Question: JUST A GENERAL QUESTION. CAN YOU PERMENANTLY "RUIN" A
NATURALLY GAITED HORSE SO THAT HE WILL NEVER GAIT AGAIN? THANKYOU.
From Panelist Laura
No. You can make it hard to teach the horse the proper gait if you are rough with the horse in teaching him "not to gait." But I don't think any horse is permanently ruined.
From Panelists Lee
Well, if you continually ride him in a "wrong" gait, that gait will
become
his most comfortable, "favorite" natural gait, and he will be
less inclined
to do any other gait he might have started out doing. If you
keep this up
long enough, he will lose the muscle development that works for the
"other"
gaits, and they will become even more difficult for him.
Horses can get "stuck" in one gait after doing only that gait for a
long
time. A really good rider can usually "unstick" them, but it
is not easy,
and for some horses, not possible.
Lee Ziegler
