Gaited Horse
When Jolene Mangum and Shelly Angel packed up Sundrop’s Fahrenheit (Chisum) and Spook’s Rain (Romeo) to head for Castle Rock, Colorado, they had no idea they would bring home national titles from the 2007 North American Pleasure Gaited Horse World Championship held September 7-9. A year ago, Chisum paced instead of walking; Shelly was still recovering from major knee surgery. According to trainer Barbara Hanes, Chisum “dominated the Western AOT, Two-Gait division, winning first place in both the Western Pleasure and Trail Pleasure classes.” To win, he had to beat last year’s Western Trail champion. In the Open Championship Tennessee Walking Horse (TWH) Two-Gait grand championship class, Chisum and Jolene finished fourth, just behind three professional trainers. Shelly, just back to riding after four months off, placed fourth in her first class, TWH English Pleasure Amateur Two-Gait. After that, she shook the cobwebs off and came back to win the TWH Western Pleasure Two-Gaited class. She finished by steering Romeo to Reserve National Champion in the English Pleasure Open Two-Gaited championship class.
Both Jolene and Shelly credit Barb with their success.
“Barb Hanes has taught us how to train these horses using basic dressage,” Jolene said. “A lot of Tennessee Walker trainers use gimmicks like long feet and heavy shoes. A lot of the “big lick” horses naturally pace instead of walk and they correct that by extreme shoeing. You have to know which bloodlines naturally walk and breed for the old running walk.”
This show was affiliated with FOSH (Friends of Sound Horses). FOSH does not permit Big Lick horses and strictly limits the size of the shoe that the Walkers can wear as well as not permitting excessive length or radical angle changes in the hoof. These are allowed in the regular commission shows. In the commission shows, they will allow up to 2 pounds per front shoe in their “light shod” classes.
“I think that the really cool thing about FOSH champions is that you could ride any of these horses right out of the show ring and out onto the trails,” she said. “These are the horses that trail riders want. As I stated before, the Big Lick people purposely breed their Walkers to naturally pace so that they will 'walk' when all the pads and heavy shoes are added. Unfortunately, this has left the breed with numerous pacey horses.”
The pace is a lateral movement; the front and hind foot on the same side move at the same time. The Tennessee Walkers have brilliance and speed at a walk. The cadence is just like a normal walk but they have an over-stride as they get longer. The better walking horses will have over a 1 ½ foot over-stride. Jolene has owned Chisum since he was born; she bred him. He’d always paced and she was discouraged.
“My gelding paced,” she said. “I didn’t think I could get a running walk. With Barb’s help, I used dressage to get my horse balanced and supple. We did a lot of lateral suppling and bending. His body changed. In the past, when we went up a steep hill on a trail ride, he used to poop out. He now powers up.”
Now, Chisum can sometimes over-stride by two feet. He’s learned to balance on his rear end and stride from behind.
“They squat down behind and are really striding from behind,” she said. “When a horse is really striding, they shake their head. Dressage teaches the horse to balance on his rear end. That frees up his shoulder. The horse couldn’t do the gait before I met Barb. He was on the forehand and gasping. I thought I didn’t have a good horse. It wasn’t until I met Barb and worked with her that I realized I had an outstanding horse. I needed to learn to ride and help him achieve his potential. Now I feel that we’re one person. He’s so soft and light, it’s amazing. If you fix the back, the feet take care of themselves. You fix the back through basic dressage. He just keeps getting stronger and better.”
When Shelly first saw Romeo, she didn’t know anything about Walkers. She went to help a friend buy a horse; she was the designated rider. Once she climbed on the big gelding, she was hooked.
“I had this amazing connection,” she said. “I was riding around and around the arena. I didn’t want to get off. I already had a Saddlebred and didn’t need another horse so I left him. I kept thinking about him and crying so my fiancé said I should get the horse.”
Everything fell into place. Her fiancé bought Romeo me as a Christmas and birthday present. Her girlfriend didn’t have any more stalls but she built a stall for Romeo. Another friend trailered him to his new home.
Shelly had ridden most of her life. Although she was an accomplished springboard diver, her parents bought her a horse at sixteen. A few years ago, she bought her Saddlebred and trail rode. About seven years ago, she started showing.
“I knew nothing about Walkers,” she said. “I didn’t know what I was doing. A friend told me she knew a Walker trainer. I worked with them for a while but I wanted to know more. I was introduced to Barbara Hanes.”
But then Shelly fell and tore her ACL. She had to have a ligament replaced and couldn’t ride for four months.
During that time, Hanes rode the horse. When she got back on, Romeo was a changed horse.
“He’s happy,” she said. “All the flexing and bending – that’s what did it. He learned not to brace but to use his back end. We worked on getting his core strengths strong. Barb understands the horse. She understands the movement. We’ve been retraining him to do what he’s doing. I need to re-learn to ride. My horse and I wouldn’t be where we are today if it weren’t for Barb Hanes. He was never walking like he’s walking now.”
Jolene would like to see more TWH in Arizona. She feels they are perfect for trail riding.
“They are such a smooth ride that I hope they will gain popularity out here,” she said. “The barn that stabled across from us at the Colorado show was from Missouri and they told us that there are shows for TWH every weekend in their state. I would love if we had that kind of population of Walkers here in Arizona. Maybe if more people knew about the natural TWH and did not think of the Big Lick, they would buy them.”
Until now, Arizona hasn’t been known for its Walking Horses. Jolene, Shelly and Barbara may change all of that.
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