All posts by Jennifer Klitzke

"Dressage is more than trot...and the saddle you ride in." -Jennifer KlitzkeSome traditional dressage riders believe that dressage is ONLY for horses that trot. While many gaited horse owners believe that dressage will MAKE their gaited horse trot. Others believe that teaching their gaited horse to trot on cue will ruin their horse's natural gait.I challenge these notions and here's why...Dressage improves the quality of natural movement in a horse whether it trots or has a smooth four-beat gait.Dressage is a French term for training the horse and rider. Whether a horse is ridden in an english or western saddle; whether the horse trots or gaits, it doesn't matter. Dressage brings about the best natural movement whether the horse walks, trots, flat walks, fox trots, or canters.Why? When a rider grows in knowledge, awareness, and application of a balanced riding position with the horse's center of gravity and applies effective use and timing of leg, rein, seat, and weight aids to communicate with the horse, dressage improves relaxation, balance, rhythm, connection, harmony, engagement, straightness, and collection. These elements improve the quality of movement and the full range of motion. For the naturally gaited horse, this means, smoother gaits, deeper strides, and a sounder horse for longer.Enjoy the journey!

I Bought A Gaited Horse, Why Doesn’t It Have A Smooth Gait?

I bought a gaited horse why doesn't it have a smooth gait

Did you buy a gaited horse and wonder why it paces, has a hard trot or doesn’t stay in a smooth gait consistently? I did.

Here’s my story…

I bought a gaited horse, why doesn’t it have a smooth gait?

By Jennifer Klitzke

Does a gaited horse need special shoes or does a farrier need to trim a gaited horse at special hoof angles for a smooth gait? Do you need a certain bit or a gaited saddle? Does a gaited horse a professional trainer to make the horse smooth?

Smooth gaits are genetic to gaited horse breeds, such as the Tennessee walking horse, Foxtrotter, Paso Fino, Rocky Mountain, Icelandic, among others. Each gaited horse breed has a unique set of natural smooth gaits as the flat walk, running walk, fox walk, fox trot, largo, saddle rack, tolt, to name a few.

We watch people riding these smooth breeds. They aren’t bouncing. They are smiling and enjoying themselves on the trail. Their bodies aren’t paying for it later. We think, “I gotta get myself one of those smooth gaited horses!”

Here’s my story to a smooth gait

Me, I had over twenty years dressage lessons and study and rode and trained walk-trot-canter horses. I had never heard of smooth gaits like flat walk, running walk, fox trot, tolt and saddle rack. Nor had I heard of desired attributes as head shaking, head nodding, ear flopping, and teeth clicking.

All I knew is my youthful mind grew into a grandma body, and I wanted a smoother horse to ride.

My first smooth gaited horse

Makana
Makana, my naturally gaited Tennessee Walking Horse filly.

In 2007 I bought my first smooth gaited horse, a three-year-old, naturally gaited Tennessee Walking Horse. Her name: Makana which is a Hawaiian word for gift. Makana was family raised, imprinted at birth with 20 rides on her when she became mine.

Dressage had been the only form of riding and training I knew. Yet, the competition world told me dressage is ONLY for horses that trot. Gaited horse owners said dressage would MAKE my gaited horse trot. Others said dressage would RUIN my horse’s natural smooth gaits.

Okay, so what were my options? I looked for books and scoured YouTube for videos about training gaited horses. Then I came across videos showcasing Tennessee Walking Horses. The horses moved in exaggerated and unnatural ways, and I wondered why. Then I noticed the horses’ long toes wearing heavy shoes, pads and chains. The riders sat on the horses’ loins and wore long spurs to drive them forward into two-handed contact with big shank bits?! The horses looked tense and distressed.

If this is how Tennessee Walking Horses are trained, I would have NO part of it! Dressage is all my barefoot Tennessee Walking Horse would know.

That’s when I set out to discover “dressage is more than trot.”

If this is how Tennessee Walking Horses are trained, I would have NO part of it! Dressage is all my barefoot Tennessee Walking Horse would know.

That’s when I set out to discover “dressage is more than trot.”

Two decades of dressage lessons, study and application taught me the benefits of dressage for the horse. Dressage teaches relaxation (in mind and body), balance, rhythm (even tempo and strides), forward movement without rushing, connection, symmetry (even flexibility), collection (engagement), and harmony between the horse and rider. Through this training over time, dressage develops the horse’s full range of motion, quality smooth gaits on cue, and long-term soundness.

