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GAIT INHERITENCE:
The following observations were made by Tigre's founder, Victoria Varley over the course of 15 years of experimental breeding and
record keeping.
Gait appears to be gender related. ie, mothers to sons and fathers to daughters, with one screaming exception. Whilst same sex full siblings inherit similar
gaits to their opposite sex parents, their white (homozygous Ghost Horse) siblings, tend to follow a different rule. To-date, all Ghost Horse siblings (either sex) have inherited the "shuffle" gait. (See explanation
below).
In 14 documented Ghost Horse births by 2008, one parent has been strongly gaited while the other was a shuffler. Shufflers are lesser gaited individuals and are
only used in Tiger Horse production because they are homozygous for color. While the shuffle gait is closer to a trot than a strong middle gait, it is a 4-beat gait but difficult to identify. While the shuffle is
smoother and faster to ride than the jog-trot of the western horse, it is often mistaken for a jog-trot. There is a mild bump to the ride of the shuffler.
In the past when
using one gaited parent and one non gaited parent, gait has been inherited by the opposite sex foal. In other words fillies get the gait of their sires and stud colts get that of their dam. Sometimes foals inherit
better gait than either of their parents but the tendency towards lateral, square or diagonal, seems to come from the opposite sex parent most often.
Obviously the best results are obtained by breeding the best individuals to one another.
Understanding the diagonal gaits: The Fox Trot and the comon trot are both diagonal gaits. The
trot of course does not qualify in the generic sense as that of a gaited horse although to confuse you even more, gaited horses can and do trot but should prefer to travel in the smoothest gait they've inherited.
The
diagonal gait can be observed when opposite pairs of legs work together. ie, opposite pairs lift together, move forwards together and place. If the horse is not gaited, they place together but if the horse is gaited,
there will be a delayed placement of one hoof. In the diagonal gait, the front hoof hits the ground before the opposite side hind hits the ground. This type of gait has various speeds and therefore various names
for each speed performed but does not change from diagonal.
The lateral gaits: Here you will see same side legs working together as opposed to diagonal pairs. So when these are working, same side legs lift
together, move forward together and strike the ground on the same side. If the horse is not gaited but merely a hard pacing horse, the same side hooves will strike the ground at the same time. If the horse is gaited,
the fore hoof will strike the ground after the same side hind has done so.
The square or perfectly middle gaits are walk, running walk, rack. Here the horse has a perfectly timed middle gait. The diagonal and
lateral gaits are unevenly timed 4 beat gaits. The square gaited horse performs a perfectly evenly timed 4-beat gait and has various speeds as do the others but is perfect and therefore desirable in our Tiger Horse
breed. |
