In standardbred breeding, what happens if a pacer and a trotter combine for a foal?

Question

Or are pacers always paired with pacers and trotters with trotters?

Answer 1

i have seen trotters converted over to be pacers....

Answer 2

If one of the parents was a natural pacer then the foal might be.  If one or both had a bit of natural pacer in their lines the foal might be.  It might come out as a trotter who has the ability to learn to race at the pacing gait.  In general if you're racing and breeding pacers you'll probably be dealing in parents who pace.  but if you've got two great lines and just want a cross then you can simply train to what the foal does naturally.  

Some do learn to race succesfully in a gait they weren't born with but it's not too common.  More often they just don't do well or break gait frequently.

Answer 3

for standardbreds as with all horse breds a trot is a natual gait, as is a gallop, however you should concieve the pace as a taught gait, or at worst a manufactured gait. pacers almost always wear hopples when racing, for one to be devoid of same is so unusual that the race program always clearly denotes the free legged pacer, and more recently trotters can wear a device called a trotting hopple, in both cases these are leather or plastic hoops. But perhaps you understand same aready, but know that the genetic traits do not come cut in stone, several sucessful pacing stallions were trotting bred,( French Chef & Direct Scooter) and the ledgendary stallion "Volomite " sired both.

I raised and races harness horses, for about 30 years, trained and drove, and I always worked my 2 year old pacers to at least 2:20 for a mile WITHOUT their hopples, so as to determine if their shoeing and balance and tack equipment where as it should be, allowing for the horse to do its best.

I did have a filly that was pacing breed on sires side and had a very strong trotting linage, from the mare, I tried to race her as a pacers only at 2,3, & 4., she wore the tack shop, fairly fast but unsound, at age 5 i tried her on the trot gait, she was nowhere as fast but was more content, and wore almost nothing.

Now as the blood lines in North American racing become less defused, the trotter have an out by importing mare from Europe, and exporting secondary race and pedigree stallions, the pacers had 4 lines but the lines tracing back to Meadow Skipper, have came to overwhelm the others.

There would be no sound reason based in logic, to cross a pacer to a trotter, exspecting the best of both parents traits.

The oldest adage in breeding was to breed the best to the best and HOPE for the best.

I hope this rather long answer, will be both useful and informative, you asked a good question as that harness horses  rarely get any mention in any media of any type.

Answer 4

Nothing happens but a foal.  Natural pacers are kind of rare, I've only seen a few in the 20 years I've been around them.  Breeding standardbreds is like breeding any kind of horse, you match pedigrees to achieve the result you want.  Sometimes you get it, sometimes you don't.