What Does Feel Mean in a Gaited Horse?
by Gaye DeRusso
First what does feel mean in riding? When you ride your horse, overtime you get a sense of what your horse is doing underneath you. That sense is described as a feel.
In other words, you can feel their legs move. You can feel their back move. You can feel stiffness, you can feel relaxation. You can feel their feet hit the ground. You can feel what their legs are doing. You can feel if your horse is tense or scared. You can feel their speed. You can feel if they are limping.
Feel is very important with the gaited horse. You must have a feel of what the gait is supposed to feel like in order to get the gait and in order to keep the horse in gait.
So how do you get feel with the gaited horse? Through riding a horse that is already set in its gait. By riding with a gaited instructor who can tell you when it is right and when it is wrong. But many people have no help, so also by practicing over and over and trying to build your feel on your own.
So, let's begin at the regular walk. When any horse walks, it is a 4-beat foot fall. The horse's feet hit the ground 4 times. As your horse walks, I want you to block everything else out in your life and focus on your horse's legs and feet. Pick a safe enclosed area that is pretty level, that way you don't have to focus on steering or on keeping the same speed.
As your horse walks, try and feel his legs underneath you. Feel his shoulders move, feel his hindquarters move, feel the legs moving, feel the feet hitting the ground and feel his belly move side to side. Take deep breaths through your mouth and try to relax and just feel what they are doing underneath you.
If you still cannot feel anything, close your eyes. This will block out any visual stimulation and just feel what is happening underneath you. Can you count 4 beats as the hooves hit the ground, can you feel his belly moving side to side. Can you feel if he has more weight on his front end or on the hindquarters. Can you feel if the back is relaxed, rounded, inverted or stiff. Can you feel yourself moving in the saddle? At a walk you should be moving forward toward your horse's head and back toward your horse's tail. So you should have a back and forth motion.
It's very important to take the time to get the feel at this slow walk before you move on. If you do not have the feel, as you try and move faster, you will not be able to figure out the gait. So, try and feel all of the above before moving on. It's ok if when you try this you don't feel any of it. Just repeat it every day you can and one day you will start to feel it.
The flat walk which is the first gait of most gaited horses is the same as a regular horse walk, but just faster. The flat walk is the start of your gaits. It is like a regular horse's (trotting horse) extended walk. You should have a very good flat walk before trying for your horse's intermediate gaits. Your horse needs a good foundation to build on before going to the next gaits.
When working at your flat walk, you need to feel the horse's feet hitting the ground 4 times. If you can't, you can try riding on a hard surface so you can hear their feet. Listen but still try to develop your feel of the 4 beats. When you ride the flat walk, ride with some contact, with a shorter rein so your hands are in front of the saddle toward their mane. This contact will help the horse know to stay the same speed. It is your line of communication.
If they speed up half halt on the rein (squeeze like making a tight fist and then release). Your body position should be shoulders over your hips and heels under your hips just like an English rider. When moving from the regular walk to the flat walk, ask your horse for more speed by pressing with one calf and then the other. Feel your horse's belly move side to side and alternate your legs to go with his movement. If he does not respond or is very dull, use spurs or carry a dressage whip to reinforce your leg. Use just enough leg that your horse is walking faster, the horse's head will nod up and down and you will feel a back-and-forth motion in the saddle. If your horse changes their foot fall, slow down by using your half halt but be ready to use your leg if they slow down too much.
This is the hard part, you must feel if they change their foot fall, speed up or slow down too much. Your job is to keep your horse moving at the same speed with the correct foot fall. Remember this is like an extended walk, so it is still a walk and should not be too fast. Aim to be around 3 mph to start and in time you might get them up to 5 mph.
Once you can do this consistently on the flat, then try it in the pasture or on the trails, keep the same feel, but now as the terrain changes you will have to help your horse keep that same speed. Going downhill they will usually speed up, so you may have to slow them down with half halts. Going downhill, many will get pacey, so you will have to feel that their feet is staying at a 4 beat and not going to a pace which is 2 beats. If you start to feel a bounce you are most likely pacing and need to slow down.
To avoid the pace, you also need to help the horse learn to separate his legs, so he doesn't 2 beat. The best ways to do this, are to serpentine, leg yield or push their shoulders or hindquarters over. You must learn how to do these things in the arena with your horse before trying on the trail. When going uphill, you will have to encourage your horse to keep the same speed by using more leg, do not let them change gait and do not canter. The uphill will build up your horse's hindquarters, you must teach them to push with their hindquarters in order to build it and hills are a great way. The stronger they get the faster their gaits will get over time.
