¶ Gaits
Horses in Legacy can be bred to have 3, 4 or 5 gaits. Having extra gaits will allow them to enter Gaited Pleasure and Trot Racing shows. Achieving 4 or 5-gaits is controlled by both conformation and genetics (which, conformation is genetic, so it's really all genetic). Read on to learn how to breed for extra gaits.
¶ What does being 3-, 4- or 5-gaited mean?
If a horse is 3-gaited, they will walk, trot and canter.
If a horse is 4-gaited, they will walk, trot, canter and pace.
If a horse is 5-gaited, they will walk, trot, canter, pace and amble.
You can see how many gaits your horse has on their General tab:
¶ What are the ‘pace’ and ‘amble’?
The pace is a two-beat lateral gait, which is also the gait used in some harness racing. Horses can cover a lot of ground quickly with this gait, but it's not that smooth to ride.
The amble is a four-beat lateral gait, which is very smooth to ride. This gait has a lot of different names and slight variations in real life, depending on the breed performing it (rack, fox trot, etc.), but to make things simpler here, it will always be called the amble.
¶ How can I breed for extra gaits?
Having extra gaits comes down to two things: one testable gene, and conformation.
¶ The ‘Gaited Gene’
One gene (known as DMRT3) acts as the main controller of whether or not a horse can do the lateral gaits. This gene is testable, and can be found under their Health/Etc Genetics section.
The wild type allele is denoted as ‘C’, while the mutant gaited allele is denoted as ‘A’. Homozygous C/C horses will always have 3-gaits. To get a 4- or 5- gaited horse, you will need to breed for the A allele, but having it doesn't always guarantee your horse will have extra gaits, because conformation also matters. See the next section.
One last thing, whether or not your horse is heterozygous or homozygous for the Gaited A allele does matter. Heterozygous C/A horses can have 3-5 gaits, depending on the conformation traits listed below. Homozygous A/A horses, on the other hand, will always be 4-5 gaited, also dependent on their conformation.
¶ Conformation and Gaits
6 conformation traits also influence how many gaits your horse will be able to do, so long as they have at least one A allele (remember, C/C horses will always be 3-gaited!).
- Shoulder slope: You will want a more laid-back shoulder.
- Neck Position: You will want a higher neck position.
- Back Length: You will want a longer back.
- Loin: You will want a longer loin
- Hock Angle: You will actually want a lot of bend in the hocks (more sickle-hocked).
- Topline: You will want a more downhill topline.
The better your horse's conformation fits these 6 descriptions, the more likely they will be to have 4 or 5 gaits.
¶ Which breeds can be 4-5 gaited in Legacy?
Potentially all of them, though certain body types will be more likely than others. We did not limit the A allele to certain breeds in Legacy, so don't be surprised if you find an Andalusian or something who carries the A allele. You can breed for or away from it as you please, which means you could potentially create a line of gaited Dutch Warmbloods or whatever if you want!