Getting the first steps. How a young Saddlebred is taught to rack.

By Brita Barlow-Johnson

It is commonly said that the slow gait and the rack which are exhibited by the five gaited Saddlebred are “man made” gaits, but this term is misleading.  The horse must have the innate ability to perform the gaits.  (See my previous article “The Origins of The Gaited Horse in America”)  The only thing man made about them is refining the gaits for the show ring.  Some horses must first be forced out of their trot, but once they are made aware of the lateral gait, most Saddlebreds will take to it quite naturally.  If they don’t take to it, they may not be cut out to be five gaited horses and will find better use in one of the other divisions that do not require the slow gait and rack.

Some Saddlebreds are born “natural gaited”, while others are not built to make racking easy for them.  It is important to assess the colt’s conformation and natural abilities before attempting to gait them.  If they are too natural gaited, it is very possible that the trot will be lost completely, and the horse will only have a future as a racking horse or personal riding horse.  If the horse has too much hock action, or if he is very straight hocked, it will be very difficult for him to learn and perform the gaits properly.  There are some horses that are so strongly bred with trotting genetics that it is not possible to teach them to rack.
 

When evaluating a colt in the pasture, you want to see a horse that may have a bit of amble in his gait when he is shifting from the walk to a trot.  You also want to see a horse with a long low stride behind, or one that tracks up nicely under himself.  A horse with a very flat croup or one that trails his hocks behind him will find it very difficult to slide his hind legs under him in the smooth reaching motion of the rack.  On the other hand, if the horse is very short bodied, he may step up on his front heels.  Additionally, a horse that shows no speed will not be a successful finished horse as the goal for the rack is to show as much speed as possible without losing correct form.

The rack is a lateral gait which is best described as a broken up pace with two legs on each side hitting the ground in sequence.   Right hind-right front-left hind-left front.  The horse always has one or two feet on the ground.  The Slow Gait, when performed in its purest and most correct form should have 4 evenly spaced beats with no “pacey” motion.  The horse may have 3 feet on the ground at once, and only one in motion.  When the Slow Gait is accelerated to the rack, the horse will only have one foot on the ground, and the other three will be in motion.  A “Pacey” horse will have a noticeably lateral gait with the legs working in diagonal pairs.  An exceptional gaited horse will not show any lateral motion, racking in true “single foot” fashion.

A “natural gaited” horse will pick up the lateral gait very easily.  Care must be taken to never allow the horse to pace because once he learns this gait, he will resort to it whenever he gets tired or leg weary.  A horse with a very strong diagonal trot may be more difficult to break up at first, but in the end will make a truer racking horse because he will not have the tendency to pace.

As early as the 1600’s, horse trainers were force gaiting trotters trying to imitate the ambling gait of the Naragansett Pacers.  They used “trammels” which would be the same as pacing hobbles or cavaletti polls on the ground to off balance the horses and cause them to pick up a lateral gait.  This resulted only in pacing horses, because a horse must possess some single footing genetics in order to be trained to perform a four beat gait.  A Saddlebred, which possesses the natural inclination to rack, will be much easier to gait.

Back in the day when sophisticated training facilities and riding arenas were few and far between, colts were started on the roads, in the fields or out in the driveway.   Colts were gaited on a down hill slope to aid in lengthening the hind stride, but that is getting less common as training skills are refined.   Also, many early trainers would pull the front shoes and ride the colt on a rough surface making him tender footed.  This would shorten the stride in front, making the hind stride longer by comparison.

The hard surface of the road did have some advantages.  The colt and the trainer were more able to hear the rhythm of the foot falls.  Some trainers would even ride in the twilight when all other distractions were eliminated and the staccato hoof beats could be tuned to perfection.  It is interesting to note that some horses, even non gaited breeds, will occassionally try to mimic the gait they hear in their riding companions.  The sense of hearing can not be discounted as a training aid.  Wooden rattles are used on some horses to help develop rhythm.

Usually the gaiting takes place early in the colt’s life, but it is possible to gait an older finished horse.  The colt is green broke to ride and long line and perhaps to drive.  This training will have taught him to guide by reins, be accustomed to the rider’s weight and commands, and he will have gained strength in his back and legs.  Some trainers gait a colt before he is allowed to canter under saddle.  If a colt becomes confused by being asked new things, he may resort to a canter in hopes of pleasing his rider, and it is not possible to gait a colt from a canter.  Keeping the canter out of his repertoire only makes things easier for the trainer.

