yipie tie yie yo
Re: [IceHorses] Paceyness
In my limited experience and based on the opinions of the folks on the gaited endurance list, a hard pace is going to be an uncomfortable ride no matter what. They would equate pacyness with how deeply ingrained it is as a primary intermediate gait and not how uncomfortable it is to ride. Nancy
Re: [IceHorses] Paceyness
On 7/9/07, Karen Thomas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >>> as for his paceyness, is the degree of paceyness based on how often they > >>> pace, or how awful it is. because the latter was how I was judging it. > > That's a good question. Personally, I always consider it the other way: if > they can't do anything but pace at any speed, or if most of the other gaits > are hard for them. I've always thought if they show other gaits pretty > willingly and easily...well, I'll just aim for the other gaits. > yeah that would be good, cause if a horse never wanted to do anything but a slamming hard pace, oh lord kill me now. janice -- yipie tie yie yo
