IS YOUR HORSE PACEY?
Squaring up a pace is probably the toughest problem to fix when working with a gaited horse. A lot of gaited foals will pace. As they grow, a lot of the pace will change to a more square gait but sometimes a foal will maintain a pacing gait into his adult life.
When you start a pacing colt, the weight of a saddle and rider will have some effect on squaring up the pace. If he continues to pace as you progress in his training then you have to change something and you have to fix it right away because the more you ride him pacing the harder it is to fix it.
There are shortcuts to squaring a pace but they usually don’t last so I’d rather not go into these methods. Over the past 30 years I have tested and practiced a method that seems to work on most pacers but it requires a lot of riding hours/miles repeated daily.
When a colt is reaching front and back with a good four beat gait, his head will be nodding in time with his back end stride. His head should be carried natural or a little lower. Flex at the poll should be natural not too flexed but not nosed out. Most colts can’t pace unless they hollow their backs and get their head up and nose out. This is a good way for the inexperienced rider to know the pace. If your colt gets his head up and quits nodding his head and you are getting a rough side to side ride, your colt is probably pacing.
You can square up your colt’s gait by using the method I’ll describe below but it is up to you to keep the pace out. You can do some good with heavy shoes, front weights, changing angles, caulked work shoes behind, riding in rough or deep ground, over poles, up hills, etc., etc., etc. These methods help but may or may not last.
If you don’t have these things readily available or would rather try a more natural and permanent method then try this:
Saddle your pacer with the saddle forward. Put a caveson on unbuckled under the chin, then put a rope gag bit on him with the corners of the mouth showing a couple of wrinkles. A bit too loose is worse than one too tight. It bangs around on their teeth if it is too loose. You have to have complete and relaxed control of your colt’s mouth to adjust and train the gait you want.
Next buckle the caveson snugly, not too tight, just tight enough to keep his mouth shut. Put a running martingale on and adjust it so that when you run the rope reins through through the rings and pull on them the rings are close to the jugular.
I need to say now that the equipment does not fix the pace but the hands do. I always shoe a pacing colt with keg, heeled shoes all around. Trim the front feet to natural angle and raise the rear up to 3 degrees above natural (no more than 3 degrees).
You really need a sandy or disked arena. A horse can easily pace on a flat hard surface. I’ve worked out a pace on trail rides also. The uneven ground helps. Start out walking as fast as your colt can without pacing. Every time he tries to get his head up and pace put a little pressure on the reins. The martingale will help him get his head back down. You have to keep asking your colt for more speed in the walk all the while scolding him when his head goes up and tries to pace. Remember, piano player hands not gorilla hands. You cannot force the pace out. You have to ask it out.
The above is half the job. The other half of the job is the fact that you have to ride your colt as much as possible to be effective without being too rough on his bone joints and his mind. If he fights the martingale too much slide a halter over the whole rig and let him stand tied for a while.
There is a lot to training out a pace and training in general. This is why trainers work by the month and not by the day.
Every time your colt gives to the pressure of the martingale you have to instantly give him some relief and pet him a little. You don’t have to pamper him too much. He needs to work for it. This takes a lot of repetition and when the martingale is no longer necessary you have to know when to drop it. You also need to know when to shoe his back feet back to natural angle and a plate, no heels.
The reason this takes so long is because you are gradually stretching the muscles from the poll to the hock. If you spend the time it takes to accomplish this using a method that works, your training will last and your colt will transition from a rough riding, no head nodding pacer to a pleasurable gaited horse.
A couple of things to remember:
ｷ Horse too Trotty?…seat back, head up with a gag bit, caveson, no martingale and walk, walk, walk. When he trots, scold him and make him walk. It takes time but if he walks briskly for weeks, his fox trot will actually get smoother. Also, shoe him with a heeled shoe in front and a plate behind, natural angle all around. Maybe lower the rear angle not more than three degrees for a little more rear end stride as long as it doesn’t have a negative effect on the health of the hoof and leg.
ｷ Horse too Pacey?…seat forward, head down with a gag bit, caveson, and martingale. Shoe him natural angle with heeled shoe in front. Raise the rear angle no more that three degrees and add a heeled shoe.
One last thought:
A lot of foals will pace. The presence of a pace indicates a lot of gait. Foals that show a lot of trot (not fox trot) do not possess a lot of gait. When buying or assessing the quality of a foal a little pace might be a good thing. I’d probably pass on a trotty foal unless it showed a lot of fox in the trot.
Authored by: Rick Gates
