Understanding Gaits and Gaited Horse Terms
In the gaited horse world there are many terms which are used to mean different things by different people, thus confusing most people who are learning about gaited horses. Although there are over 30 "gaited horse" breeds I am going to first focus on the terms that most often are used in the Foxtrotting Horse world. In this writing I am going to list a number of these terms and then give their correct definition as well as the "slang" uses of them. I am going to post this to the web as I work on it, so it can be of use to you prior to my completing it. (Because of this, some of the information may not be described quite as accurately as I'd like...if you see mistakes, please let me know. When the project is finished I will have proof read it and verified all information for accuracy.) Over time I will be placing diagrams, photos, and video clips along side each paragraph to illustrate what I'm explaining. Enjoy! Alma DeMille
Gait: The way in which a horse is moving. There are many gaits. Slang: A smooth riding horse is called "gaited", which is not necessarily correct, although the slang use has come to mean just that, due to common and frequent use. All horses have "gaits" or they could not move; even the roughest hard trot is a gait...a hard trot. Although not correct use of the word, I too use it because everyone knows what I mean...sort of like "aint."
Slang uses of the following gaits are so numerous we'll discuss them later:
Flat Foot Walk: A gait in which the horse is walking with all four legs in a quick stepping manner. (This can be done in a diagonal or lateral or broken pattern, although a mostly diagonal broken pattern is most correct. *see tips below.)
Foxtrot: A gait in which the horse is walking with its front legs and trotting with his rear legs. (This can be done in a diagonal or lateral or broken pattern, although a mostly diagonal broken pattern is the most correct. *see tips below.)
Running Walk: A gait in which the horse is walking with its rear legs and trotting with its front legs. (This can be done in a diagonal or lateral or broken pattern, although a balanced broken pattern is most correct. *see tips below.)
Rack: A bi-lateral four-beat (broken) gait which is neither a pace nor a trot. It is often called a "single-foot" because only one foot strikes the ground at a time. This is a very similar gait to a foxtrot and a running walk, but both front and rear legs are moving in an even cadence with the feet falling in 4 beats with even intervals between them.
4 Beat Canter: A gait in which the horse is cantering or loping and the hooves hit the ground in 4 distinct thumps. (Most horses will not gait like this until approaching the speed of a "hell bent for leather" dead run.)
3 Beat Canter: A canter or loping gait in which one hind hoof hits the ground, then the other hind hoof and its opposite front hoof hit together making the 2nd beat, followed by the other front hoof, which is the diagonal hoof from the first rear that contacted the ground.
Square Trot: (For the purposes of this article this will include the hard trot, long trot, extended trot, and diagonal trot, as these are all "non-gaited" gaits.) A gait in which the horse moves 100% diagonally, thus its left front hoof and right rear hoof move together and the right front and left rear move together. When a "gaited" horse is too close to square it is called "trotty."
Pace: A gait in which the horse moves its left feet together (at the same time) and its right feet together. Some horses will pace at a walk and trot, and occasionally even in a sickly moving canter. This is a 100% lateral gait. Slang: Often people say a horse is pacing when in reality it is doing a "broken" gait.
Broken Gait: A manner of moving that is partly diagonal and partly lateral. The percentages vary immensely. As the horse increases its lateral movement it becomes more like a pace. As it increases its diagonal movement it becomes more like a square trot.
Slick Trot: A manner of moving that is identical to a foxtrot (walking in front and trotting in the rear) but the horse is taking small steps, rather than extending its stride. Slang: This is very commonly misused to describe a horse that has more lateral movement than the speaker thinks it should. They say the horse is "too slick". Actually what they mean to say is that the horse is too lateral for their liking.
Speed Trot: A broken gait in which the horse is trotting with both its rear and front legs. This is a term seldom used because people usually think a horse that is speed trotting is either doing a running walk or a fast foxtrot. Additionally, it is not an "official" gait of any breed, unless it be the single-footing & racking horse breeds. The speed trot is essentially a fast RACK.
