Gaits of a Horse

All horses move naturally with four basic gaits; these are referred to as the walk, the trot/jog, the canter/lope ("canter" in English riding, "lope" in Western), and the gallop.

The walk:
A walk is a "four-beat" lateral gait in which a horse must have three feet on the ground and only one foot in the air at any time. The walking horse will lift first a hind leg, then the foreleg on the same side, then the remaining hind leg, then the foreleg on the same side. A rider on a trained horse gently squeezes the sides of the animal and releases the pressure on its reins in order to initiate a walk from a stationary position. To initiate a walk when a horse is trotting, the rider gently applies pressure on the reins.

The trot/jog:
A trot is a "two beat" diagonal gait in which a foreleg and opposite hindleg (often called "diagonals") touch the ground at the same time. In this gait, each leg bears weight separately, making it ideal to check for lameness or for stiffness in the joints. A rider on a walking horse initiates a trot by reducing tautness on the reins and applying more leg pressure. There are two types of trot a rider can perform; these are called posting trot, in which the rider stands up slightly in the saddle each time the animal's outside front leg goes forward, and sitting trot, in which the rider sits in the saddle and matches the horse's movement. During the trot, at one time, all four of the horses hoove are off of the surfase it is trotting on.

The canter/lope:
A canter is a "three beat" gait in which a foreleg and opposite hindleg strike the ground together, and the other two legs strike separately. A cantering horse will first stride off with the outside hind leg, then the inside hind and outside fore together, then the inside front leg, and finally a period of suspension in which all four legs are off the ground. the rhythm should be 1-2-3, 1-2-3, etc. When cantering in a straight line, it does not usually matter which foreleg (or leading leg) goes first, but both leads should receive equal practice time, as otherwise the horse may become "one-sided" or develop a reluctance to canter on a specific lead. In the arena, the horse should canter on the inside lead.

In making a fairly tight turn, the inside leg (the one nearest to the center of the turn) should lead, as this prevents the horse from "falling in". To get a horse to canter on the correct leg from trot, one must go into sitting trot, place their outside leg slightly behind the girth and squeeze with the inside leg. To get a horse to canter from gallop, one must alter the position of the body slightly back in the saddle, then you must place the outside leg behind the girth to allow the horse to canter on the correct leg, and apply pressure on the reins. Also called "lope" when riding in a Western show class. The canter is not a natural gait, but a restrained form of a gallop.

The gallop:
The gallop is another "four beat" gait which follows a similar progression to the canter, except the two paired legs land separately, the hind leg landing slightly before the foreleg. The gallop also involves having a leading leg. In turning at a very rapid rate, it is even more important that the horse use the appropriate lead, leading with the left leg if making a left turn, and the right leg if making a right turn, since the faster the turn the more the horse needs to lean into the turn. Horses that usually are galloped in a straight line need to be caused to alternate leads so that they do not suffer a muscular imbalance and subsequent difficulty making turns in one direction or the other.

To get a horse into gallop, the rider must alter their position so they are slightly more forward in the saddle, then they should allow the horse to head and gently kick the horse's sides. The gallop is usually used in races or fox hunting. However, one would not gallop a horse during training in a ring or enclosed area, due to the fact that the horse may slip in attempting to gallop in such an area. Although a race track is an enclosed area, it is designed for a horse to gallop around, without being too enclosed which may cause the horse to slip while turning.

Other gaits:
Some horses, called Gaited Horses, have gaits other than the most common four above.

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