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| Dog Walk | Rate Topic |
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| Posted: Sun Mar 6th, 2011 06:24 pm |
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1st Post |
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fireandice G.O.G Community Member 
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Why is the dog walk bad? When we trail ride, my pony is not always collected up and doing a 'working walk' as I call it due to some fairly challenging terrain, but it doesn't seem to hinder him at all. Should I be concerned with his gait potentially being negatively affected eventually if I let him relax and plod along for say, maybe 3/4 of a 5 or 6 hour trail ride? He will collect up right away and 'scrunches' himself up to a working walk or nice gait as soon as I ask him, but is just as happy loosely and 'longly' walking. The majority of trails I ride are heavily brushed, winding and twisty with rocks, hills, downed trees, water and wooden bridges to cross. A horse has to be mindful of where they place their feet and so there's not much opportunity to really gait. Perhaps I should start incorporating a bit more flat work instead of so much trail riding. What do y'all think? All critiques and experiences welcome  . After a year from hell, I'm getting a little more back into riding and even before my tragedy, was brand new to gaiting breeds. I don't want to ruin a good horse but I HATE the arena. I'd rather gait on a road than I had a ring - as would my pony, neither one of us likes arenas. But I'm not an ostrich and his dislike is likely directly linked to my dislike of arenas. Too many years of drum-running - I see barrels or poles and my heart starts racing - I've yet to master controlling my heart rate when I see an arena.Bear with me as I may be asking more questions in the future while attempting to get back in the saddle more. Thanks guys, T.
____________________ My pony knows all my secrets. I braid my tears in his mane and whisper my dreams in his ears. |
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| Posted: Sun Mar 6th, 2011 11:25 pm |
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2nd Post |
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sdlepal Ranch Hand 
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I don't have the answer to your question, but I will be interested in the answer. My SSH gaits, I think it is a foxtrot, however we just plod along behind DH on the trails. Our trails are a lot like yours and not much places where we can speed up much. When I first got my horse, he is my 1st gaited, I was expecting him to just take off and gait all the time. Then I realized we can't do much more than walk due to the terrin. I don't do arena work either. Depending on the campgrounds sometimes there are gravel roads to ride on and then we practice our gaiting.
____________________ Pam and Cowboy Casey |
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| Posted: Mon Mar 7th, 2011 01:16 am |
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3rd Post |
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ladysrider G.O.G Community Member 
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There is nothing wrong with a dog walk. If you think about it, the flatwalk is about the equivalent of a nongaited horse's trot. Would you trot your horse during the whole trail ride? In heavy brush or when the trail is narrow through wooded areas, a dog walk makes sense. A dog walk also makes sense when the horse is not in shape (like mine right now). I just went on my first trail ride of the year today with friends, some on gaited horses some not. We went as fast as the slowest horse could do. Sometimes we had a good flatwalk or running walk going, but most times it was the dogwalk.
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| Posted: Mon Mar 7th, 2011 04:36 am |
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4th Post |
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TN Trailrider G.O.G Community Member 
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I also see nothing wrong with a dog walk. I do it most of the time. If you are out on the trail for 3-4 hours, you can't keep your horse "collected" all that time. It's too hard on them to stay in that frame. At least I think it is. I'm out to enjoy the trail, the company, and the riding and don't want to be constantly working the walk anyway.
____________________ Lynne |
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| Posted: Mon Mar 7th, 2011 12:32 pm |
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5th Post |
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whattarack Pasture Boss 
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http://www.gaitsofgold.com/Gaited-Horse-Training-Articles/you-can-collect-that-gaited-horse.html Here is Brenda's training article about Collection.
____________________ Being Offended is Optional. |
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| Posted: Mon Mar 7th, 2011 01:24 pm |
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6th Post |
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fireandice G.O.G Community Member
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Good article, makes me more comfortable with allowing my pony to stretch out and relax on the trails. But I think it would behoove me to practice gaiting a little more. Sigh...maybe I'll try an arena to do this (s2), or at the very least incorporate a little more road riding. T.