Once you can ride your horse consistently at the flat walk and you can feel that you are staying with 4 beats then you can try for their next gait. Depending on your horse that could be a running walk (your horse must have overstride to do a running walk), saddle gait, rack or fox trot. These are all 4 beat gaits.
From the flat walk you will use both your legs squeezing with your calves to ask for more speed. Never kick or you will skip over gaits. You just want to push them faster. Keep your reins short with contact. If your horse is suppose to do a running walk, all you will feel is that you are walking faster, you will still move forward and back in the saddle, the horse will nod his head and you should feel their feet hitting the ground 4 times. That's why it is called a running walk, they are just walking but faster. You have to be able to feel how fast to push them and then keep them in it consistently, by feeling if they speed up, slow down or change their foot fall.
If your horse does a saddle gait or a rack, you will ask your horse to speed up the same way except when you go faster you will feel a slight side to side motion, like your putting weight into one stirrup and then the other, or you may feel complete stillness depending on your horse. The horse's head will not nod, but sometimes it can go side to side. Your job is to keep the horses head still with your contact. Now to keep them in the gait, you have to use your half halts and your leg. That's why you need to be able to feel the gait and if they slow down or speed up, you need to tell your horse to stay the same speed with your legs and your half halts.
If your horse does a fox trot, still ask to speed up the same way, but you will feel a soft bounce in the saddle, up and down. It should feel like a regular horse's slow jog, just a soft comfortable bounce. There will be some head nod with this gait, but do not let them swing their head side to side, use your reins to hold their head straight. Use your half halts and your leg to keep the same speed. You must feel the gait in order to keep them in it.
Now you also must be able to feel if your horse is going to go out of gait. If they start to change to a 2 beat pace, you must try to separate their legs, with serpentine, leg yield or move shoulders or hindquarters. You can try and bring the horse's head lower, so they round their back. With a pace most horses bring their head up, stiffen their back and swing their legs instead of using their muscles, so you are trying to do the opposite of what they are trying to do. You can also try and tilt your pelvis forward which will put more weight on their front end, which may change their foot fall.
You most likely will have to slow down some because your horse may not be strong enough to go faster yet and that is why he is pacing. So, if you try the above maneuvers and it doesn't work slow down and give him another month of flat walking and try again.
If the horse is trotting, you want to try and bring the head up and stiffen their back some and get your weight back by tilting your pelvis back. When the horse trots which is also 2 beats, they usually try and bring their head down and round their back, so you try to do the opposite. Similar to the pace, you may have to slow down because your horse is not conditioned enough to hold the gait.
When you're trying to get the next gait, feeling if your horse is getting pacey or trotty will help you figure out what to do and where to ask for speed. The pacey horses gait better going uphill and worse downhill. The trotty horses gait better downhill and worse uphill. So, when trying to build muscle and speed, use downhill for trotty horses and uphill for pacey horses.
This will take time, effort, and patience. You will have to practice over and over again until you get it. Reward the horse with rest and or treats when they do it correctly in the beginning. Making them do it longer and faster when they are learning will not be a reward and they will not want to do it.
Riding with others working on their gait, works best. Riding with fast riders whose horses already gait well and are flying down the trail will only make your horse pace or trot more as they try to keep up. The more they trot or pace, the harder it will be to get them to gait. So best not to ride with those groups.
Now you have an idea of what it should feel like and what to do. But remember feel starts slowly. You must take the time and get the correct feel with their slow walk before you can help them do the correct gait. To get feel takes time and patience, but in the end, it is well worth it, to do the correct gait. Taking short cuts will not pay off in the end. You will constantly be coming out of gait.
Also remember your horse must build the correct muscles, so if you do not condition them then do not expect them to gait well. It just does not work that way. Also remember the better bred your horse is and the better training it had before you got it, the easier it will be. But, if not bred well or poorly trained, it will be a much longer road to getting your horse to gait well. Have patience, they all can be better. A well gaited horse is not made in a day, they are made in years.
Gaited Books
Easy Gaited Horses By Lee Ziegler https://amzn.to/3vFuk8w
The Gaited Horse Bible by Brenda Imus https://amzn.to/3It0Imf
Gaits of Gold by Brenda Imus https://amzn.to/3jGXam0
Heavenly Gaits By Brenda Imus https://amzn.to/3ieKGBP
Training the Gaited Horse By Gary Lane https://amzn.to/3jPcAVq
DISCLAIMER: This description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission if you buy something. This helps support the website. Thank you for the support!
by Gaye DeRusso
First what does feel mean in riding? When you ride your horse, overtime you get a sense of what your horse is doing underneath you. That sense is described as a feel.
