# Tennessee walker or Missouri foxtrotter



## StarLover (Aug 1, 2017)

Missouri foxtrotters are a little more rare and they have good breeding too...


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

It really depends on where you are located on the price of each breed. I own 1 of each and paid more for my TWH than the MFT> it also depends on the training of the horse.


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## lilruffian (Jun 28, 2010)

All depends on where you are located, the individual horse (conformation, breeding and silly enough, color) as well as the horse's training and the person selling, as horses have no "black book" value so people can ask whatever they want. Rarity will always add to the cost but doesn't necessarily make for a better mount.
For example, the Fjord breed comes in typically 6 different shades of dun, with a good 80% of them being brown dun.. in my area you can buy a completely well broke, registered brown-dun fjord with a good build and decent breeding for $1500-$2500. But find someone selling a fjord that is one of the more uncommon colors, no training and breeding that is no better and they want $3000-$5000. Just for COLOR. Doesn't make them any better, just more uncommon. Same goes for the TWH and the MFT. A good horse is a good horse and it is all up to the buyer if they see the value in spending the extra cash.
If you look around though, and are willing to travel farther you may find some more decently priced MFTs.


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## SilverMaple (Jun 24, 2017)

Location is huge. MFT's are a dime a dozen in the southern states, it seems. Neither MFT's and TWH's are common in our area, but the MFT's sell higher because they look more like the stock horses everyone else is riding, and can generally use the same tack. As a bonus, if you ride with non-gaited people, a MFT walks more slowly. A good TWH will keep your friends riding stock horses in a hard trot or lope all day, and even at a flat walk, they'll outdistance a stock horse easily.

There is one woman I know of who regularly goes south and bails MFT's, TWH's, and other gaited horses out of the low-end auctions in Missouri, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana, brings them back north, puts some rides on them and sells them for a lot more than she paid because there aren't many around here, and more and more people are looking at gaited horses as the population ages and riders lean more toward pleasure and trails vs. the show ring.

Make sure whichever horse you choose gaits well. There are a lot of MFT's out there who don't gait well, same with TWHs. Sometimes you can get them gaiting again with proper training, sometimes you can't. In areas where gaited horses aren't common, it can be hard to find someone who can work with them to improve gait, and you'll find some for sale that gait poorly or not at all.


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## planta (Aug 23, 2015)

Thats a good question, I live in Great Plains where is aa handful of gaited horses among AQH and stock horses.
I think, and that's what I heard too, that TWH are way too fast to do cow work, and good cow horse should work in cows speed. So there is no need among cowboys and stockyards for TWH. 
My TWH was outrunning quarter horses and one Thoroughbred when training together in arena, in flat walk. I was doing about 1.5 circle on their one. I was tired of holding back my horse all the time.
So if people are buying to ride casually with friends or family, they will choose horses that go similar speed too, and if everyone else rides AQH, then they will rather choose MFT that goes slower. 
Not long time ago I went with my friend riding my MFT mare, when I was on TWH. MFT was foxtrotting her normal speed, I had to make circles to keep up around friend to talk to her, because was impossible to make my TWH go same speed. And both of them are gaited!
SilverMaple is also right about tack-in stores around I can buy standard horse/AQH size bridle and will fit my MFT. No way to do the same with TWH, I have to look for talk for her online, that increases total cost. 

I think what is rare, is expensive. And honestly, i like foxtrot better, is much more comfy than what my TWH can make. I can;t say about whole breed, but MFT is more steady headed and sure footed, not so hot, that means less problems in training and pleasure riding. Where my TWH panics-like mud pools, ditches filled with water, she dances around not to put foot in the mud and sometimes goes to clear disobedience not to do it, MFT just goes everywhere like a tank. During last ride she turned by herself (I let her choose that direction, it was just riding along the field road) to the ditches with water up to her knees and was just walking in the water splashing it happily. She doesn't skip a step, even on very uneven ground. I use her for my 9 y old daughter, when TWH is just way too hot headed to do so. 
If I would look for a horse, I would choose MFT.

Here is my two, under my neighbors. On the left MFT, on right TWH









MFT gait, nice and easy on both rider (not very experienced) and the horse


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

Gee guys, nobody told the MFT's in my neighborhood they are supposed to be slow! My friend and I (both on MFT's) rode with a lady on a TWH today for the first time and my MFT led darn near the whole ride. And not only did she lead, but I kept having to circle back around because we were so far out in front I couldn't hear their conversation.

Now it's true that gaiting out, the TWH probably has a faster gait. My MFT's best gait is fairly slow. But at the flat walk, I really didn't know there was supposed to be a difference. I haven't ridden with a lot of walkers, but the ones I've had I haven't seen any difference in the speed of their flat walk. 

Now my 1/2 MFT walks slow like a QH. But his other half IS QH. So I always figure he's channeling his inner QH!

In Arizona all gaited horses can be pricey. I've lucked out with 2 Fox Trotters now but I've never met a TWH in my price range ($2000 or less). Go figure! I always thought the MFT was supposed to be the TWH's country cousin. So it's nice to hear they are desirable in their own right.


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## planta (Aug 23, 2015)

I paid 2500 for Bbae the TWH and 1300 for MFT mare . MFT gelding from Dallas area was 1800. After short time we discovered he has very acute laminitis with large bone rotation so we consider him a pasture ornament only. 
But I consider it a lucky case. My new friend had a MFT (an old lady), and she paid about 5k. 

Trailhorserider, maybe its the TWh that was so lazy! When I was renting a stall in riding center, there was a woman with TWH gelding. Boy he was HUGE! about 17 hh, built like a tank and extremely lazy, to make him walk you really had to work. And yes, I was circling him on my TWH mare)
But he was soooo pretty...I was in love with him...Babe was looking so delicate compared to him!


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## SilverMaple (Jun 24, 2017)

A lot of TWH's are big, and if someone is looking for a smaller horse, that's a problem. Nearly everyone in this area that rides gaited has a MFT, Rocky Mountain Horse, or a gaited mule of some sort. My Paso is the only one I know of, and a friend's TWH is a rarity and sticks out like a sore thumb at rides. She brings her husband's rope horse for trail riding in groups, though, as her TWH outdistances everyone else even in a flat walk and she says it's annoying.


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## planta (Aug 23, 2015)

One thing that is important for smaller people like me (5'5").
Is MOUNTING. if you live in the area that is flat, with no tree stumps, boulders and fences you can use to climb, you are in trouble. I can't can put leg up to my TWH mare stirrup. I am using step stool in the pasture and riding out from there, trying to avoid dismounting during a ride. One time I had to walk half a mile before I found conveniently deep and steep-sloped ditch I could use.

With MFT is so much easier!

Did I mention I joined Texan endurance riding club? They have mostly Arabians and I wonder how my racking TWH will do in the race!


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