Are you having trouble getting your horse to gait or keeping the horse in gait? As a Farrier I managed to keep gaited riders happy and did pretty well getting angles right etc.
What I want to discuss here is what is a gaited horse saddle and getting the right saddle. I’ve had gaited horses that have gone well for one owner but in the next stable with a new owner troubles galore. Same shoes, different rider, different saddle.
Most people don’t put much thought into the saddle. Gaited horses need the freedom to move unrestricted but some saddles do not give them the ability to do that.
It’s not easy to convince people that it could be the saddle. The same saddle may work well for one rider and not another. It’s the way you sit the saddle.
As Farriers we get the pat on the back if we can get them going right but shown the door if we can’t. There may be other reasons your horse won’t gait although it could well be the saddle that restricts them.
The video above is from The Horse Show with Rick Lamb. Rick interviews Oklahoma saddle maker Doug Ford and he offers his take on the type of horse that needs gaited saddles and how he goes about making them to fit properly