Just because my Tennessee Walking Horse doesn’t trot, why couldn’t we glean the benefits of dressage to improve quality smooth gaits?

We set out on a mission to find out.

It didn’t take long in our training to realize my gaited horse had ALL the gears: walk, trot, canter, flat walk, pace, step pace, saddle rack, and fox trot. It was my job to learn what each smooth gait felt and sounded like and put cues to.

Easy? No, but the journey has been amazing and rewarding!

Watch: How dressage improves smooth gait

Process to quality smooth gaits on cue

Using dressage, my process to developing smooth gaits on cue with my naturally gaited Tennessee Walking Horse began at a free walk. Since Makana was only three years old, we walked a lot for the first season. If Makana had been older than three, I would have walked with transitions to a smooth gait sooner.

The free walk on a long rein (with a light contact) began a good pattern of developing an even four-beat muscle memory. I encouraged relaxation (of mind and body), forward motion without rushing, and L-O-N-G, ground-covering strides. The free walk also stretched her spine and strengthened her top line muscles. This is especially important for long-term soundness.

Makana at three
2007: Here’s my three-year-old naturally gaited Tennessee Walking Horse. We began our training with a relaxed and forward without rushing free walk on a long rein. This quality walk develops an even four-beat muscle memory and encourages maximum length of strides. It also stretches the spine and develops the top line muscles of the horse.

I rode Makana five-six days a week for 30-40 minutes. This ensured we were making progress. Three days a week would only maintain the training she had.

The aids of communication

Dressage teaches communication with the horse through leg, seat, weight and rein aids to lead the horse into relaxation. Coming from the dressage world, snaffle bits are all I know to develop a means of communicating with the horse’s mouth, lower jaw, and poll. It is important to develop a positive relationship with my hands and the horse’s mouth for bit acceptance and a relaxed mouth, jaw and poll.

Often, I see gaited horses ridden in curb bits with two-hands and contact. The horses look stiff and tense and are often pacing or step pacing. That’s what we experienced when I tried riding this way (as pictured). I wonder if gaited horses develop a habit of pacing when trained in curb bits this way.

pace riding two handed with curb contact

I wonder if many gaited horses develop a habit of pacing because they have been trained in body tension and/or mental anxiety.

If riding two-handed with a curb bit and contact creates tension, it makes it difficult to teach the horse bit acceptance and relaxation. Horses learn to evade the bit by dipping behind the vertical, fighting the bit, running away from the bit, and locking their jaw which creates tension through the body leading to pacing (as seen in the photo above).

Relaxation is key to developing smooth gaits

Relaxation doesn’t mean sleepy and dull. Relaxation means the absence of body tension and pain and mental anxiety are key in developing smooth gaits.

Relaxation (in mind and body) is key. Relaxation doesn’t mean sleepy and dull. Relaxation means the absence of body pain and tension and mental anxiety are key in developing smooth gaits.

I stopped riding in a curb bit and returned to a mild snaffle bit. A relaxed mind makes for a teachable horse that is less distracted and anxious. A relaxed body makes for a more trainable horse that is less tense and braced and more comfortable.

I began teaching Makana how to accept a light, gentle contact with a mild snaffle bit. At the same time, I needed to follow her natural head and neck motion with relaxed arms, hands, and fingers. The hands are an important part of dressage communication and trust.

Learn more: How to introduce a gaited horse to a snaffle bit

In addition to hand aids are leg and seat aids.

Cues to the free walk

  • Allow the horse to move forward with a light contact
  • Simultaneously squeeze and release the lower calves at the girth, urge the seat forward, make a “cluck” sound
  • Say the word, “walk”

Leg yield exercises

I introduced another application of my rein and leg aids with leg yields at a walk. I positioned Makana straight at the quarter line of the arena and encouraged her forward with both calves and released. Then I applied my lower calf at the girth as Makana’s hind leg was about to leave the ground to urge her to step that hind leg under her belly and move forward and slightly at an angle towards the wall or fence.

Introducing steps of smooth gait

When I began to transition my naturally gaited Tennessee Walking Horse from a relaxed free walk into a few consecutive steps of flat walk, sometimes we had a couple steps of many random gaits: flat walk, running walk, step pace, pace, saddle rack, fox trot, and a poor quality four-beat gait that felt like a “flat walk in a tight skirt.”

