# standardbreds?



## lamoncha lover (Mar 1, 2009)

anyone know much about them? I have ridden one for a few minutes and did not like the pace. If you get a pacer can they be trined to rack? thanks


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## SFM in KY (May 11, 2002)

No. A pace and a rack are two totally different gaits. Standardbreds either trot or pace, they do not rack. It is some of the "gaited breeds" ... American Saddlebreds, Tennessee Walkers, etc. that rack or can be trained to rack.


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## bluebird2o2 (Feb 14, 2007)

We have a standard bred off the racetrack.(my sisters husband is a trainer)He trots ,some of them are trotters.In fact many wear special gear too make them pace.we love ours hes very sensible.


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## littlesheeps (Jan 1, 2010)

lamoncha lover, a Standardbred is a pretty hardy horse and they have to be to put up with all the crapola they take on the track. Lots of stamina, and they can make great candidates for driving enthusiasts; probably not the brightest bulb in the lamp, but there is a lot to be said about a horse that's not overly smart. Not saying it's impossible, but I doubt you could train one to rack... training a 2-beat to do a 4-beat could be like teaching physics to a 4 year old. A pacer will be hard to get out of that habit and will be a pretty uncomfortable ride as it is more in the way the animal is built, and will jolt you from side to side with every step. If you are wanting a smooth ride, why put an animal through retraining, and just cut to the chase and go with a Walker? Smart enough, gentle enough, with a lot of can-do for the trails. littlesheeps in NM


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## lamoncha lover (Mar 1, 2009)

I have been looking at adoptable standardbreds.I see some are trotters and some are pacers. I noticed that they use pace/rack almost interchangeably. I have a Spotted saddle horse that racks, trots(discouraged), and occasionally she will pace. I don't know if its a true pace but her pace is not uncomfortable.I can tell when she hits it because her head kinda swings side to side and I can feel it. years ago I rode a true pace on a standardbred( just a few minutes) and did not like the feel. Of the SB I am considering I wasn't even considering a trotting horse as I really do hate a trot. I want to understand more about the pace and SB so that when I speak with them I do not come across as stupid.I do not know why they use pace and rack interchangeably.


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## littlesheeps (Jan 1, 2010)

Well, in TN you are sure in horse country and bound to have a good array of horse experts to ask. I say just go ahead an fess up to ignorance and ask, ask, ask! And ask a LOT of horsemen. If my memory is correct, when we had a Saddler foal that showed a natural rack gait, it was not a good candidate for the show ring. I remember our trainer saying 'they will never trot', being that it was conformation issue. I wouldn't say it could _never_ happen, but for instance it can be very hard for a natural smooth-gaited horse, like a Walker, to trot... because it is their particular conformation that gives them that smooth walking gait. It was my understanding that this is why it was better to teach the naturally 3 gaited animal (walk/trot/canter) to do the 4th & 5th gaits, the slow gait & rack. And again, not all of them can do it due to conformation... which is why there are 3-gaited and 5-gaited styles. 

I'm just using this as an example, I know we may be talking apples & oranges here, and you are shooting for a Standardbred. I hope someone else has some input. Good luck in your search! littlesheeps in NM


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## lamoncha lover (Mar 1, 2009)

I just did a search for speed racking standardbreds..
If they are accurate those standard breds are racking. Nicely also....
more research time


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## littlesheeps (Jan 1, 2010)

Very cool! Like I said, you're in the heartland of all that, we don't have much of that in the southwest. I always wondered if there was a specific breed of racking horse, or just any horse that can rack? Good luck in your research and I hope you let us know what you find. Happy trails! littlesheeps in NM


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## lamoncha lover (Mar 1, 2009)

http://horseadoption.com/standardbred-adoption
If anyone would care to evaluate her under saddle it is max's noble lady I am most interested in followed by panpai


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## lamoncha lover (Mar 1, 2009)

littlesheeps
I am pretty sure unless their is a structual and inherited tendency to gait not every horse can gait. 
It appears from what I have found a pacer can become a rackinghorse. Around here you see spotted saddle horses, saddlehorses, racking horses and TWH.
I have never yet seen a QH rack, but am happy that it appears sb can. If you see her video she doesn't look like she is pacing at all. atleast to me. It is much easier for me to feel a gait then to recognize it my site. When I got my spotted saddle horse I was so impressed by watching her smooth gait..until it was pointed out to me she was trotting:>)


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## Wrangler Blue (Mar 12, 2010)

Lamoncha Lover: Your spotted saddle horse might be doing a stepping pace, as opposed to a hard pace. The head moving side to side is definitely a sign of a stepping pace. It can be quite smooth. You might find some information at this website: http://www.gaitedhorses.net/pacecure.htm 

By the way, this is my first post here so I hope I do it right! I have a Tennessee Walking Horse whose gait of choice is the stepping pace (actually his favorite gait is standing still) but I am still far from expert.


