We have a 6 yr old TWH mare.   nice horse, I got her for my husband but he isn't as interested in riding as I'd hoped.  partly since she isn't confortable when she gets out of her running walk gait.  then she has a huge trot- no problem for me to post but it's frustrating for Mark as a beginner to deal with.   he's taken a few lessons and sort of has the hang of posting but would rather not. 

my question-  how hard will it be to teach this mare to gait and not trot?   she's never had much formal training from what I can tell but is super on the trail.  if I keep her slow she'll mostly stay in the running walk.   she came with a huge shanked walking horse bit which she seemed to hate.  she does fine in a kimberwick.     she's barefoot with wonderful hard feet and I'm keeping her barefoot.    

when she speeds up she kinda falls into a big road trot.   should I just keep her slow until she gaits all the time?   sorry but is this a stupid question?

thanks for your help!

Not even remotely a stupid question......you are right on target to keep her in her gait, if she has to slow down so be it..... She needs to be ridden in gait for awhile before asking for speed...partly getting her muscles used to gaiting. The less she is allowed to trot the better she will be.

Barefoot is fine for a twh....but if her head is wrong, so will her gait....I use and recommend Brenda Imus' books, particularly "Gaits of Gold" and the video which is about 10 years old, and may be hard to find.

Also Diane Gueck's first video possibly would be useful. The mare needs to flat walk and nod well before asking for the running walk. then any time she gets rough or out of sync, then half halt her back to her proper gait.

Now having said all that, with the shorter shanks, many will nose out which will mess up the head and so on. There are many mouthpieces on 8 inch shanks that will work on the poll and curb chain. One of my mares recently came home from the trainers and I changed her over to a Waterford mouthpiece in a Robarts pinchless bit. She is doing very well (much better than the broken mouth piece aka snaffle mouth). My girl did not like the movement of the mouthpiece on the interchangeable shanks and I have found that most of our horses do better with fewer moving parts in the bit. You may want to ty the solid twh pleasure bit which is very similar to a grazing bit.

And as you know, any bit can be bad in bad hands.....another thing to try is the english style hackamore as you can get the head set without pulling on the mouth. Since your husband knows the difference in her gears, it might be good for him to work with her on keeping her in gait.....you may already be aware of these catalogues but I'll mention them anyway....and the people at both places are very nice and knowledgeable (sp?) about twh and gaited horses in general. http://www.showstoppertack.com/  http://www.nationalbridle.com/

good luck

Just to be sure I looked up the information in Joe Webb's book and Brenda Imus' book....Both advise what I said above and also working a trotty horse downhill with request for speed made quickly, so as to avoid the horse moving into a trot. Joe Webb recommends working in mud, but still asking quickly for speed. Once the horse starts the gait, praise it....and then build up the time gaiting slowly to allow the muscles to develop and retain the gaiting form. Brenda Imus' also recommends using a heavy saddle and even putting books in saddle bags to get more weight on the trotty horse's back.

While it is more common to find twh who pace rather than trot, there are some....and I have one.....he will get uneven in back when I speed him up without a proper warm up and he definitely does a trot not a pace.  And the weight does make a difference;  when my nephew (6'4" 260) rode my horse, the horse did not even try to trot.

You also may want to video your husband riding the horse so you all can observe the foot falls and head position. Think this should turn out to be a labor of love,   riding her many miles keeping her in gait.

THANKS everyone for all your suggestions!  guess I should have said earlier we think she is a TWH.   may be something else mixed in there.  she's about 15.3, 1200 lbs, very stocky w/ solid legs and size 2 feet.    yes she defiately gets into a trot.   and it's a huge strung out road trot. she snaps her front legs up like a giant hackney pony.  she knows nothing about moving away from my leg or  collection- it's hilarious to ride her after riding my elegant dressage horse.  part of the problem is not enough time to ride any of them.   I'm going to try to ride her more and stick w/the  slow gaits.

another question- a lot of the gaited horses I"ve seen that are "collected" are really just pulled together by strong arms and the bit.    to me this isn't true collection and they'd just fall on their forehand if the rider let go.   can I teach her a better way? 

p.s.  she has a very fast, determined flat footed walk.   she does move her head a little side to side when she's doing her running walk thing but  if she gets a smidge faster all of a sudden  - boom- she's trotting.   that's where Mark has the problem since he dosn't have the experience to sense she's getting faster until it's too late. 

OK.  this is fun reading all your advise but I need to get off this thing and get  to work... 

The slight side to side action tells me she's racking and not walking.  No problem. Lots of walking horses rack.  Get her in gait, keep her in gait and slowly over time, ask for more speed.  Never ever let her trot.

And as always, lots and lots of wet blankets.

If her head is going side to side she's probably pacey or at least too lateral.

My view on head shake is different from others' here - I think the gait makes the shake, the shake doesn't cause the gait. We don't relay on bits for head shake or nod on our MFT and TWH - they both came with 'traditional' bits (tom thumb and twisted wire gag) but they go better with the Imus.

I have used the Imus bit too but found it useful only as a transition bit. 

If the horse is moving her head side to side, then it sounds like she is performing a stepping pace.....not a bad gait at all.

If you can get a video on her.............There are many twh who do about 4 million different gaits......as far as the collection, you can use your dressage exercises on her which should improve her way of going.....

Here's another thought from gaitedhorse.net

Are Gaited horses ridden differently? 
 
The gaited horse has to lighten the fore hand and engage the hind quarters to gait. Many styles of riding and styles of saddles that are used on trotting horses encourages the riders weight to be forward, over the horses shoulders, as that is the easiest place for a trotting horse to carry the extra weight. It is exactly the opposite for a gaited horse, weight over the shoulders makes it more difficult for them to maintain gait. To assist their horses in maintaining gait, some gaited horse riders will lean back, thrusting their legs and feet forward for good measure. When a horse gaits, you will feel the withers rise, but unlike the trot, the horses back remains concave.  The more vertical, forward weight placement of trotting horse equitation is enough to impair the elevation of the withers when the horse is asked to gait. A rider needs to assume a balanced seat, with the upper body SLIGHTLY behind true vertical (1/2 inch is often enough) and the heels an equal distance in front of the vertical.