I’d slow her down to a relaxed walk and ask for the flat walk again. My filly broke into another gait because she lacked strength and balance to hold the flat walk for more than a couple steps.

My filly broke into another gait because she lacked strength and balance to hold the flat walk for more than a couple steps.

When I rode non-gaited horses, there was a clear difference between a walk, trot and canter. The hardest part was discerning the level of quality within each gait.

The hardest part about riding a young, green Tennessee Walking Horse is discerning one smooth gait from another. Smooth feels smooth. How do decipher one smooth gait from another? This takes time to develop a feeling, listening, and noticing for. Some smooth gaits have a head nod like the flat walk, running walk and fox trot. Some smooth gaits do not have a head nod like the saddle rack.

Rewarding every few steps of smooth gait

It takes patience, understanding, time, and consistency to train a young, green naturally gaited horse. Discovering how many consecutive steps of quality smooth flat walk Makana could take before breaking became helpful.

After a few consecutive steps of flat walk, I would transition Makana to a halt and reward her. It was important that I stopped to praise her before she broke into another gait. Plus, positive reinforcement goes a long way.

Over time, with patience, my smooth gaited Tennessee Walking Horse took more and more consecutive steps of flat walk as she grew stronger.

Once my Tennessee Walking Horse developed the strength to maintain consecutive steps in the flat walk, I asked for more ground covering strides and an increased tempo to develop the running walk. Then I asked for transitions from flat walk into a few steps of running walk on a straight line.

Canter and the gaited horse to improve smooth gait

At the end of the summer of 2008, Makana was four years old. We had developed the smooth gaits of flat walk and running walk on cue and began the canter on cue. Canter was our most challenging gait which is common for gaited horses. We had steps of a lateral canter and a four-beat canter before we found a true three-beat canter. Her left lead was easier to achieve than her right lead.

Relaxation of mind and body are important for canter. Many times canter excites the horse. We used transitions from halt, rein back, walk to canter on a large circle. If the canter felt four beat, we would ride canter along the rail of the arena and increase the tempo to achieve a three-beat canter.

2010 Makanas Canter
2010: Riding at our first dressage show on a horse that didn’t trot.

When Makana was reliable in both canter leads, I would begin our riding sessions with canter because it improved the quality of the flat walk.

Good information about cantering the gaited horse:
Breaking Pace & Cross Canter Using Trot & Ground Rails

Improving smooth gaits quality on cue

When my Tennessee Walking Horse turned five years old, we began to develop quality smooth gaits on cue. Quality smooth gaits include relaxation of mind and body, a consistent rhythm in foot falls, a head nod in timing with the hind leg steps, evenness of strides traveling both directions, forward movement without rushing, and developing maximum depth of stride in flat walk and running walk.

Developing quality smooth gaits on cue is a journey of consistent training and progress over time.

In 2021, Makana turned 17. My naturally gaited Tennessee Walking Horse is well established in each quality smooth gait on cue: flat walk, running walk, flat-footed walk, saddle rack, and canter. Natural Smooth Gaits

2021 Makana's flat walk on a long rein
2021 Makana’s flat walk on a long rein. A beautiful example of quality smooth gait: relaxation of mind and body, forward movement without rushing, rhythm, maximum length and depth of stride. A pure joy to ride!

Six helpful resources to develop a consistent smooth gait

1. Study books and videos demonstrating and explaining a natural smooth gait

Today, there are more resources available in training naturally gaited horses. The following books and videos have been helpful to me in learning smooth gaits as flat walk, fox trot, running walk, and saddle rack: The late Lee Ziegler wrote a terrific book, “Easy-Gaited Horses” describing how the smooth gaits sound and feel.

The website of the late Brenda Imus offers training videos showing correct gaits in regular and slow motion with tips on how to achieve them for yourself.

The Naturally Gaited website offers videos in regular and slow motion: Natural Smooth Gaits and the Naturally Gaited Horse YouTube channel offers many how-to videos. Subscribe to be prompted for new videos being created regularly.

2. Breaking pace to develop a smooth gait

Some gaited horses are born more on the lateral side and pace can be their go-to gait. The best way to help a pacey gaited horse find a smooth gait is to help them find relaxation in mind and body, teach them bit acceptance and exercises that diagonalize the foot falls.