In other words, you can feel their legs move. You can feel their back move. You can feel stiffness, you can feel relaxation. You can feel their feet hit the ground. You can feel what their legs are doing. You can feel if your horse is tense or scared. You can feel their speed. You can feel if they are limping.
Feel is very important with the gaited horse. You must have a feel of what the gait is supposed to feel like in order to get the gait and in order to keep the horse in gait.
So how do you get feel with the gaited horse? Through riding a horse that is already set in its gait. By riding with a gaited instructor who can tell you when it is right and when it is wrong. But many people have no help, so also by practicing over and over and trying to build your feel on your own.
So, let's begin at the regular walk. When any horse walks, it is a 4-beat foot fall. The horse's feet hit the ground 4 times. As your horse walks, I want you to block everything else out in your life and focus on your horse's legs and feet. Pick a safe enclosed area that is pretty level, that way you don't have to focus on steering or on keeping the same speed.
As your horse walks, try and feel his legs underneath you. Feel his shoulders move, feel his hindquarters move, feel the legs moving, feel the feet hitting the ground and feel his belly move side to side. Take deep breaths through your mouth and try to relax and just feel what they are doing underneath you.
If you still cannot feel anything, close your eyes. This will block out any visual stimulation and just feel what is happening underneath you. Can you count 4 beats as the hooves hit the ground, can you feel his belly moving side to side. Can you feel if he has more weight on his front end or on the hindquarters. Can you feel if the back is relaxed, rounded, inverted or stiff. Can you feel yourself moving in the saddle? At a walk you should be moving forward toward your horse's head and back toward your horse's tail. So you should have a back and forth motion.
It's very important to take the time to get the feel at this slow walk before you move on. If you do not have the feel, as you try and move faster, you will not be able to figure out the gait. So, try and feel all of the above before moving on. It's ok if when you try this you don't feel any of it. Just repeat it every day you can and one day you will start to feel it.
The flat walk which is the first gait of most gaited horses is the same as a regular horse walk, but just faster. The flat walk is the start of your gaits. It is like a regular horse's (trotting horse) extended walk. You should have a very good flat walk before trying for your horse's intermediate gaits. Your horse needs a good foundation to build on before going to the next gaits.
When working at your flat walk, you need to feel the horse's feet hitting the ground 4 times. If you can't, you can try riding on a hard surface so you can hear their feet. Listen but still try to develop your feel of the 4 beats. When you ride the flat walk, ride with some contact, with a shorter rein so your hands are in front of the saddle toward their mane. This contact will help the horse know to stay the same speed. It is your line of communication.
If they speed up half halt on the rein (squeeze like making a tight fist and then release). Your body position should be shoulders over your hips and heels under your hips just like an English rider. When moving from the regular walk to the flat walk, ask your horse for more speed by pressing with one calf and then the other. Feel your horse's belly move side to side and alternate your legs to go with his movement. If he does not respond or is very dull, use spurs or carry a dressage whip to reinforce your leg. Use just enough leg that your horse is walking faster, the horse's head will nod up and down and you will feel a back-and-forth motion in the saddle. If your horse changes their foot fall, slow down by using your half halt but be ready to use your leg if they slow down too much.
This is the hard part, you must feel if they change their foot fall, speed up or slow down too much. Your job is to keep your horse moving at the same speed with the correct foot fall. Remember this is like an extended walk, so it is still a walk and should not be too fast. Aim to be around 3 mph to start and in time you might get them up to 5 mph.
Once you can do this consistently on the flat, then try it in the pasture or on the trails, keep the same feel, but now as the terrain changes you will have to help your horse keep that same speed. Going downhill they will usually speed up, so you may have to slow them down with half halts. Going downhill, many will get pacey, so you will have to feel that their feet is staying at a 4 beat and not going to a pace which is 2 beats. If you start to feel a bounce you are most likely pacing and need to slow down.
To avoid the pace, you also need to help the horse learn to separate his legs, so he doesn't 2 beat. The best ways to do this, are to serpentine, leg yield or push their shoulders or hindquarters over. You must learn how to do these things in the arena with your horse before trying on the trail. When going uphill, you will have to encourage your horse to keep the same speed by using more leg, do not let them change gait and do not canter. The uphill will build up your horse's hindquarters, you must teach them to push with their hindquarters in order to build it and hills are a great way. The stronger they get the faster their gaits will get over time.
