By Jennifer Klitzke

Gaited dressage doesn’t require trot, riding in an arena, an English saddle, or showing. You might be surprised what else gaited dressage doesn’t require and all the benefits you and your gaited horse can gain.

What is Gaited Dressage?

By Jennifer Klitzke

Gaited dressage doesn’t require trot. It doesn’t mean that you have to wear fancy clothes, buy an English saddle, fit your horse with shoes, and it doesn’t mean that you’re confined to riding in an arena. You might be glad to know gaited dressage doesn’t require that you show!

Best of all, you’ll be glad to know that gaited dressage is not abusive. It never uses harsh bits, heavy shoes, chains, pads, artificial enhancements, or mechanical devices to develop natural smooth gaits. No not ever!

As long as you are riding your smooth gaited horse in a well-fitting and balanced saddle and a comfortable and appropriate snaffle bit, gaited dressage embraces your English or western preference—whether you show or not.

What gaited dressage is

Gaited dressage is a humane way to train the smooth gaited horse and rider. Through ongoing lessons, the rider develops a balanced riding position and effective use and timing of rein, leg, seat and weight aids. These aids lead the horse into relaxation of mind and body, balance, rhythm, forward movement without rushing, connection, symmetry, and collection. This foundation helps the gaited horse develop strength and flexibility, full range of motion, quality smooth gaits, and a partnership of harmony and trust.

Gaited dressage is versatile

Gaited dressage is a consistent communication language between the rider and horse that can be taken wherever you and your horse go and whatever you do in or out of an arena, along the trail, while negotiating sneaky cows in the sorting ring, jumping a course of fences, and more.

You can even show gaited dressage

There are many schooling shows, breed shows and even virtual open shows that offer gaited dressage. Showing gaited dressage is a great way to receive written feedback from a trained dressage professional about your horse’s training as it relates to rhythm, relaxation, connection, engagement, straightness, and collection, as well as feedback about your riding position and use and timing of your rein, leg, seat and rein aids.

Gaited dressage teaches the rider how to train the horse

Gaited dressage educates the rider to educate the horse. The rider lears how to lead the horse into relaxation, balance, rhythm, connection, engagement, straightness, collection, and harmony. Over time, these training elements develop full range of motion and quality smooth gaits.

Six ways dressage teaches a rider how to train their gaited horse

1) Rider position and application of aids. The rider develops a balanced riding position over the horse’s center of gravity. In addition, the rider learns the effective use and timing of hand, leg, seat, and weight aids. These aids lead the horse into relaxation of mind and body, even rhythm and tempo, forward movement without rushing, connection with the horse, symmetry, flexibility and strength, and balance, engagement, and collection.

2) Accept and follow contact. Gaited dressage teaches the rider how to teach the horse how to accept and follow a light snaffle bit contact. It also teaches the rider how to follow the horse’s natural head and neck movement with relaxed shoulders, arms, and hands.

3) Feel awareness involves noticing how the rider’s body, breathing, and thoughts impact the horse. Noticing and releasing tension in the rider’s shoulders, arms, hands, hips, back, and jaw, breathing deep into the belly, following the natural head and neck motion of the horse with the hands and following the belly sway of the horse with relaxed hip joints to encourage relaxation in the horse. Becoming aware of the timing of aids and the feeling of when the horse is in the moment for the cue.

4) Feeling of right means knowing what is feels like when the horse is relaxed in its mind and body; balance on all four legs; moving with steady rhythm and even strides; moving forward without rushing; having symmetry (meaning evenly flexible in both directions); and developing engagement from the hindquarters, abdominal muscles and chest to lower the hindquarters, lift the back and wither head and neck over time.

This also means learning to notice when the horse is on the forehand, tense in the lower jaw, hollow in the back, disengaged with its hind legs, crooked, stiff, and rushing.

When a rider has developed this feel awareness, they can restore the horse to the feeling of right through effective use and timing of leg, seat, weight, and rein aids.

5) Consistency training helps the rider develop a consistent communication language with the horse through the use and timing of leg, rein, seat, and weight aids. This consistent communication leads the gaited horse into more and more moments of relaxation, balance, rhythm, connection, forward movement without rushing, and symmetry. Developing the feeling of right helps you notice when corrections are needed to bring the horse back to the feeling of right. And the proper timing of rewarding the horse early and often.

6) Becoming a trusted leader with the gaited horse through an ongoing, two-way dialogue. It requires the rider to declutter their mind and heart and be present with the horse, listening to and seeking to understand what the horse is saying, and learning to effectively communicate with the horse and lead them into the feeling of right. Then listening to the response of the horse for adjustments as needed.

Gaited dressage is more than a training system

Gaited dressage is an on-going journey of a relationship between the rider and horse over time. This takes time to develop. Yet nothing is more deeply rewarding when the communication, connection, and harmony between a rider and a smooth gaited horse lead to the horse feeling safe enough to accept the rider as a trusted leader.

How gaited dressage benefits the rider

• Improves the rider’s balance and effective riding position
• Improves the rider’s communication with their smooth gaited horse through the effective use and timing of leg, seat, weight, and rein aids which helps the horse develop greater trust, relaxation and harmony with the rider
• Developing the smooth gaits are easier on a rider’s body
• Aging dressage riders who have invested years of time and money taking dressage lessons on trotting horses can apply their knowledge and skill with a gaited horse and enjoy a smooth ride that is easier on the body
• Gaited dressage can be taken on the trail where the rider can cover a lot of ground quickly and the rider’s body won’t pay for it later!

How gaited dressage benefits the gaited horse

• By relaxing the naturally gaited horse’s mind, the horse is more teachable
• By relaxing the horse’s jaw and back, pace can be replaced with smoother natural four-beat gait
• Gaited dressage can break cross canter, a later canter, and a four-beat canter into a true, three-beat canter
• Through the effective use and timing of rein, seat, leg and weight aids the naturally gaited horse can be led into relaxation, balance, rhythm, connection, engagement, straightness, collection, and harmony to improve the horse’s full range of motion and quality of natural gaits on cue
• With lateral exercises like the shoulder-in the horse can find balance, activate the abdominal muscles to lift the back, engage the hind and develop a deeper stride beneath the body which will lengthen the stride overall from hind foot to hind foot
• By connecting the energy from the horse’s hindquarters through the horse’s body to the bit while riding with a light and even contact on both reins following the head and neck motion, the naturally gaited horse can develop a consistent head nod in the flat walk, running walk, and fox trot

Most of all, smooth gaited horses flourish when ridden using dressage methods that build trust, relaxation, and respect.

Enjoy the journey!

If you are on this gaited dressage journey, I’d love to hear from you. Please contact me, join the NaturallyGaited Facebook community, and subscribe to the NaturallyGaited YouTube channel.