Gaited Horse Saddle Features

Gaited Horses

• A gaited horse is one that can perform gaits other than the usual walk, trot and canter. Usually the other gaits will be lateral gaits, which means the legs on the same side of the body move together. For example, in a trot, the diagonal legs will move together while in a rack, slow gait or running walk the lateral legs will move in unison. The American saddle bred, Tennessee walking horse, standard bred and paso fino are considered gaited horses. Because of this lateral movement, gaited horse saddles are usually designed with more room through the bars to accommodate the side-to-side movement.

Saddle Seat and Park Saddles

• True gaited horses and a few other breeds with high leg action such as Morgans and Arabians are often shown in saddle seat or park saddles. These saddles have longer leathers like dressage saddles, but a longer and flatter seat than either hunt seat or dressage saddles. The front of the saddle is usually cut back to allow for the higher withers and leg action of gaited horses while the stirrups are left much longer than either dressage saddles or hunt saddles. The combination of cutback, flat seat and long stirrups puts the rider much farther back on the horse than other saddles.

Western Saddles

• While many gaited horses are ridden in Western saddles designed for other breeds, some Western saddles like those made by Dixieland Gaited Saddles have wider gullets, with the bars and twist angled to accommodate the longer shoulder reach and stride of gaited breeds. The gullets on these saddles are often higher than those for other breeds as well so that the higher withers on these horses will not be pinched. These saddles also tend to have smaller skirts so that most of the weight is off the weaker portion of the back and stirrups are usually hung in an equitation position to keep the rider's weight more centered. Some of the Western saddles designed for gaited horses are often used on horses of other breeds with high withers and wide shoulders.