Video: Tennessee Walking Horse Rocking Chair Canter

Watch as trainer Anita Howe explains the Tennessee Walking Horse’s rocking chair canter.

The rocking chair canter of the Tennessee Walking Horse is a collected and elevated, three-beat gait where the diagonal pairs must land together for correctness. Unbalanced and over-ridden canters produce a lateral, four-beat gait that is incorrect.

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Of note is how their natural looseness combines with the use of their head and neck to add loft and elevation to their collected canter. This combines to produce a notable headnodding action that is completely natural and fluid.

The collected canter takes tremendous strength for upward lift that is best developed over weeks and months to avoid over-strain or injury.

Learn more at HowTheyWalk.com

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View Comments

Joanie says:
December 19, 2011 at 12:30 pm
Thank you for showing. Most people do not realize the importance of the head nod and all the factors you touched on, I have a tennessee walker, and it definetly takes work to get them gaitng properly.But when they get it right there is no better ride.