Selecting Your Horse

A gait may be defined as a way of going. It is characterized by distinctive features, regularly executed. Action, however, refers to flexion of the knees and hocks, the height the horse lifts his feet from the ground, the speed or rate of movement, and length of stride.

A horse's stride has the following components:

Length:

distance from point of breaking over to the point of contact with the ground.

Directness or trueness:

the line in which the foot is carried forward during the stride. A horse that paddles would not be carrying his feet straight forward during the stride. (See figure 5.)

Rapidity or promptness.

Power:

the pulling force exerted.

Height:

indicated by the radius of the arc created from the point of the foot's take off to the point of the foot's contact again with the ground.

Spring:

the manner in which weight settles back on the supporting leg at the completion of the stride.

Regularity:

the rhythmic precision of each stride.

Balance:

the ability of a horse to coordinate action and go collectedly and in form.

The gaits may be described briefly as follows:

Walk:

slow, flatfooted four-beat gait that should be executed true and with snappy action. The walk should be "ground covering," with a long stride.

Trot:

two-beat gait with the diagonal fore and hindleg action together. The road horse trot is a fast-stepping trot—characterized by length and rapidity and executed with extreme degree of extension or length of stride. Heavy harness trot and hackney trot are high stepping with a high and springy stride, very collected and executed with each step showing extreme flexion and precision.

Pace:

two-beat, lateral gait with fore and hind-leg on the same side moving together. There is a minimum of concussion and more or less a side or rolling motion with little knee fold. It requires a smooth, hard footing and a minimum of draft. Trotting downhill will cause some trotters to pace; pacing uphill will cause some pacers to trot. The pace is a speed gait.

Amble:

a lateral gait distinguished from the pace by being slower and more broken in cadence. It is not a show gait.

Slow gait:

or stepping pace (a show gait) is a lateral, four-beat gait done under restraint in showy, animated fashion with front foot on the right followed by hind foot on the right. In the stepping pace, which is also a slow four-beat gait, the break in rhythm is between the lateral fore and rear foot.

Rack:

a fast, flashy four-beat lateral gait. It is sometimes called a single foot and is characterized by quite a display of knee action and speed. It's hard on the horse, easy on the rider.

Gallop:

a fast, four-beat gait. One hind foot makes the first beat, followed by the other hind foot. A diagonal forefoot is the third beat and the remaining forefoot is the fourth beat. It's the gait of a race horse.

Canter:

three-beat gait done under restraint. The sequence of the hoof beat is, for example, right rear followed by the left rear and right front hoof hitting the ground simultaneously. The third beat is the left front hoof hitting the ground. When cantering, the horse carries more weight on the haunches, or rear quarter. The forehand is lightened, the chin is set, and the gait is executed in a slow, animated, collective, rhythmic way in which the lead changes on command. If moving to the left, the horse should lead with his left leg and vice versa. If a horse is cantering to the right and leading with a left front, the horse is guilty of a cross-legged canter.

Running walk:

a slow, single-foot or four-beat lateral gait with a break in the impact or rhythm occurring between the lateral fore and hindfeet. There is considerable over-reaching with the hind legs.

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