There's this lady at my barn who has just bought a Tennessee Walker. He is the sweetest horse and wouldn't hurt a fly. Here's my problem. She wants me to help her out by riding him during the week when she's not there, but she's very new to the world of horses, and doesn't know what his cues are. Until yesterday, I had never ridden a gaited horse. Basically she told me to get on and squeeze.

ANY help with how gaited horses are different than trotting horses would be GREATLY appreciated. He was a trail horse his entire life. He will go off into his running walk (I think that's the gait it is?) fine, but there's no leg cue for canter it seems like. She said to try it like I usually do, and well...he didn't like that. He goes off into it randomly on his own, but there really is no way to ask for it it seems like.

You guys are probably thinking I'm crazy and I probably am LOL. Also, since he is new to an arena, he will not for the life of me stay on the wall. Do they move off of leg pressure the same as other horses? And he when he does canter, he will only pick up his left lead...is there any way to fix this or is there something I'm doing wrong?

 Sorry for the novel, but I want to ride this horse right and try to help out his owner as much as I can because she is such a lovely woman.

Thanks,

Nikole
 

Nikole, training a gaited horse really isn't much different from training a trotting horse and you're not crazy. They work off leg, seat, hands and voice like trotting horses, they just move differently.

If he never did ring work, he probably has no idea that he's supposed to be on the rail. One way to explain that to him is to do circles every time he comes off the rail. In other words, make him work when he drifts toward the center. Make it easy for him to go at a nice easy gait around the rail and hard when he goes off the rail. You may get mighty tired of circles, but if you stick with it, he'll get tired first.

Sounds like no one has taught him the cues for canter. I haven't worked with Minx on canter cues yet either, but here's what I've read about teaching them to a gaited horse. If you've got a hill you can use, try going up hill and give him the canter cues. If you get a few steps from him, praise him and let him walk. While cantering is fine for a gaited horse, and is good for working on balance, many people don't canter their gaited horses. Is there some reason she wants to do this with him? Not sure what the left-sidedness is from. Probably just easier for him like writing with my right hand is easier for me. And since it seems that he hasn't been trained to canter on cue, it's easier for him to take the left lead when he feels like cantering.

 Hope this helps.

Thanks for responding so fast. You just set my mind at ease!   Everything you said is what I would have said for a trotting horse...I just didn't know how different their training was. I guess she wants to be able to canter him to have all three gaits, she never said she had any particular reason why. When I start riding him more I'm sure I'll have more questions.

Ditto LuckyLady.

If the horse has always been trail ridden, it is likely that the riders saw no need to canter because the running walk is so smooth and a TWH can gait anywhere between 4-7 mph.

I have owned TWH's for 17 years and have done nothing but trail ride.  The only time any of my crew canters is going up a hill because I don't need to canter - lol lol lol

Also agree with LL's thoughts on the left-sidedness.  The Fella just doesn't understand what's being asked of him.

BUT another thought might be skeletal issues - if he's got something out of place.  That being said, if you are getting a nice running walk for an extended period out of him and he's not being choppy or trying to trot, his skeletal system is probably ok.

I have obsevred with my own Walkers, that if their gait gets really choppy and/or trotty and they can't hold their gait for what is normal for each of them, they are out of whack somewhere.

Enjoy your borrowed Glide Ride!  The Walking Horse folks have long had the saying "Ride One Today, Own One Tomorrow!"