There are as many different ways to get the first steps of the rack as there are trainers.  There are many ways of describing it and the terms are misleading as well.  “Shaking their heads” and “Turning them upside down” are two popular descriptions.  A colt is always started in a snaffle bit and often with a running martingale adjusted very long.   Raising the head and shifting the horse’s weight to the rear will often unbalance them enough to cause them to amble or shuffle.  Some horses will have to have their heads raised so high that they will look very awkward and ugly as they are learning.  This is described as “Turning them upside down”.  As their training progresses, they are allowed to carry their heads in a more normal position.  It is hard for some people to believe that a horse traveling in such an awkward and disjointed way could be learning anything constructive, but it is just the first step in a long process.

If this is not enough, pulling first one rein and then the other, causing the horse to tip his head and weave down the rail will encourage the horse to try to catch his balance and change the cadence of his stride.  This is where the term “shaking the head” comes from.  Some trainers will pull the reins quite vigorously, but the horse’s mouth should never be handled roughly, and too much side to side motion will only encourage the horse to pace, not to pick up a four beat gait.   It has been said that “shaking their head” will only teach them one thing… to shake their head.  They may also happen to be forced off their feet into a rack, but you will also teach them to shake their heads which is not desirable in a finished horse.

Some colts will walk into a shuffling gait.  Others will need to trot into it, but this method may cause anxiety in a colt because he is being pushed along into something he doesn’t understand.  A colt that needs to be hustled along into a rack may not have the gameness and attitude necessary to make a good finished five gaited show horse.  Sometimes it may take many weeks or months of work before the first steps are taken, and patience is paramount.  The colt will be worked for only a few minutes each day with even small progress being highly praised so he is pleased and excited to have done it correctly.  A rack is a strenuous gait and the colt should only be allowed to continue for a few strides at first and then pulled up before he gets tired or confused and quits on his own.  Once the colt is shuffling on cue, it still may be many months before his gait resembles a true rack or is separated into a rack and a collected slow gait.  It will be even longer before the colt is asked for speed.

If possible, a colt is started barefoot.  This will reduce the chance of injury from the colt hitting his legs or stepping on his heals as well as giving the trainer the best idea of what the horses’ natural talents are.  Depending on whether the horse is too easy to rack, or finds it more difficult, shoeing changes can be made from there.   If the horse is very natural gaited, front shoes will be added.  If the colt is too strong in his trot, shoes will be put on the hind feet.  The object of adding weight is to slow down the leg to help in changing the cadence.  Adding a shoe and or weight to the hoof will cause the horse to pick his leg up higher, thereby increasing the time the hoof is in the air, and changing the timing of the stride.   If shoeing alone does not achieve the desired effects, then a light chain can be added.   Changing the angles of the hoof will also help to shorten or lengthen the stride.  Having a farrier with experience shoeing gaited horses can be a huge asset to a trainer.

Rider position also helps in getting the first racking steps.  The hands are held high and wide, making it easier to get the colts head up and tip the head from one side to another.  The colt can see the rider’s hands, and this in combination with not feeling the reins on the neck add to the cue to rack in the future helping the horse to understand and distinguish between the trot and the rack.  The rider may also push himself back in the saddle, and shift his weight in the stirrups from side to side as he steers the colt in the weaving pattern.  This will help to balance the stride.  Shifting the weight of the rider will cause the colt to step under himself on one side or the other to catch his balance.  These cues are used throughout the horse’s life to square up the rack and get the ultimate performance from a show horse.

A natural gaited horse will require a little more finesse in training and a different approach than a strong trotting horse.  The main goal of a trainer with a natural gaited horse is to teach the horse the difference between the trot and the rack and to take one or the other on cue instead of mixing them at will.  The horse must learn to “separate” his gaits.  If the horse has trouble picking up the trot, the rider must shift his weight forward or stand in the stirrups as if preparing to post to the trot.  The rider can steady himself by grasping some mane partway up the horse’s neck.  If this is done consistently, the horse will learn that if his neck is touched, or his mane pulled he should trot.

After a couple of months of basic training, the colt will be ready to progress to more difficult tasks such as maintaining the gait around a turn, gaining both speed and confidence, developing a collected slow gait, and learning to wear a double bridle.  See the upcoming article “Refining the Gaits” for more information regarding the gaited training of a Saddlebred.

Tagged as: Training