[HairOfTheDog]

I rode a pacer once. A standardbred off the track. THAT really is a strange sensation. And I wasn't sure I could get used to it! My friend thought yes, he's a trail rider and the trot isn't a big deal. But I am an English rider, and the trot is the signature gait in English horsemanship and dressage. What would I do?

[proud_2_B_texasgal]

Ohhhhhhhhh, I dated a guy once that owned a pacer. That IS a weird thing!!

[FrogInABlender]

Oh now, I don't consider a Standard Bred to be a gaited horse. They trot just like anything else. Their "gaits" are taught. And a pace is definately not any gait I wanna be riding. It's worse than the trot. You can't post to it, or at least it's really hard to figure out how, and if you don't, it'll eat your butt UP. And there's definately a lot of gaited horses out there that do it. Most of 'em are out of big name show stock that has been bred for the "Big Lick" and not a good square, smooth gait.

They can make a billy-goat gait with big enough pads on the front. I don't like it and I wish they would outlaw it.