Page 72 • NOVEMBER 2011 • HORSEMAN’S NEWS


Hope to “GAIT”


Question......what exactly is a pace?? Lets talk about the pace. As we


Bill and Hope Adams owners of Double A Ranch located in Anza California, own a training facility for all gaited horse breeds. Hope has been a trainer for over thirty-five years, and special- izes in good gaited horses for the trail and show ring. Bill handles all mainte- nance, has a keen eye for observing a horses movement, and how a rider inter- acts with their horse. Our object is help- ing riders and horses become a team, whether it be a buyer looking at a horse that came in for sale, or a client that is working with their horse as it goes through the training process.


discussed before, when a horse paces, he is moving his legs in a lat- eral sequence. For the simplicity of this article, we will not get into Muscular/Tendon/Ligament System or his or hers confirmation. This is just about the gait referred to as pacing. Try watching his way of going from straight behind him, or in front of him in a straight line. Have him go fast and slow.... if his 2 left feet hit the ground at the same time, and then as they push off, you see no feet on the ground, and then his 2 right feet hit the ground, this is a true pace. Now watch him from the side and develop your eye just to watch his feet, if his inside feet leave the ground and push off, then no feet on the ground as they trans- fer in mid stride, then his 2 outside


feet hit the ground, this is a pace. Yes there are variations of this movement. The stepping pace and pace are


the 2 most common lateral gaits with variations. Depending on your breed they are called the Amble (the word ‘amble’ usually means a slow and aimless walk, so for gait work, stepping pace would be more accurate to use)) Stepping pace, or Sobreandando, and or hard or true pace. Most of the gaited breeds will do this at one time or another, quite often when going down a grade if no where else. Now I am going out on a limb here and I will say that this is not always a bad thing for your horse to do, BUT can be uncomfortable if done for a long period of time and hard on your horses back. The down side is that this slightly hollow position that your horse’s body will take, can lead to atrophy in his back and may cause some vertebrae impingement. So at the very least, get in the habit of doing stretching exercises whether out on the trail or in the arena. Use a cavalletti or post, or


uneven ground to help him develop his back into a more rounded posi- tion. More on this later! I have had people bring their


horses in for training that thought their horse were trotting, and they want me to ‘fix’ them. In reality their horse was pacing, but it was so rough that the owner thought they were trotting. The pace will move you side to side, and you can’t post to it because the pace has no impul- sion, even standing in the stirrups during a fast pace will move you side to side. The pace can be diffi- cult to break up, but not impossible. The stepping pace is a broken up


hard pace, but still very lateral in movement.. It would be hardly noticeable from the side, until you develop your eye, but easier to see when standing directly behind or in front of the horse and just focus on the feet of the horse, and you will see it. The footfall will go left left, pause, right right, pause, in quick sequence of movement. I hope this helps, and you can always call 951- 295-0408 for clinic dates or private lessons. Just ask for Hope.


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