Sport: Five Speeds Forward

At International Amphitheater in the heart of Chicago’s stockyards, last week, a scarlet-coated trumpeter tooted his horn. A hush fell over a sellout crowd of 11,000. Fourteen high-stepping horses trotted into the ring, their tails arched high,*their riders sitting with ramrod-straight backs. At stake was the championship for five-gaited horses.

Most eyes fell on a six-year-old chestnut stallion named Wing Commander, the Man o’ War of five-gaiters, beaten only once since he was a youngster of three. On Wing Commander’s back was a wiry little man named Earl Teater, who had taught him everything he knew about “gaitin’.” His owner, Mrs. Frances Dodge Van Lennep, watched from a seat in Box 40.

Connoisseur Gaits. In the ring, the ringmaster called for a walk and Wing slowed down, though still strutting. Teater gave him a thank-you tap on the head. At the call for the “slow gait,” Teater gave a twist on the snaffle rein and Wing moved into a gliding, four-beat amble.

It was the first of two artificial gaits, a kind of running walk. Southern plantation owners, who used to spend long hours in the saddle overseeing their property, used it because while it covered ground it was easy on the rider. A horse’s three conventional speeds forward—the walk, trot and canter—were either too slow, too fast or too uncomfortable for some early American connoisseurs.

The second synthetic gait, most comfortable for the rider but tiring for the horse, was the rack (singlefoot), a four-beat gait with each hoof striking the ground separately.

Official Phrases. Although Wing Commander seemed to understand the ringmaster’s verbal commands (for a rack, a walk, a canter), he was getting instructions through his rider’s legs and the bits in his mouth. In the trot, Rider Teater deliberately let the field draw ahead of Wing and then clucked to him. The champ, all the prettier to watch for being alone, quickly caught up with the field and passed most of it. After going through all their paces, Wing Commander and two others were selected to remain in the center of the ring. The order of finish: i) Wing Commander, 2) Sam McGee, 3) Song of India.

After the cheers died and Earl Teater rode out to accept the blue ribbon for Dodge Stables, the judges got together to phrase their official comment. One wanted to say simply that Wing Commander was far ahead of the field. Said another judge: “I don’t think we want to say that. We don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings. Let’s just say there’s not another stud like him showing today.”

-An effect usually achieved by nicking some tail tendons and muscles when the horse is young and, before a show, inserting a shot of ginger in the rectum.