We specialize in foundation bred Missouri Foxtrotter
THE HORSE THAT FOXTROTS
Col J W Bradbury
What kind of horse was the Colonial horse of early America? The Virginia horse? The Kentucky saddle horse? The western cow pony? And what can they possibly have to do with an "ambling rounsey"? Many of today's horse people, both eastern and western, could have some difficulty providing an accurate answer. Breed names such as Morgan, Thoroughbred, Quarter Horse might come to mind. However, the answer does not lie with breed names but rather with a type. All of these Colonial horses were what today would be called 'gaited' horses; i.e., they performed naturally more than the three basic walk, trot, and gallop gaits. But more importantly they also included in their repertoire one or more of the 'soft' gaits, just as did their "fifteen livres" forebears. This is not to say there were no hard gaited horses. Only that they were very much in the minority in early America.
GAITS: All horses are 'gaited' even if they
only know dead stop and dead run. However, there are four basic
natural rhythms or cadences and systems of leg motion from which
all other gaits are derived: walk, trot, pace, and gallop. (How
many gaits and what is a true gait as distinguished from a
variation or movement are subjects of continuing debate.) The
gallop differs from the other three in not being symmetrical on
the two sides, so that the gait may be led either on one side or
the other. The symmetrical gaits are divided into two
categories--diagonal and lateral, depending on which hind leg and
fore leg follow in the order of support of the horse. That is, if
the movement is from near hind to near fore the gait is lateral;
if from near hind to off fore the gait is diagonal. Thus it is the
order of footfalls that defines a gait. Using this approach then,
the walk and pace and the gaits derived from them are classified
as lateral, while the trot and its derivatives are classified as
diagonal.
Without
getting into all the possible permutations and combinations of
foot-fall patterns or an exact description of each, we would
suggest that the following , at least , are recognized gaits.
Derived from the pace: amble, running walk, single foot, rack, and
stepping pace. Each of these is a form of broken pace in that the
two lateral hooves do not strike the ground at approximately the
same time as in the true pace. Consequently these are 'soft' gaits
comfortable to ride in the saddle. Derived from the gallop: canter
and lope. Derived from the walk: flat-footed walk. Derived from
the trot: fox trot, the only diagonal 'soft' gait. In this gait
the horse trots with his hindquarters and walks with its front,
usually capping its tracks. That is, the hind hoof comes down in
the track of the front, making for sure-footedness and agility.
The rhythm is a broken four beat 1-2-- -3-4, and the speed ranges
normally from four to eight miles per hour, and is tiring neither
to the horse nor to rider.
EARLY SOFT GAITS: One of the major difficulties in
getting a true picture of early horses and their gaits is the lack
of precise terminology. Louis Taylor in his book, The
Story Of America's Horses pointed
out the problem when he wrote, "The gaits of the early
English, Irish, and Colonial horses were the ones we call today
the foxtrot, the amble, the running walk, and the rack or
single-foot. In those early days, all these gaits were usually
called by one name, the pace." Ambler is another term applied
to an early-day soft-gaited horse. The Roman saddler was called
"ambulatura", while a trotting horse was called
"curciator" (tormentor). Thus it is sometimes quite
difficult to determine what soft-gait early horses were
performing, except that our own experience indicates that on rough
ground a horse is unlikely to do a lateral gait, since it is not
as sure footed as a diagonal. Thus, if the gait was described as
smooth over rough ground, it probably was the diagonal fox trot.
In the middle
ages, knights rode soft-gaited horses known as "Palefrois"
in France ('Palfreys' in England) and led their "great
horses". Undoubtedly these light horses performed the fox
trot, called "traquenard" by the French and "trocha"
by the Spanish, as well as the lateral gaits. And, early writings
and pictures of the horse and its use indicate soft-gaited horses
were popular in Ancient China, Persia, Greece, Rome, and among the
Berbers of North Africa. It was the Barb and the Spanish Jennet,
along with native English horses, which seem to have had the
greatest influence on the first horses to America.
Before the 17th Century very few
horses in Britain, in Europe, or in America were not soft-gaited.
A horse that trotted was called a "boneshaker". While in
1600 England it was difficult to find a horse that trotted, by
1700 it was difficult to find one that didn't. Yet strangely,
today the English have all but forgotten that the English ambler
was once the prevalent horse in Great Britain.
What happened in this relatively short
period to change the coarse of equine history? Two events combined
to cause the decline of the soft-gaited horse: the restoration of
Charles II to the throne in England, and the improvement of roads
and wheeled vehicles on the continent. By 1680, stagecoaches were
regularly traveling the roads. Travel by wheeled vehicles became
fashionable, and by horseback less necessary.
During his exile in France, the King
had become attracted to the sport of horse racing, and to Arabian
horses and their crosses used as racehorses. Upon returning to
England, he directed the Duke of Norfolk to help establish a line
of racehorses. The Royal Mares were selected from native imported
stock, and Oriental stallions were imported to found a new breed …
the Thoroughbred. Whether these foundation sires were all
Arabians, or also included Barb and Turk is moot. However since
the thoroughbred horse over the years has shown little inclination
toward the soft gaits, it appears whatever Barb blood he may have
started with was bred out. In contrast, the Spanish horses with a
predominance of Barb blood tended to retain the natural soft
gaits.