Here are a few great articles to break pace and develop a smooth gait:

Relaxation Improves Smooth Gait

Pace & the Naturally Gaited Horse

Breaking Pace & Cross Canter Using Trot & Ground Rails

3. Get good coaching from gaited dressage and gaited horsemanship instructors to develop smooth gait

I’ve been fortunately to get great coaching from gaited dressage instructors Jennie Jackson, Jennifer Bauer, and Larry Whitesell who travel to my region. Jennie Jackson’s gaited dressage coaching has helped me establish connection and forwardness to improve quality smooth gaits on cue. Lessons with Jennie have helped me develop the feeling of right to better discern the quality of each smooth gait.

naturallygaited-Jennie-Jackson-dressage=as=applied-to-the-gaited-horse-clinic
Riding at a Jennie Jackson Dressage as Applied to the Gaited Horse Clinic.

Jennifer Bauer and Larry Whitesell have helped me learn a natural and humane training philosophy which is based on classical French dressage. This method has helped me become a trusted leader in my partnership with my Tennessee Walking Horse and lead Makana into relaxation (of mind and body), rhythm, forward movement without rushing, and balance.

Jennifer Klitzke riding at a Larry Whitesell gaited horsemanship clinic
Larry Whitesell demonstrating and explaining shoulder-in with me and Makana.

4. Professional training for the horse (and rider) for a smooth gait

Some people send their gaited horse to a professional trainer to develop a smooth gait. Then the horse comes home, and they wonder why the horse offers a smooth gait for the trainer and not for them.

Professional training is a great investment, as long as you learn how to ride your gaited horse in the same manner it was trained to achieve the same results. This way you and your smooth gaited horse will speak the same smooth gaiting language. Learning to ride takes time to develop—especially if dressage is your language of choice.

It is the rider’s sense of feel, balanced riding position, and use and timing of aids (leg, weight, seat and rein aids) that communicate with the horse and indicate which smooth gait to perform. This is why it is important for the rider to develop the same skillset from the trainer who taught the horse to gait.

5. Record your riding to confirm your smooth gait

I like to capture video of my rides with my gaited horse. Videos helps me see what I feel from the saddle. There are a few affordable robotic cameras on the market, such as Pivo that work with smart phones. Otherwise, you can set your Smart phone or video camera on a tripod to capture glimpses of your ride.

I to comment about how the ride feels throughout the video. This helps me confirm whether or not what I see matches what I felt. I’ve uploaded hundreds of my videos on the Naturally Gaited You Tube channel. If you like what you see, remember to subscribe to the channel to be prompted for the next video I upload.

6. Enter your gaited horse in schooling dressage shows

This is my favorite way to get feedback from a professional about how my naturally gaited Tennessee Walking Horse and I are doing as it relates to rhythm, relaxation, balance, connection, forward movement without rushing, quality gaits on cue, my balanced riding position, and effective use and timing of aids.

When I hear of a schooling dressage show in my area, I contact the show manager and ask if I can enter my gaited horse using a National Walking Horse of America (NWHA) or Friends of Sound Horses (FOSH) gaited dressage test. Then I mail the tests in with my entry form. The judge will write comments on the score sheet where we did well and areas, we need improvement. This helps me know what to work on when I get home. I find this feedback priceless.

dressage with a Tennessee walking horse
2015: Showing dressage with my Tennessee walking horse, Makana.

Over the years my gaited horse and I have progressed from Intro, Training, and First levels of dressage. Now we are working on Second level movements to refine the quality of our running walk and collected canter.

The schooling dressage shows we have entered, we have been the only gaited horse entry among trotting horses. Intrigued onlookers always ask what kind of horse am I riding because she looks so SMOOTH.

I always reply, “Yes, the sitting trot was hard on my grandma body, and I didn’t want to give up dressage. I just wanted a naturally SMOOTH horse to ride. That’s why I bought a gaited horse.”

If your smooth gaited horse hasn’t been gaiting lately, now you have a few new ideas to try and reclaim your SMOOTH! None of them require a special bit or saddle, special shoes or hoof angles.

2021 Makana flat walk on a long rein in balance and self carriage
2021: My naturally gaited Tennessee walking horse, Makana. We are riding bareback in her smooth gait, an even four-beat flat walk riding on a loose rein in balance and self-carriage.

Dressage is more than trot

Since 2007, I have learned from personal experience, trot is not required to gain the benefits of dressage. Dressage does not MAKE the smooth gaited horse trot. Dressage does not ruin the natural smooth gaits. In fact, dressage actually improves the quality of smooth gaits on cue. Indeed, dressage is more than trot!

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