Smooth Gaiting: Placing the right foot on the ground before picking up the left foot. The smoothest horses do this both in front and back. (This manner of moving can be done in any gait.) Even though a Pace is a curse word to many people, if a horse paces in this "smooth" manner the ride can be quite comfortable. I have also ridden a few Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds that moved out in this manner, making their ride nicer than many "gaited" horses who are "roughly gaiting".
Rough Gaiting: Right hoof is still in the air when the left hoof is picked up, thus the horse's body falls due to gravity until the right hoof hits the ground and bears weight....thus the bounce. (This manner of moving can be done in any gait.) This is very common in the modern show ring where animation has become more important than a smooth ride, and the animation often causes horses to rough gait. Author's note: I mentioned the single-footing horse is a speed trotter, and this is true, but they are also roughly gaiting. The forward momentum of their speed dramatically decreases the fall...or bounce the rider feels, thus making the ride better than any other roughly gaited horse. They are a thrilling and wonderful ride! When a horse performs a flat foot walk, a foxtrot or a running walk in this "rough" manner, the saddle bounces up and down uncomfortably.
Natural Gaits: The gaits that a horse does in its natural setting, such as trotting around the field among other horses. Slang: Often used to mean a gait that the horse may have the genetic capability of doing. Also incorrectly used to mean a gait that the horse can learn.
Artificial Gaits: The gaits a horse is taught to do, that it did not do naturally. Author's note: Although there are cases of abusive treatment in order to achieve these artificial gaits, there are many horse trainers who handle them kindly and achieve amazing results teaching them to gait well.
There are more terms out there, but these are the basics you need to understand your foxtrotting horse and what it is doing, can do, or should do. Let's discuss how these things combine and affect your riding experience.
First off, let me say that most horses have the ability to do many gaits. In my breeding program I focus only on producing horses that "naturally" gait in the same manner I want them to move when I'm in the saddle. This is a highly inheritable trait.
Over the years the ideas of what a foxtrot, a running walk, etc are have been told and retold incorrectly so many times that few people really understand what gait a horse is doing when they see it moving. Here are some points to look for to identify what your horse is doing, and more importantly to see what can be done to improve it's gait.
Watch The Tail
Does the tail bounce? If so, the horse is likely doing one of these gaits: A foxtrot, a rack, a square trot, or possibly a rough gaiting running walk or rough gaiting flat foot walk.
Does the tail bounce and then a ripple run down it, like when you flip a garden hose and watch the ripple run down the length? Only a horse that's racking or foxtrotting creates this type of bounce, or a pronounced slick trot. The bounce is caused by the rear end of the horse falling and the ripple caused by the breaking over of the hocks. (Breaking of the hocks is very easy to see on a horse that is "rough gaiting" or has air time between his hoof falls. When a horse is smooth gaiting, he puts his left down before picking up his right, so the breaking of the hock is hard to see. That is what causes the ripple to run down the tail though!) See below:
Does the tail swing side to side? Your horse is pacing, or at least is too lateral in its gait and most likely you'll feel the saddle going side to side as well.
Does the tail flow behind the horse without a bounce and look from the side like a blow dryer is blowing the tail from between the horse's rear legs? Your horse is likely doing a smooth gaiting flat foot walk or a running walk.
Watch this tail flow smoothly in a flat foot walk.
Watch The Head
Does your horse's head rock side to side? If so it is likely doing a pace, or once again is too lateral in its movement. Sometimes this is also caused by a bit that is hurting the mouth and too tight a rein.
Does your horse's head nod up and down as you are going faster than a walk? If so, and you have a smooth ride, the horse is either doing a foxtrot or a running walk or a relaxed rack. In either gait, when performed correctly, the head nod will stop descending at the same instant each rear hoof hits the ground.
Does your horse's head nod stop while the rear hoof is still moving? Your horse is being pushed beyond it's natural ability to gait well....this is common in many show rings...and the ride will suffer due to exaggerated animation. A horse's head should nod in a relaxed manner creating a very graceful motion from the tail to the head like a gently rolling ship, and should not move more than looks balanced with the movement of the rear hips and tail.
