Jenny and JR have spent time just passenger riding which JR choose to do at a walk. The emergency stop or bend to a stop was instituted before JR moved. Then they added direction with reins, stopping, backing, fore and hindquarter turns. I know that Jenny has asked for the soft feel and probably have done a little sidepassing.
Our philosophy is to FIRST get JR to be a versatility horse and learn the athletic moves plus flying lead changes. After this is accomplished, we were going to help JR with the gaits. Jenny’s famous words when we finished our philosophy conversation were, “I bet he will gait up a storm”.
JR has already done flying lead changes on the 22’rope. I am ecstatic at this news. Actually, I felt weak in the knees with no air to breathe!
Well, Jenny has just now progressed to a speed faster-than-a-walk when riding JR. Her first experience was on a horse with a big head nod and a flat foot walk! The first time she asked for a faster-than-a-walk speed, she had a difficult time keeping him going faster than a walk. He did well going from the back of the arena to the front, but dropped to a walk often going anywhere else.
Tonight, Jenny yelled at me because I didn’t get there sooner. She had JR going at a flat foot walk and a Fox Trot! She was almost certain it was a fox trot. She asked her husband, the lover of quarter horses, if he saw JR trot. Tony said that he never saw him trot, but he had no idea what it was. We are frustrated with non-Gaited husbands! On this night, she had a much easier time keeping JR going for a short but significant time. Jenny doesn’t think that JR will trot with a person riding him, even though he trots in the pasture.
WOWEE! A hard-wired fox trotting horse and he belongs to me…plus he can do flying lead changes (on the ground). I couldn’t ask for a better Christmas Present!