EASTERN
HORSES: As the royal family adopted the "Sport of Kings"
it suddenly became fashionable to raise and race Thoroughbreds,
and "déclassé" to ride soft-gaited horses.
However, in New England and Virginia, breeders continued to raise
soft-gaited horses. Among the most famous of these breeds was the
Naragansett Pacer, which was exported from Rhode Island in large
number to the West Indies (to be crossed with Spanish horses), and
to Virginia where they were mated with the Virginia horse.
There are early accounts
of Naragansetts covering 50-60 miles a day easily, "and being
of great power and endurance, they could perform a journey of 100
miles in a single day without injury to themselves or rider."
Although called 'pacers', as was the custom, the description by
riders of the gait in which they traveled clearly was the diagonal
fox trot, rather than a form of the lateral broken pace. This was
the first breed of horse developed in the America and the only one
that has completely disappeared.
Although the thoroughbred was first introduced in the
colonies in the 1750's, the preference remained in the south for
soft-gaited horses, which became known as "plantation
horses". And as in the early days of hunting in England,
soft-gaited horses were used to follow the hounds until the half
-thoroughbred became popular for this sport. Virginians bred the
best of their plantation horses to perpetuate the soft gaits (fox
trot, single foot and running walk) as natural gaits. And it was
largely the Virginia horse that provided the basis for the early
horses of Tennessee and Kentucky.
According to Major General William Harding Carter,
who began his military service during the Civil War, the
Southerner, "who regarded rising to the trot as a heathenish
invention of the English", rode "a saddle horse which
meant a gaited horse capable of taking him on a long journey,
especially in the hot season, with a minimum of discomfort".
He further points out that, "Confederate cavalrymen were
required to furnish their own horses, but very few used
Thoroughbreds, the vast majority being gaited saddlers, and the
balance hunters." the ability of the horsemen of J.E.B.
Stuart, Forrest Wheeler, Morgan and other Southern cavalry
generals to raid around Union armies, General Carter maintained,
was because of easy riding saddlers, not thoroughbreds as is
frequently stated.
The gaits of the saddle horses, or as they were later
called, Kentucky Saddlers, or just Saddlers, are not attributable
to the thoroughbred, although thoroughbreds were crossed on the
colonial and plantation horses to increase their size. Morgans,
Standardbreds and others were also used to improve the breeds that
have evolved. The American Saddle horse breed traces directly to a
Thoroughbred, Denmark, who was mated to a naturally soft gaited
mare who produced Gaines Denmark. The best qualities of gait,
performance, and confirmation of both dam and sire were reproduced
in the colt.
From these early soft gaited saddlers evolved American breed
registries, each striving to concentrate on one or more of the
soft gaits: The American Saddlebred Horse Association, established
in 1891 in Louisville, Kentucky; the Tennessee Walking Horse
Breeders Association of America, established in 1936 in Lewisburg,
Tennessee; and the Missouri and American Fox Trotting Horse Breed
Associations, established respectively in 1948 in Ava, Missouri
and in 1970 in Marshfield, Missouri. With related ancestries, it
is common for horses of these breeds to perform soft gaits other
than their most noted one: rack, running walk, or fox trot.
Whereas the first two tend to be flashy show and road gaits, the
fox trot can be used as a working gait in rough country as well.
WESTERN HORSES: While
east of the Mississippi River the soft gaits of the English
Ambler, Palfrey, Hobby and others were consciously preserved in
new American strains and breeds, in the west the natural soft
gaited horse was perpetuated in quite a different way. Records
indicate that Cortez and other Spanish explorers brought Jennets
and Barbs to establish large horse breeding ranches. Many became
foundation stock for the large numbers of mustangs, which spread
throughout the plains, deserts and mountains. Legend and fact have
attributed many qualities of smooth gait and endurance to these
"wild horses".
The Nez Perce Indians, who developed a breeding program to
produce spotted horses, also sought to maintain the natural fox
trot gait in these horses. Fredrick Remmington, writing 1900 about
the early west, noted, among other things, that the mustang was a
natural fox trotter. In Horses
of the Plains he
wrote, "the fox trot, which is the habitual gait of all
plainsmen, cowboys, and Indians, is easily cultivated in him, and
his light supple frame accommodates itself naturally to the
motion'. Evidence that today's mustang, still retains this fox
trot gait is present in the experience of Floyd Roberson of Castle
Rock, Colorado. He spent a number of years among Indians and their
mustangs in Montana and Canada, and discovered all of the horses
fox trotted. He even brought some mustang mares back to breed to
his registered Fox Trotter stallion. He calls the mustang, "a
natural horse doing the natural gait".
