How Are Pacers Trained?

Most pacers wear hopples on all four legs to help with gait maintenance. Occasionally, you might see a free-legged pacer, a horse racing without hopples. Many pacers trot naturally while turned out in a field; they can be trained to trot for second careers as riding horses.

How are racehorses trained?

The first step in training a racehorse, or any horse really, is getting them accustomed to being handled and tacked up. This means, getting the colt or filly used to the weight of a saddle, the tightening of the girth, the feel of the bit in their mouth, and then, eventually, the added weight of a rider.

Are Pacers faster than trotters?

Pacers are much more common than trotters, and they tend to go faster. With trotters, the diagonal legs move in unison. The trotting gait is more natural for the horse so most do not need equipment to help them trot, although some wear loops on their front legs to maintain their rhythm, called trotting hobboles.