____________________ My pony knows all my secrets. I braid my tears in his mane and whisper my dreams in his ears. |
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| Posted: Mon Mar 7th, 2011 01:42 pm |
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7th Post |
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quaillady G.O.G Community Member 
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I let my Paso plod along like any ol' Quarter Horse when we are just out riding along. At hunting tests, I need to be focused on watching the dogs, and not on what my horse is doing, he just needs to go along and carry me where I steer him. I need him to be safe and reliable, so I can concentrate on the dogs. Maybe he doesn't gait well, but for what I need, it works out fine.
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| Posted: Mon Mar 7th, 2011 04:23 pm |
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8th Post |
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karenlexsc G.O.G Community Member 
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Quaillady, who is the beauty in your avatar? That's not a Paso, is it?
____________________ Karen No hour of life is wasted that is spent in the saddle. ~Winston Churchill |
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| Posted: Tue Mar 8th, 2011 01:56 am |
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9th Post |
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quaillady G.O.G Community Member
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Karen, the avatar picture is my 4-year-old "Wings." He is a TWH, although registered as a Spotted Mountain Horse. Maybe some day I will have skills enough to post pictures of the other horses.
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| Posted: Tue Mar 8th, 2011 02:50 pm |
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10th Post |
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karenlexsc G.O.G Community Member
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He's gorgeous! But then again he's similar to my avatar, Lacey, and also SPOTD RIDR's Mira. Love his look! Yes, post more pics. Not hard if you first shrink them - I use shrinkpictures.com, choose a smaller size, then save it back to your computer (in your pictures section) and I name mine a description of the pic and add the word "smaller", so I can tell which one will work here. Then back here, when in the reply box, just choose browse (below) find it and hit "send". Would love to see your Paso, and sure the others would too! Last edited on Tue Mar 8th, 2011 02:51 pm by karenlexsc ____________________ Karen No hour of life is wasted that is spent in the saddle. ~Winston Churchill |
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| Posted: Tue Mar 8th, 2011 08:22 pm |
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11th Post |
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Lakota G.O.G Community Member 
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Ya, ya'll are spot on. These gaited horses are still horses. On the trail you go at a sensible speed to conserve their energy (especially if you want to have them carry you back to the trailer!) These days I do more road riding 'cause that's what's right out the door. I find it's a great place to work on the gaits of a young horse or to keep the older horse refreshed. I only use the arena/round pen for initial breaking or to work on a specialized problem.When starting out, walking is great to warm up those muscles, then I gait for awhile which gets any ants out of their pants. When they're calming down and listening good, I like to let them walk & get their heart rate back down. I don't like to let them dog walk on the road as they seem to look for something to spook at. If they walk just a little faster, it seems to eliminate that, but on the trail there ain't a thing wrong with dog walking if that's what you want to do. I'm not trying to kill a horse, but I usually have a destination and I don't want to spend all day getting there, so I do gait a lot. I ride in amish country where everybody has a hitching rail. My Paso however, just doesn't like to walk. She will go at the forward speed of a walk, but she is racking. If she's been on trails for several hours, she will walk.lol Last edited on Tue Mar 8th, 2011 08:26 pm by Lakota |
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| Posted: Mon Mar 14th, 2011 08:29 am |
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12th Post |
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Nevada G.O.G Community Member
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I ride with quarter horses and gaited horses at different times. My horse is 12 years old this April and she has no problems switching from different modes of travel. She willingly walks when asked, though a bit fast if she is in front of the QH's, to her natural gait which is a rack when she is with gaited buddies. This said however, if I ride with the QH's several times in a row, she often will be reluctant to hold a gaited riding session without several starts before she will hold it till asked to stop. Its if she is asking me are you sure you want to do this now........
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| Posted: Mon Mar 14th, 2011 08:44 am |
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13th Post |
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Nevada G.O.G Community Member
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I have the sister in color to Wings...see avatar....blaze face, four white stockings and white tail.....with two white markings on each shoulder....however she is a TW/SSH cross. Attachment: phpWCBXvUAM.jpg (Downloaded 50 times) Last edited on Mon Mar 14th, 2011 09:00 am by Nevada |
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| Posted: Mon Mar 14th, 2011 03:06 pm |
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14th Post |
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quaillady G.O.G Community Member
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Wow! She sure does look like Wings! He is extremely handsome, if I do say so myself... Someone asked me once when they saw his baby pictures, why he had casts on all four of his legs!
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