baxtersmom wrote:
CdnHorseGal wrote:
When I ride a non-gaited horse, I can just easily trot and post on loose reins, very relaxed. Is that possible on a gaited? While y'all say the gait is glorious and all, can you just "fart around" in a gait, the way you can in a regular ol' trot?

Anyhow, my point/question - CAN you just hop on, relax, and putz on a gaited, beyond the walk? It looks like it takes a lot of technique to me. But I am MORE than willing to be edumacated!
At least with the MFT that is owned by another boarder, he gaits as easily as other horses trot - it's just his natural speed between walk and canter.

I think the "frame" you are used to seeing would be comparable to say, a dressage rider's way of asking their trotting horse to work - they are looking for a certain kind of work and movement from the horse. I believe most naturally gaited breeds will gait without being on the bit (some more than others), but riders may ask for a specific footfall pattern (as I understand it, the lateral gaits all have different timing between true diagonal aka trot and true lateral aka pace) or a specific way of going (more push from behind, more speed, more knee action, etc).

All the gaited horses I've known gait naturally. They just do it, like a non-gaited horse trots. They may not look especially pretty if they're just farting around, but it isn't some big special effort for them. They ride like any other horse, they just have a different way of moving their legs.

Now a nice, on the bit, properly collected, and correct gait takes much more work. A friend had Peruvian Pasos, and they gaited naturally. There was another gait (paso largo?) that they could do but took more work, so they didn't do it unless you asked specifically.