Recently we had the pleasure of
interviewing one of the last of a fast disappearing breed--the old
time cowboy, disdainful of the pick-up mounted well-housed
citified version seen today. He began his ranching career on his
father's 125,000 acre ranch near Cimarron, New Mexico following
service in WW I. The foreman rode Fox Trotting Horses, as did the
cowboys on long trail rides. In his words, a Fox Trotting Horse
called RED ANT was "the best all-around horse" he ever
owned. He came from a strain of cow horses in Colorado called
"STEELDUSTS" and was particularly good at cutting out
cows with their calves. He was also a good roping horse and a
favorite hunting horse, since he was not in the least afraid of
gunfire. He would stand with dropped reins while a deer or elk was
shot, then cheerfully pack the meat to camp. Forty mile rides in
an eight hour day were not unusual, and occasionally over sixty
miles might be covered in ten or twelve hours. He said he once
timed RED ANT crossing a twelve-mile long pasture at a fox trot.
It took exactly two hours.
THE FOX TROTTER: Today as a recognized breed with over
16,000 registered horses, the Fox Trotter is becoming increasingly
better known as a horse of considerable versatility. The
sure-footed comfortable gait, stamina and gentleness, which have
been bred into the Fox Trotter, gained the attention of the U.S.
Forest Service several years ago. Now there are possibly 700 or
more Fox Trotters in government service providing mounts for the
rangers on wilderness patrol, working cattle, taking big game
counts and fighting forest fires.
Registered Fox Trotters are also increasingly found
on Western ranches. In the Big Horn Basin of Wyoming, the Stock
Growers Association uses them almost exclusively. Accounts from
New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming and California indicate extensive use
of Fox Trotters for packing into the high country. Explaining his
preference, one new Mexico packer said, "Packing with Fox
Trotters, we normally make substantially better time than those
who use conventional three-gaited stock horses and mules. But the
main advantage is the comfort of the ride when you spend eight or
more hours in the saddle." Farther West, in California, Fox
Trotters are used not only in these traditional western pursuits,
but are shown extensively throughout the state. The California Fox
Trotter Association Parade Group has won the State Parade
Championship for the past three years.
Fox Trotters are frequently seen in Hollywood
movies and TV commercials. Several McDonald's commercials have
featured the breed and the recent TV film "Wild Times"
utilized Fox Trotters.
In the West and elsewhere, Fox Trotters have become
increasingly popular in the sport of competitive trail riding. In
1964 Larry Rossi of El Toro, California, with his registered Fox
Trotter, Warrior's Merry Lady, was the national Sweepstakes winner
of NATRC. In 1972, the late Frank Howe, one of the founders of
NATRC, completed the 100-mile Tevis Cup endurance ride on his Fox
Trotter, HIGH PEAK RED. In 1979 Linda Larsen, on her Fox Trotter
LEVI'S BLISS, also completed the same ride. Among the registered
Fox Trotters that were NATRC Competition during 1979 was FOX HILL
OZARK SUNRISE, who was designated an NATRC National Champion. The
beautiful eleven-year-old palomino mare is owned by Karl and Helen
Stone of Sunland, California and was ridden to the championship by
Hope Kyriss.
However, registered Fox Trotters are not found exclusively
in the West, South and Border States. They are found in every
state and several foreign countries. There are also a number in
the Midwest. The New England Fox Trotter Association reports
increasing numbers in that area, where they are quite popular on
Martha's Vineyard. In the East, they are ridden in hunts, shown in
sidesaddle, English equitation, Western pleasure, trail and Fox
Totting classes. There, as well as in the rest of the country,
they are used in hunting dog field trials.
If, after reading this far and learning
(to coin a cliché) all you wanted to know and more about
the origins of the soft gaited horse known as the Fox Trotter, you
may be interested in hearing about CAP-A-LOT BABY, a registered
Foxtrotter, grand daughter of a World Champion Fox Trotter
stallion and is owned by Jeannie Crawford of Marshfield, Mo.
Jeannie successfully showed the mare for four years in Fox
Trotting gait classes before starting her jumping at the age of
six. Now they are seldom out of the money in hunter-jumper classes
in addition to winning in Fox Trotter shows and giving sidesaddle,
jumping demonstration, even though both are relative novices over
fences.
In
Colorado another registered Fox Trotter is not a novice, having
campaigned from coast to coast for a number of years. OLD GOLD is
a twenty-two year old sixteen hand Fox Trotter gelding owned and
usually ridden by Jeanne Bates, now of Pueblo, Colorado. In
following the hounds in hunts from New York, to Kansas, to
California and now with the Rivers Divide Hunt in Colorado, OLD
GOLD has jumped every type of fence, covered every type of
terrain. But as Jeanne says, his smooth fox trot was sure pleasure
to sit returning from the hunt when the three gaited riders were
posting with muscle tired legs. In California he moved into the
heat, earned 4th in the California Dressage Society. Through all
of this OLD GOLD has remained a favorite trail horse of his owner
and is looking forward to years more of pleasure.
Burton Foxtrotters
4597 U S 62 E, Beaver Dam, KY 42320
270-274-7760