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## SFM in KY (May 11, 2002)

Wrangler Blue said:


> Lamoncha Lover: Your spotted saddle horse might be doing a stepping pace, as opposed to a hard pace. The head moving side to side is definitely a sign of a stepping pace. It can be quite smooth. You might find some information at this website: http://www.gaitedhorses.net/pacecure.htm
> 
> By the way, this is my first post here so I hope I do it right! I have a Tennessee Walking Horse whose gait of choice is the stepping pace (actually his favorite gait is standing still) but I am still far from expert.


Is what you are calling a "stepping pace" what some gaited horse people call a singlefoot?

I've been around horses all my life, but never any gaited horses, really, until I moved to Kentucky so I'm still not at all sure of myself with the various "gaited horse" gaits.


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## Wrangler Blue (Mar 12, 2010)

Gosh, I don't really know for sure. I kind of think "singlefooter" is one of those terms used by old timers for a horse that does some/any kind of easy gait. For example, I've heard people say cowboys used to teach their horse to singlefoot so they could ride more comfortably. I'm just speculating, but I wonder if the term singlefoot could have come from the fact that an easy gait doesn't have that moment of suspension like a 2-beat gait (trot, pace) but always has at least a "single foot" on the ground. 

I do know that a flat walk is an even 4-beat gait. The footfalls are 1-2-3-4. A stepping pace is still 4-beat, but not even. It's more like 12-34. So yeah, the feet are moving singly.


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## lamoncha lover (Mar 1, 2009)

welcome to the forum wranglerblue. Thanks for the inf o!


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## SFM in KY (May 11, 2002)

Wrangler Blue said:


> I've heard people say cowboys used to teach their horse to singlefoot so they could ride more comfortably.


My grandfather actually did that ... but then he was a "cowboy" all his life, started out on trail herds at the age of 11, from Missouri by way of Nebraska to Montana. But the saddle horses he road would "singlefoot" ... or at least that's what I think they did ... the mare I rode most of my ranch kid years would do some kind of singlefoot/ stepping pace.

The horse I rode the two years before I relocated from Montana also gaited ... he was (probably) a Paso/QH cross and what he did felt like what my first mare did. From what the local people tell me, that seems to be what the Kentucky Mountain and Rocky Mountain horses do as well and I've heard it referred to as a singlefoot.

From what you describe as the stepping pace, the 1-2 <pause> 3-4 with just a fractional pause I think what I'm talking about is the same thing but calling it a singlefoot.

The little Paso cross gelding had a flat walk, the singlefoot (which he could do at varying speeds) and a gallop. He would not or could not trot.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

We had a QH that was a singlefooter and came from a line of them. Just gave him away last fall and he's proudly owned by a 13 year old boy in Michigan.


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## 1sttimemom (Mar 1, 2005)

I have ridden several Standardbreds. Back in CA where I grew up you could adopt them pretty cheap off the track. Mostly geldings that were too slow. All the ones I have ridden were pacers. The gait was not totally uncomfy to ride. Sort of swings you side to side. The faster you go the more uncomfy. We trail rode them. Most seemed very easy to deal with, non-spooky, and solid built. They were just about "broke" already, just needed to get someone on their back and teach to neck rein if you wanted. I sure liked them more than the off the track TBs.


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## lamoncha lover (Mar 1, 2009)

well I decided for now to just go buy a spotted saddle horse that is already broke. I have wanted to adopt the ex racehorse standard bred forever. They are so very picky. I have to take pics of both my places the horse will be, and all the references.(got the references done)
Its good to know they are so calm. Maybe another time I will just adopt. I wanted the one mare pretty badly until it was pointed out to me she was off on her hind leg.


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## Stonybrook (Sep 22, 2007)

I thought that mare was off on a back leg too. Neither of the ones you mentioned looked like what I think of when I think of a pacer. I think I actually liked Panpai better for some reason (besides the gimpiness). 

I have had a TWH mix, and he was such a nice ride. I don't know about the other gaited breeds, but I would get a TWH again. They are so kind and tolerant. Like the standardbreds they would have to be tolerant to put up with the crap they have to tolerate in the show world.


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

Lisa, it seems to me that bergere did some homework on QH lines that show a tendency to singlefoot and if I'm not mistaken, she mentioned Hancock lines. The reason it kinda stuck in my head was because I have an old mare with strong Hancock breeding who does singlefoot and I had one of those aha moments.


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