Once you can ride your horse consistently at the flat walk and you can feel that you are staying with 4 beats then you can try for their next gait. Depending on your horse that could be a running walk (your horse must have overstride to do a running walk), saddle gait, rack or fox trot. These are all 4 beat gaits.
From the flat walk you will use both your legs squeezing with your calves to ask for more speed. Never kick or you will skip over gaits. You just want to push them faster. Keep your reins short with contact. If your horse is suppose to do a running walk, all you will feel is that you are walking faster, you will still move forward and back in the saddle, the horse will nod his head and you should feel their feet hitting the ground 4 times. That's why it is called a running walk, they are just walking but faster. You have to be able to feel how fast to push them and then keep them in it consistently, by feeling if they speed up, slow down or change their foot fall.
If your horse does a saddle gait or a rack, you will ask your horse to speed up the same way except when you go faster you will feel a slight side to side motion, like your putting weight into one stirrup and then the other, or you may feel complete stillness depending on your horse. The horse's head will not nod, but sometimes it can go side to side. Your job is to keep the horses head still with your contact. Now to keep them in the gait, you have to use your half halts and your leg. That's why you need to be able to feel the gait and if they slow down or speed up, you need to tell your horse to stay the same speed with your legs and your half halts.
If your horse does a fox trot, still ask to speed up the same way, but you will feel a soft bounce in the saddle, up and down. It should feel like a regular horse's slow jog, just a soft comfortable bounce. There will be some head nod with this gait, but do not let them swing their head side to side, use your reins to hold their head straight. Use your half halts and your leg to keep the same speed. You must feel the gait in order to keep them in it.
Now you also must be able to feel if your horse is going to go out of gait. If they start to change to a 2 beat pace, you must try to separate their legs, with serpentine, leg yield or move shoulders or hindquarters. You can try and bring the horse's head lower, so they round their back. With a pace most horses bring their head up, stiffen their back and swing their legs instead of using their muscles, so you are trying to do the opposite of what they are trying to do. You can also try and tilt your pelvis forward which will put more weight on their front end, which may change their foot fall.
You most likely will have to slow down some because your horse may not be strong enough to go faster yet and that is why he is pacing. So, if you try the above maneuvers and it doesn't work slow down and give him another month of flat walking and try again.
If the horse is trotting, you want to try and bring the head up and stiffen their back some and get your weight back by tilting your pelvis back. When the horse trots which is also 2 beats, they usually try and bring their head down and round their back, so you try to do the opposite. Similar to the pace, you may have to slow down because your horse is not conditioned enough to hold the gait.
When you're trying to get the next gait, feeling if your horse is getting pacey or trotty will help you figure out what to do and where to ask for speed. The pacey horses gait better going uphill and worse downhill. The trotty horses gait better downhill and worse uphill. So, when trying to build muscle and speed, use downhill for trotty horses and uphill for pacey horses.
This will take time, effort, and patience. You will have to practice over and over again until you get it. Reward the horse with rest and or treats when they do it correctly in the beginning. Making them do it longer and faster when they are learning will not be a reward and they will not want to do it.
Riding with others working on their gait, works best. Riding with fast riders whose horses already gait well and are flying down the trail will only make your horse pace or trot more as they try to keep up. The more they trot or pace, the harder it will be to get them to gait. So best not to ride with those groups.
Now you have an idea of what it should feel like and what to do. But remember feel starts slowly. You must take the time and get the correct feel with their slow walk before you can help them do the correct gait. To get feel takes time and patience, but in the end, it is well worth it, to do the correct gait. Taking short cuts will not pay off in the end. You will constantly be coming out of gait.
Also remember your horse must build the correct muscles, so if you do not condition them then do not expect them to gait well. It just does not work that way. Also remember the better bred your horse is and the better training it had before you got it, the easier it will be. But, if not bred well or poorly trained, it will be a much longer road to getting your horse to gait well. Have patience, they all can be better. A well gaited horse is not made in a day, they are made in years.
Gaited Books
Easy Gaited Horses By Lee Ziegler https://amzn.to/3vFuk8w
The Gaited Horse Bible by Brenda Imus https://amzn.to/3It0Imf
Gaits of Gold by Brenda Imus https://amzn.to/3jGXam0
Heavenly Gaits By Brenda Imus https://amzn.to/3ieKGBP
Training the Gaited Horse By Gary Lane https://amzn.to/3jPcAVq
DISCLAIMER: This description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission if you buy something. This helps support the website. Thank you for the support!