Standardbred Pacers
Members of "The Other Gaited Breed"
All of the horses on this page are said to be "natural pacers" because they performed a lateral gait freely and naturally, without training or special equipment. Each also has one or more smooth intermediate gaits. Although horses that raced as trotters might also have additional intermediate gaits, this page is dedicated to the pacers who have been more often discarded when racing careers end.
Cap, chestnut gelding, 2 white hind and star-strip-snip
Standardbred Pacer performing the rack?
Please note the rider (not this site's owner) is following unsafe practices.
Tam with her 5-day-old foal by Miracle Knight. This baby is a full brother to Cap.
Tam is a direct descendant of Dan Patch, one of few left in the world. This chestnut mare has a large star and 4 white half-stockings. Her mane and tail are lighter than this picture indicates, more strawberry-blonde.
Miracle Knight
Standardbred Pacer stallion, successful racehorse and son of Knight Dream, 1948 Little Brown Jug winner. This dark bay was foaled in 1959 and is shown in a 1983 picture. He lived several more years.
Nettie
Standardbred Pacer mare by Meadow Chuck, this mare rarely trotted and is a good illustration of "natural" pacer conformation, especially in the hindquarters. Nettie and Tam are sisters with the same mother.
This liver chestnut mare with 2 white hind ankles came from an "important" farm in Kentucky. She was thought to be "too big" to race successfully and had a limited broodmare career before going to the Amish, then back to brood and pleasure driving.
Lass
Standardbred Pacer mare out of Nettie and by Sykes Hanover, a son of the great sire and racer, Tar Heel. This black mare has a large white "question mark" on her face but no other white markings. Her foal by a bay with a white spot on one hind heel and no other markings produced a very loud chestnut mare with a large white blaze and much roaning.
Sheila
Standardbred Pacer out of Nettie and by the good racehorse, Listening, son of the immortal Bret Hanover. This bay has no white markings, is built like a tank, and fears nothing. She was, however, absolutely uninterested in racing.