[doulai]

I do not explain properly, you are right:
tying the tongue to not swallow it and respiration and tying the head is for pacing, they cannot go to gallop when they have the head up, i remember now...

[Asfaloth]

Yep head down for trot and gallop and head up and very collected for foxtrot and less collected for pace.
To get the foxtrot I also train on the road. I think the smooth surface helps out untill they really learn it. I sort of acidentaly taught Whiskey so it is trial and error with baby but here is what I have so far.
First I worked on slowing her trot and teaching her to engage her hind end with backing up and lots of trotting in collection. Now she has got her hind end collected better she is prepared to foxtrot.
This right now is easiest to get when she is feeling a bit hyper and energetinc. Basically I hold her up in the front with half halts while asking ehr to trot with my seat. but is less relaxation in the hip than you would alow for a trot. When she falls out of frame and begins to trot I bring her back to walk and start again. You should feel like your horse is uphill under you. Her front end needs to elevate so she can reach up under with the hind legs and drive from the hind end. Right now I'm only getting a few strides and it is only just the last ride or two she has begun to try to gait for me.
Pace is really actually quite comfortable compared to trot once you learn to sit it. it is diferent and requires you to lean back a bit and kind of brace with your feet on the stirrups and sit on your seat bones lightly. The only way to sit this comfortabley even though it seems like incorrect equitation.

[jacksydneyellen]

I have recently got a standardbred who was an ex racer. She came to us saddled but not backed. She was so calm that we just tacked her up and rode her and she just took it all in her stride. She is just so trusting, anything that she is wary of, you just talk to her and reassure her and she will just walk right past. I think any wariness will pass as well once she gets used to having someone on her back as opposed to walking by her side.
I walked her around our track one day with my four year old daughter riding her and the other horses in the field were running around calling to her and she just calmly walked right passed them as though they weren't there.
Apart from that, she is beautiful. She has the most gorgeous deep reddish brown and a lovely long mane and tail. And she is so solid. I love her to pieces.
I thought I would add a photo but it does not capture her really.

[ShadyGirl82]

i am looking into adopting a thoroughbred right now... i love riding a "paced" horse.. i rode an appy that had that gait and it was so pleasant. however i want a horse i can trot (for show)

how hard is it to train them and what exactly do you do to get tehm to understand thats what you want?

[AnnaBelle02]

Training the trot - even to a pacer - is very simple. You just need to develop their balance (which you should do with any breed). Lots of bending - starting them just with a surcingle and side reins on the lunge is a great starting point, because it will also help to teach them to lower their head - the lower the head the easier it is to bend and trot.
Some people will use troting poles, but personally I think that is a quick fix solution (and only temporary) you really need to teach them the basics of bending (as I said - what any horse needs to know). I showed my standardbred pacer for years in the hunter ring and the majority of standardbreds that show end up in the hunter ring. At the adoption society I volunteer for we host a show (for standardbreds only) and its so great to see that in the morning they may be showing in the hunter ring and in the afternoon they've moved on the barrel racing - they are such versatile horses and with basic training (done simply by an average rider) they can do ANYTHING (we even have some doing dressage!).

Jacks - I know what you mean by encouraging them even when they are affraid. I usually just start twisting my mares mane playfully between my fingers and telling her " It's ok Belly, walk up" and even though you can see those big soft eyes looking at it like "Oh no, I don't like that" you can just sense that their head is going - "Alright, if you think its ok". Even to the point where they will pause once more right before you get to the "thing" like they are saying "Are you still sure its ok?", and with one last little squeeze they generally drop their head, relax and move on past. I love it!!

Asfaloth - I find that my hip joint almost feels (this is the best way I can describe it) like a well oiled hinge when she foxtrotts - it just feels really fluid in the socket. And your whole body feels light. I've been working her at a really slow pace in the ring (she collects the canter really nicely from this too), and I find she is really changing in her balance - obviously the slower the pace the harder it is for them to balance but I think she is finally working it out in her head and its getting nicer and nicer to ride to. Is their any way I can engager her hind end in a slow pace? Because she is moving so slowly I'm assuming she isn't pulling so vigerously with her front end and therefore using both quarters equally.

[Asfaloth]

I think at the pace they really dont engage either end more than the other it is so much a lateral movemelt it you put them on the hindquarter you get the foxtrot and if you let them fall forward you get a trot so the pace really requires that you hmmm shal we say encourage them to stretch out more. I really never though how to slow tha pace down. Woyuld be like a rack I think. Never rode that gait myself before. My friends racking horse goes with her head down and sort of long low and really relaxed if that gives you any ideas.

[AnnaBelle02]

I get her to slow her pace by sitting really deep - I know thats a feat in itself, but once you get used to the pace its possible - so I sit deep and just half halt (give her all the signals I want her to slow - as I would with a trot) but I keep my leg on when I get what I want and tell her "good". When she is in this "slow pace" - I'm riding in a close contact saddle but my pelvis wants to rock back and you do feel like you are sitting really deeply - but not like at the fox trot where you can sit up on your seat bones. So my pelvis rocks back, and its still more of a lateral as opposed to an up-down movement - but I have no idea if its a rack either (I should get someone to video me) oh and her head set is lower than when she is in the pace.
I've gotten her into the fox trot from a running walk and from a pace before - I just don't know exactly how I've done it!!
I've been told by a TWH breeder that if a horse will pace they will fox trot (its their next natural gait). I need to see if I can find a pic of her TWH, you can REALLY see the STB influence (I had no idea until I went to an open barn at her breeding facility that the STB had such a large impact on the TWH).

[Asfaloth]

Wow thats really cool about TWH's I love that breed as well and was considering geting a spoted one they come in appaloosa markings awhich I love. But I just love STB's more.
Was watching baby gallop across the field this morning and noticed that she has begun to use her hind end a lot more even when at liberty. her gallop looks less disorganised than it used to .

[AnnaBelle02]

OH by any chance what she galloping in the snow?? My mother is in Pittsburgh at the moment and she said there was something like 6 inches of snow this morning. Did you get any of that Asfaloth?
Its amazing how reworking their muscle structure can make such a difference in their movements. When you watch them coming off the track and into "riding" training the process from start to finish never ceases to amaze me - they are such versatile and talented horses.

[Asfaloth]

Well it was snowing...big fat wet flakes. But it all melted when it hit the ground.
It was so funny because I really was leaning toward not turning them out in that mess this morning. But they were loving it. For the past year Baby lived at a place that did not turn them out if it was raining or snowing at all. I had goten a touch of that in me I guess and I have been really reluctant turning her out in all of the rain we have been getting. I'm glad though that she gets to be out. My other horse is still there and has hardly been out at all for the past week due to all of the rain.

Yeah it is something to see than go from unbalanced and awkward to graceful and collected.