Action & Gaited Horses

[Cypress Creek Elites]

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Oh, that's really interesting! Yeah I know nothing about gaited horses xD
Where would a gene like that originate naturally (if you happen to have information about that)? I just wonder what would have caused horses to evolve that way in the first place?
I'm assuming that the action of the horse and it being gaited or not aren't necessarily linked, so would this lead to... two different categories? I don't know. I'm really enjoying learning more though!

[Silverine]

The gene itself would have been a natural mutation during the evolution of the horse. What I don't know (and I don't think anybody does) is if the gene to enable gaiting is the mutation or if the non-gaiting gene is the mutation. My guess from what I know of other species is that the gene to permit the ambling gaits is actually the original, non-mutated gene but that the trotting gene was selected for more and more as horses and humans intermingled. This is only my guess because ambling gaits are seen in so many other species and genera - donkeys, camels, canids, felids, etc. The big exception to this is zebras, who only trot. Again, this is only a guess, and I doubt anyone knows for certain.

Correct, action and gait are not linked. You can breed for a high-stepping non-gaited horse (look at dressage horses) or a shallow-legged gaited horse (the palomino in this video is a good example, and most gaited horses bred for trail and not show are bred to be more flat-footed and smooth rather than high-stepping).

[honeybunny]

So I had to chime in. I breed, show, train, and care for a pretty varied number of breeds in the real world, but my main devotion is to AQHA, Racing bred Arabians, and Westfalen Warmbloods. However, I own a couple of gaited horses. A Rocky Mountain mare, Racking horse gelding, and two Missouri Fox Trotters (two mares, both actually being my husband's but I don't steal his hoodies, I steal his horses.) I also own an amazing MFT x Hanoverian Sporthorse mare, a National Showhorse, and an AQHA x Spotted Saddlehorse.
Here's the deal with the gaited genes.
(I'm not going to use real genetic lingo for ease of explanation)
G = lateral "gaited" gene
N = diagonal "non-gaited" gene
G + G will create a GG homozygous lateral moving foal.
N + N will create a NN homozygous diagonal moving foal.
G + N is where it gets funky. You have about a 50/50 chance of getting a diagonal or lateral foal. Take for example my MFT x Hanoverian mare. She is heterozygous for the foxtrot gait, heterozygous for basic diagonal. Conformationally she is built to gait, but can not gait. It's literally not there. But if I were to breed her to a MFT stallion I would have a high chance that I would get a gaited foal, but still, a chance that the foal would be single foot.
Another example is my AQHA x Spotted Saddlehorse gelding has lovely action and speed racks. Same genetic probability but born racking.


Now to action. Action is plain and simple conformation and training combined. For example a Morgan or Arabian. Not gaited but high action, especially in saddleseat? Why? Training aids, such as wedge shoes, pads, and gait training hobbles coupled with very specific conformation requirements.