Now a word about our gaited horse lessons......

Novice riders have enough to worry about just staying in the saddle, so it's no wonder some of them don't show much interest in gaited horses.
          Remember when you were first learning to ride a bicycle? You probably didn't have a whole lot of interest in a ten-speed English racer right then. It's the same with horses.

Today's gaited breeds require a more experienced rider to fully appreciate their capabilities.

Missouri Fox Trotter trainer Gale Thompson states,

"They may have five, six, seven, sometimes more different gaits that they can do and the novice has a hard time of determining, not only how to get them in this certain gait, but how to hold them there. So this is probably one of drawbacks and why people sometimes hold back on riding a gaited horse."

But they really shouldn't. With a little bit of instruction, beginning riders can soon master the basics. Best of all, with these gaited breeds, there's an alternative to the trot,

and that really smoothes out the road.