A special horse that will win your heart. "It's the gait!"

We mention this throughout the site, and it's really the first thing to say about the Rocky Mountain breed. It's the gait! The rocky has a natural four beat gait, which is rather a walk gone in very fast motion.  There is no trotting,  this motion does not bounce one up and down.  The motion is rather lateral,  going forward and backward,  and is very,  very smooth.  Once you have actually experienced it you will not believe it, and you will wonder why you suffered through all that trotting when you could have been gaiting down the road!

Training to gait
Rockies can be trained by natural methods rather than the tradition apparatus used on many of the high stepping horses people usually think of when they think of gaited horses.  The Rocky is not a high stepping horses, or need not be to be a champion.  It is his gait,  not his step,  that make him valuable.  By identifying  particular individuals who have a natural propensity to gait,  and breeding those horses, we can develop a horse unlike any other breed.

The use of traditional training methods, some of which employ a variety of equipment to cause the horse to lifts its legs unnaturally high, are discouraged in the Rocky Mountain breed rules and standards.  Trainers using these methods are presently disqualified from winning positions in the Rocky Mountain shows.  These horses are supposed to gait naturally, and some do this more than others. It would not be in the interest of the breed to award horses who have simply been trained to step high,  like any other gaited breed,  when what makes this breed unique is it's natural ability to gait. The idea is to learn how to teach the horse to develop his gait.

In California we are hard pressed to find any trainers to show us how to train our four beat gaited horses,  at least using natural and humane means. Orange Blossom Farm hopes to work with breeders from central California to bring out great trainers from back east a few times a year,  to teach us so that we can train our horses and teach others!



The different gaits explained...

The Walk
In this gait, the horse is alternately supported by three legs, and two legs. The sequence of event is as follows. The left hind leg moves forward while the other three feet are on the ground. Then the left front foot leaves the ground, leaving the animal supported by the two right legs. The two supporting right legs are far apart, with the other two legs in between. The left hind foot hits the ground, and the animal is supported by three feet again. The right hind foot leaves the ground, and the horse is supported by two diagonal legs that are close together. The left front leg hits the ground, giving a three-legged support. Then the motion continues from the start, but with left and right reversed: the right front foot leaves the ground, the right hind foot hits the ground, the left hind foot leaves the ground, and the right front foot hits the ground, completing the cycle. As humans move their arms to balance when walking and running, so too, the horse must move its head and neck to maintain its balance.

Ideally, the advancing rear hoof touches the ground ahead of the place at which the previously advancing front hoof touched the ground. This makes for a smoother and more comfortable (for the rider) walk. Different horse breeds (as well as different individual horses) differ in how smooth their walk is. Essentially all mammals, when walking on four legs, follow the same sequence: left hind leg, left front leg, right hind leg, right front leg, in a regular 1-2-3-4 beat.

The Pace
As in the trot, two feet are always off the ground. In the trot, two diagonally opposite legs move together; in the pace, the two legs on the same side of the horse move together. The trot is more common, but some
breeds of horses prefer to pace. Horses can be raced at a trot or pace, usually when pulling a sulkey. Among standard breeds, to whom almost all such races are restricted, pacers breed truer than trotters ­ that is, trotting sires have a higher proportion of pacers among their get than pacing sires do of trotters. Pacers are also faster than trotters on the average. The pace is very comfortable for riding and was sometimes used for transport of wounded.

The Slow Gait
This gait follows the same general sequence of movement as the walk, but the rhythm and collection of the movements are different. The slow gait was developed from the pace, a gait that can currently be seen in harness racing. In the pace, both legs on the left side move together and then both legs on the right side move together. The speed of the two-beat pace is even faster than the trot. If the length of the stride is kept long, but there is a slight gap between the foots-falls, the result is a gait that will be intermediate in speed between the walk and the pace, but very smooth.

The Rack
In the rack, the speed is increased to be approximately that of the pace, but instead of being a two-beat gait like the trot and the pace, it is a four-beat gait with equal intervals between each beat. The fast trot is difficult to sit because between beats the body of the horse actually falls (just as for humans running is a coordinated rapid process of falling forth and catching oneself). Each time another diagonal pair of legs hits the ground, the rider is given a strong upward impulsion and meets the horse with some force on the way back down. But in the rack the impulsive "explosions" are each divided in half because the hooves hit the ground individually rather in pairs. The rack is hardwired in the Racking horse, there are Racking horses that are of moderate speed and there are speed rackers. A Racking horse can rack as easily as other horses trot or canter.

Riding the Rack is like riding on a comfortable chair that slightly sways your hips gently from side to side. To achieve this gait the horse must be in what is termed a hollow position. Instead of a rounded back as seen in dressage horses and those that work of their hind quarters, the spine is curved downward.The downside of this is that this position weakens the back and makes the horse less able to carry the weight of the rider without strain.

This puts the racking horse in the best position to rack without breaking into another gait. If the rider sits back or leans slightly back this will cause the hollow back, or the back to curve downward. This allows the legs to trail and makes it easier for the horse to do the 4-beat single step called a rack.

The speed Racker can achieve speeds of a fast canter. The ride is smooth, and the rider appears to remain motionless as the horse racks. The horse's tail naturally is raised without nicking. The horse itself maintains a fairly still head and most of the action is in the tail and legs.

The Racking associations goal is to preserve the Racking horse in a natural state with little or no artificial devices that enhance gait. Some classes allow special shoes that enhance the gait but chains and other devices are not allowed.

The Foxtrot
The foxtrot is most often associated with the Missouri Fox trotter breed, but is also seen under different names in other gaited breeds. The foxtrot is a four-beat diagonal gait in which the front foot of the diagonal pair lands before the hind, eliminating the moment of suspension and giving a "no bounce" ride. The foxtrot is a comfortable gait for trail-riding.


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