GAITED HORSES for the WESTERN RIDER
WHY GAITED HORSES ARE FOR MORE THAN JUST A SMOOTH TRAIL RIDE As a Western rider, your favorite mount is almost certainly a Quarter Horse, Paint, Appaloosa – or if you’re a bit on the daring side, maybe an Arabian or a Morgan. More than likely, you’ve never ridden a gaited horse, and would never have thought that you would want to. You might think that a cowboy would look odd or just plain silly on a gaited horse, or that such horses are really only suitable for English disciplines. It might surprise you, therefore, to learn that two of the most iconic Western horses of all time – the Lone Ranger’s “Silver” and Roy Rogers’ “Trigger” – were both gaited horses, (Tennessee Walking Horses, to be specific), and that gaited horses can do just about anything the more traditional stock breeds can do. In fact, a growing number of Western riders are discovering the joys of riding gaited horses for a variety of activities, from ranch work and pleasure riding to sports...