Re: Lummox's feet

Hi All, just wanted to clarify some points in the discussion about
Icelandic Horses (Ponies, yes, they are ponies):

The rack is the fifth gait sometimes used by Icelanding ponies.
Both left feet, then both right feet. Imagine a double-ended
rack: 1-3-5-7 alternating with 2-4-6-8. I imagine her rider
would get seasick fairly quickly.

Incorrect. You're describing a "pace", and most icelandics (or for that
matter, most horses period) don't pace.

Some breeds, for whatever reason are inclined to lateral gaits. It is
natural for them. The gaited horse breeds include, of course,
Tennessee Walkers, Missouri Fox Trotters, Peruvian Pasos, Paso Finos,
Icelandic Horses, Canadian Pacers, Rocky Mountain Horses, Kentucky
Mountain Horses, North American Single Footers, Racking Horses, etc.

Each breed has a "tendency", in general, towards a particular soft /
easy / intermediate gait, but individual horses within the breed may
lean towards being more trotty or more pacey.

The gait chart for all gaited horse breeds is here:

http://iceryder.net/gaitchart.html



The pace is an "artificial" two-beat gait for horses - 1/3-2/4 - Similar
to the trot, but instead of the diagonal legs moving together, the legs
on each side move together. Camels, llamas, and their kin, vicunas and
alpacas, all pace naturally. Horses have to be taught to do so, though
there is some evidence of the ability being breeding related. Some
horses simply cannot pace, period. Some do so as if that's all they've
ever known. Horses that pace almost never trot, and vice-versa - In
effect, there are two sets of gaits - walk/trot/canter, and
walk/pace/canter.

The pace comes natural to some horses, no matter which breed of gaited
horse. My gelding, Ljufur, was three-gaited: pace, pace, and pace.
In other words, his conformation, his musculature, and his neural
wiring inclined him to be pacey: slow, medium, and fast.

For talented, multi-gaited horses (no matter which gaited horse
breed), they can do the whole range of gaits from trot to pace,
including anything in between on the gait spectrum.


Icelandics don't pace - they "tolt", which is, when you get down to
where the hoof hits the ground, nothing more than a walk done at a
ridiculously fast rate.

All of the gaits basically have the same sequence in footfalls (same
as the walk): LH, LF, RH, RF.

The tolt is the same gait as the rack. The tolt / rack is a gait that
alternates between one foot and two foot support. Footfall sequence
is the same as the walk.

Some Icelandics can tolt; some can tolt and pace, some can only fox
trot, and some can do the whole range.


It eats miles at an almost scary rate, and they
can do it all day long.

Not necessarily. It is very tiring for the horse, altho, like any
athlete, it may come easier for one horse than another. Not all
Icelandics are created equally in their ability to tolt, or where
their conformation, musculature, and neural wiring falls on the gait
spectrum.


It's also incredibly smooth. If anyhorseother
than icelandics can do it, I haven't heard of them.

Lots of Tennessee walkers can rack because the running walk has been
bred out of them, with the breeders leaning more towards breeding
pacey horses.

In addition to individual horses within any gaited breed, the Pasos
also tolt / rack, called the largo / corto.

Translation of rack in other languages for their gaited horse breeds:
paso largo (fast), ah tha cha (Burma, others), chada, trapatka
(Russian), hetwahr (sometimes this word is also used for a saddle rack
or a step pace), yorga (Turkish), siar (Saudi Arabian), also used for
the half canter half walk: trippel.


Closest I know of is
the Saddlebred and/or Tennesee Walker's "running walk", but that's
supposedly not *QUITE* the same gait (though I'm damned if I can see the
difference between them)

The running walk is a gait that has two foot / three foot support,
same footfall sequence as the walk. It is done in a neutral frame,
generally with overreach (which you do not see in the tolt / rack),
and head nod (but not always).

The frame of the horse in tolt is more ventroflexed and appears to be
more downhill in front.


"In its pure form, the footfalls are the
same as in rack, but the Icelandic horse is bred for more freedom and
liquidity of movement. The most prized horses have a very long stride
and high lift with their forelegs." <<

I don't believe that the Icelandic Horse is bred for more freedomg and
liquidity of movement. Their legs move more like a sewing machine
needle and in tolt you can see the riders bouncing up and down, versus
the smoother rack of a big horse. Don't know who wrote that in
Wikipedia, but they probably were not seeing the whole gaited horse
picture.

There's lots of misinformation out there on Icelandic Horses
(Ponies... yes, again, they are ponies :-)).


Judy
http://icehorses.net
http://clickryder.com

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Training exercises for the hard to stop horse
    ... This is more like she is feeling her oats and chooses a pace ... the jump and not even heading to another jump. ... We start out jumping a single vertical at the trot, ... It keeps weight on without making the horses ...
    (rec.equestrian)
  • Re: Cinching with physical/strength limitations
    ... Pick the pace. ... On some horses you can touch a hoof. ... Get back into the saddle. ... My daughter and I have swapped horses w/o getting off while in the arena ...
    (rec.equestrian)
  • Re: OT: More Equestrian
    ... are bred specifically to pace. ... both left legs, then both right legs. ... Horses that pace only do it while trotting or foxtrotting. ... The canter is a three-beat gait where the two forelegs strike the ground at the same time and the hindlegs each have their own beat. ...
    (rec.crafts.textiles.needlework)
  • Re: Tomorrow - Norfolk Pace - Maureen?
    ... 7:00AM to ride before it gets too hot. ... and my daughter was along on one of the school horses... ... It was very different from the April pace at Lord Sterling... ... When I left the barn tonight he was as tired as i've ever seen him. ...
    (rec.equestrian)
  • Re: Lummoxs feet
    ... The rack is the fifth gait sometimes used by Icelanding ponies. ... most horses period) don't pace. ... Horses have to be taught to do so, ... than icelandics can do it, ...
    (rec.arts.sf.written)