Training a gaited horse to trot

[iriedogs]

I am helping a friend with a project pony. He is adorable, a sweetie pie, and very fun to ride. He is 14. 2, around 15 years old, and came to her unbroke a couple of years ago. Her son got him going under saddle so that he is fine with being ridden, tied, trail ridden, etc. but she wanted me to see if I could polish him up. Get him ready to take to local shows, some fun stuff.

Well, the first time I rode him, I noticed his walk was nice, free, easy. When I asked for a trot, he went into this amble thing. It is slow but not, as far as I can tell, a distinct four beat gait like a rack. No head bob like a Walking horse gait. It could be a very slow pace. I need video, have not been able to get video of us under saddle yet. When I push for more forward, he goes into a canter. He loves to canter, it is his preferred gait, both directions.
In the pasture with the other horses and moving on his own, I have seen him trot up to the hay pile ( not do the gaited thing). So I know he can trot and that it is not that foreign for him to do.

The only way I can get a trot under saddle, though, is to start on trot poles. I can then keep him in the trot without the amble thing. But every single time we trot, we have to start over trot poles, or he goes straight into the amble/pace or just straight into canter.

He has not had much training beyond bareback riding around the pasture, does not know how to hold himself up, feels like riding a noodle, and all of this I can fix with patience, time, and miles. My question is, have any of you had experience with a horse who has gaited tendencies like this? Is working with them on this issue worth the trouble, or will we always need trot poles in order to go from a walk into a trot, without some weird gaited thing In between? I have ridden him three times now, and am trying to decide if I need to continue to work with him, or back out now, because of this issue.

And he was a rescue, none of us have much of an idea what breed he is. He "looks" like a QH -Arab cross to me, but the gaited thing is throwing me off. He is stout with a cresty neck, but he was also a stud for a long time, so that may affect his look, even now. He is such a sweetheart, and perfect in every other way. But I just don't know how to approach this issue.

[Chisamba]

I have a standie cross, to b teach her to trot I had to experiment with speed, too far and she would gait, too slow and she would,

Once I found her best tempo, if she broke gait I would pushed her slightly sideways to engage the hind until she resumed trot . it took about six months before she would reliably maintain trot.

[Niki]

Can you get the trot on the lunge? might be worth doing that over poles to help him build strength?

[iriedogs]

Niki, I can only get the trot on the lunge if poles are incorporated. I will try the pushing slightly sideways to see if that works. Thank you!

[angela9823]

Does he do the gait in the field at all? If not, I'd suspect something pain related and that he's not gaited at all. When my mare was first diagnosed as navicular, she'd pace on lunge line or under saddle in the walk. I've seen many other horses do this since learning that this could be a pain issue. Even TWHs that should have a four beat walk will pace when in pain. TWHs do it more often than others because people don't realize it is not part of their "gait" and then don't catch that the high heels and weighted shoes are causing them pain or irregularities in their gait. Those that want to keep it pure recognize it but not necessarily new owners.

Anyway, my suggestion is to really get him moving in the field. Put him through all his gaits in a large area and see what he does. Then get him on tighter movements (including lunging with or without a saddle). If he moves differently on lunge than in larger area, I'd suspect something is wrong versus this being natural. The fact that he trots if poles are incorporated makes me think trot is his natural gait. Even TWHs will still walk - not trot- when they are used for jumping.

[Kathy Johnson]

The trick is to tie the trot you get over the poles to the verbal command, "trot." Reward every effort. Get a few steps, stop and cookie. Since the horse trots in the field, he does have a natural trot as well as some additional gaits. I try to find the trigger that helps the gaited horse trot. For one it was poles, for another the longe line, for another hills and rough footing, for another snow and another mud and water. So if he starts trotting on his own, say "trot" every time. I'd love some video too.

[iriedogs]

Thank you for your suggestions- this defintely helps. I am going to bring along someone who can video for me while he is on the lunge line and under saddle next weekend. That should help to see if this is a soreness issue or a natural gait issue. I will update and we'll go from there. Thank you again!

[iriedogs]

My video failed- I did not know that if I received a phone call while the video was recording, it would stop my video. So I thought I had 4 minutes of great video, but I really had 5 seconds of trotting video and a ringtone. However, I found out that the pony will trot on the lunge, as long as I get him moving, moving, moving. And same under saddle. I have started riding with a whip and as long as I get him really moving right off, we bypass the gaited thing in about 2 steps. Hopefully, I will get some video soon, if it ever quits raining here in SC.

[iriedogs]

Update, sorry for the long delay. I finally got someone else to ride him so I could watch. After watching him move under saddle and doing some detective work, I figured out what he was and what he was doing. He is a Paso Fino - Quarter Horse cross. Breeders, don't ever create a cross like this on purpose! Poor guy can't figure out when to gait and when to trot.

But, I figured out a way to get a pretty nice ride from him. I do a few minutes of warmup at walk, then we go straight into canter. We do a lot of forward canter work, then go back down to trot.

He really sucks back if I go from walk to trot in the beginning. And that sucking back leads to the weird gaited stuff. But if I get him going very forward in the canter first, then come back down to trot, his trot is much better and not mixed with gaited junk.