Watch The Rear Hooves Hit The Ground, Then Watch The Front
Observe the timing of your horses feet touching the ground. Do the right feet bear weight before the left are picked up? If not your horse is "roughly gaiting" and the air time or suspension is causing a bounce in the gait.
Watch The Lateral vs. Diagonal Movement
(I suggest using a slow motion video to do this & I'll add that later.) Option 1: Observe the front right hoof as it is picked up off of the ground. See how far forward it moves in it's stride before the right rear hoof is picked up. As soon as the right rear is picked up measure the remaining % of stride taken by the front right hoof. This measurement is the lateral % of movement. Option 2: Observe the front left hoof as it moves forward. Measure the % of it's stride from the time the right rear starts to be picked up from the ground until the front left hits the ground. This is your diagonal percentage of movement. The percentage of diagonal vs. lateral movement does not help discern what gait is being done, but it helps you determine if your horse is too "pacey" or "trotty". Knowing this can help you work out a training program to improve the quality of your ride!
Author's Note: This is one of the most misunderstood subjects among all gaited horse enthusiasts. Many people think a foxtrot is diagonal and a running walk is lateral. It is true that a foxtrot is supposed to be more diagonal than a running walk, but both of them are "broken gaits". Many horses do a wonderful running walk that is 50% diagonal, and many of the most comfortable foxtrotting horses are moving about 30% lateral. Lateral and Diagonal movement is not a criteria to discern what gait is being performed. It certainly does affect the quality of the ride, the sure footedness, and other factors as well. But, a foxtrot is walking in front and trotting behind and a running walk is trotting in front and walking behind, no matter how diagonal or lateral the horse is moving. I will post two side shots of horses foxtrotting, one in the old style gait of 30% lateral and 70% diagonal and the other in the more modern square foxtrot gait of 90+% diagonal and -10% lateral.
Watch and see if you can tell the difference between two nicely gaited horses:
This spotted mare is 50% diagonal and 50% lateral. The black gelding is 80% diagonal and 20% lateral. Both are very smooth, surefooted horses, whose gaits are a pleasure to ride. Any more lateral on the mare would start getting pacey and any more diagonal on the gelding would start getting trotty. (Important tip: Watch the hooves, not the legs as they can be deceptive! Horses have knees and hock joints in their legs, so it is obvious that sometimes the top half of the leg may be going forward while the bottom half is still or moving backwards. So watch the hooves to determine lateral vs. diagonal movement! It may help to cover the top half of the horse so you can only see from the knees down.)
More to Consider
Now, to confuse you: It is not uncommon for a horse to be doing one gait in the front and another in the rear, or to do one gait on the left side and another on the right. Example: When driving a buggy pulled by a nice Tennessee Walker mare I have, I can make her pace on one side and stay in her running walk on the other side simply by holding one rein firmly so she can't turn her neck and tightening the other rein which forces her to pivot her neck near the poll, right close to her head. There is no reason to do this, but to illustrate that any pressure you put on your horse will affect its movement. If your saddle is pinching, your balance is off, your bridle is irritating the mouth, or any number of things like this, you can actually be hindering your horse without knowing it. I had a cross-bred gelding that is a prime example of different gaits in front and rear. He is by a fine MFT stallion and out of a half TWH X Paso Fino mare. When I'd trot him he'd naturally do a picture perfect foxtrot in the rear and a "Corto" gait in the front. Also, when I try to flat foot walk him he prefers to go into a nice comfortable rack.
More to come later. Thanks for your interest! Comments and questions are welcome; in fact, I've really enjoyed even the negative comments I've received as they tell me what things people don't understand, and then I use that to further clarify the information here! Keep em' comin'!
mailto:foxtrotterhorseman@hotmail.com
If you have videos you want me to analyze, just send them to me and then I'll put them on this site, with the breakdown of what they are doing and tips to improve the ride!
Eventually I will have video clips next to each segment of written text to show what I'm explaining.