Seems my quarter horse is really a Standardbred! Surprise surprise!!

[country freedom]

ENABLER!
Now you are making me want a horse!

That horse in that video was FLYING!
Guy looked like he was just trying to hang on. LOL
Looks like a very smooth ride.

 

[valmom]

Very cool! Growing up we used to call that single-footing and tried to get our horses to do it. It is very comfortable!

 

[Farmfresh]

Alright HERE I am!

Although we have not had Standardbred horses we HAVE had Racking Horses NRHA and Tennessee Walking Horses.

There should be no surprise that a Standardbred can be a fine racking horse. Remember that both the American Saddlebred and the Tennessee Walking Horse come from Standardbred roots!!

You are right about that gait ... super cool. The Racking Horse that we had for a few years was double registered TWH. Her name was Lady and ... like wow man ... that witch could FLY!!

Part of the problem that people encounter with teaching a Racking Horse to canter is that the canter is a gait begun by the hind foot, followed by the next diagonal pair and then ending on the front foot diagonal to the starting foot called the "lead" foot. If you look at those pics the horses are so extended during the rack it is very difficult for them to gather up and change their leg pattern.

A good working canter with balance and athletic motion is even more difficult for a Walking horse, since the running walk is a broken pacing gait and the canter is a diagonal gait. That is why, when showing, both Walking horses and Saddlebreds usually come to a walk before picking up the canter.

A good trainer will insist that a horse be able to collect as well as extend in ALL gaits. (A nice extended walk, which you never see, is great for the horse and a good long day working gait.) A good trainer will teach a horse to move with his back end under himself. This makes them light in the shoulder AND light in the mouth.

If your daughter is planning on doing any jumping, plenty of work on extension and collection (at all speeds) will be very beneficial. Also work on the haunches (such as a turn on the hindquarters or pivot) and turn on the forehand (around the front legs) will be helpful. You want to be in complete control of the horses whole body and able to shift his weight where you need it - with the touch of a "button". At that point he will be ready for ANY athletic activity you choose.

My "mane" mare when I was young was basically dressage trained like this. She was a very TB Quarter Horse. We competed in Open Jumping, Reining, and the race games (Barrels, Poles, Flags) as well as Equitation Classes. When you can control their motion they are versatile!

We also had a Tennessee Walking Horse stallion, Treasure the Sun. I did a majority of the training on him as well. He could perform a flat walk, natural running walk, square trot, fox trot, rack and canter. He was inspected and then registered as a foundation Fox Trotter after he preformed his fox trot for the inspector. He could also preform sliding stops and rollbacks and had a glorious athletic canter.

 

[patandchickens]

He does look QUITE a lot more STB than QH, although I can certainly understand STBs not even being on your mental radar when looking at generic horses in your part of the world.

That's great that you've taken such good care of him and I'm glad he's turned out to be such a good horse for you!

I've worked with a few off the track, tho not too awful many compared to TBs. There really isn't anything for you TO know about them, as long as its no longer an OTT project and you've got the gaits behaving properly for whatever you want to do (and it sounds like yours canters fine, so should have no problem with little h/j stuff)

The main distinguishing thing about them IMO (other than a tendency to funky gaits that don't always meet showring expectations and may or may not be comfortable to the rider, and that they tend to come off the track with serious and often not entirely fixable feet/stifle/suspensory problems, but yours was probably never raced) is that they have WONDERFUL brains. (On average. There are of course exceptions). They are such sensible, levelheaded, try-to-do-what-you-ask critters. I suppose you probably wouldn't want to be towed at 40 mph in a sulky behind one with your silk-clad butt 12" above the gravel if they WEREN'T levelheaded LOL. But, really, I quite like them mentally.

Good luck, have fun, congrats on a lucky horse ,

Pat

 

[big brown horse]

Thanks Farmfresh! Great information about cantering/collecting etc. I'm sure the trainer will help with all that.

Thanks Pat. You know, almost every backyard bred horse in TX is quarter horse with ties back to Poco Bueno. (Jojo looks like him too.) Poco Bueno was ledgendary for many things, one being that he was over bred in that area. I had so many people tell me he is a "Poco Bueno" horse. Because of that I never thought to look up gaited horses. He does have some good "working quarter horse" qualities.

Jojo has what I've been calling "mammoth mule feet". His front hooves look like cinderblocks, they grow somewhat straight up. Is this a Standardbred thing? I've never seen anything like it. Then again I've never been around gaited horses much either. I assumed it was just bad hoof conformation. I'll take a better photo of them today.

 

[big brown horse]

Poco Bueno:

http://www.colourwashfarm.com/FARM/pedigree_pics/PocoBueno.jpg

 

[Farmfresh]

That old mare I was telling you about was Poco Bueno bred on her mom's side and Vandy (which is TB) on the top half. I really like that old foundation breeding for Quarter Horses. Another line I like is Leo.

 

[big brown horse]

Do you have photos? I would love to see her! I never paid attention to good breeding b/c I always had rescued mutt horses.




Disclaimer:
I personallly would never buy a nicely bred "normal horse" b/c I think I have a knack (and the patience) for rehabbing forgotten/neglected horses...and believe me, there are a ton out there! It isn't easy and it isn't for everyone, but since I think I'm pretty good at it, I feel it is my responsiblilty to do it. However it is fun to get one that actually "is" something. My 30 year old came to me (8 years ago?) dead on arrival almost. I started to rehab her, omg, she was a hard one! It took almost a full year to put a decent amount of weight on her ribs... During that time I discovered she had a faded lip tatoo. It felt like I found a rare antique at a thrift store, some of you know and love that feelilng. My pal who is a member of a quarter horse society, (AQHA) used her membership to look up the number. Turns out poor old Ms. Twinky was an ex "quarter horse racer" with a few good runs behind her. Kinda exciting to have an old celeb of a horse. lol

I'm rehabbing another OLD guy right now. When he looks good enough to post before and after pics, I'll share his story.

 

[Farmfresh]

I only have one poor quality one on the computer right now.

She is the blaze faced sorrel carrying the flag in front and that little cow gal is ME.

I have a lot of far better pictures, but alas ... none are digitized yet.

Added:

Lassie was a re-hab as well. She was sold as a weanling for $2,000 (!) yet we bought her as an almost 3 year old broke to ride for only $500. She had been repossessed by the breeder. When he found her she was starved almost to death grazing in a corn stubble field and drinking out of a drainage ditch. Fortunately he was a veterinarian and pulled her through the worst of it. Still when we bought her the malnutrition had caused her skin to literally fall off of her back. She was RAW meat. She was also lethargic and weak. We used to grease her back up with lard and put a cloth diaper on her back before the saddle pad. Her coat was almost a red dun color - FAR from the bright red sorrel she really was.

Time and proper nutrition DID pay off. She was a beautiful mare.

 

[big brown horse]

WOW isn't she beautiful?! And look at you cowgirl!!!!

Good job!