Common Gaits

WALK — A natural, flat-footed, four-beat gait in which each foot strikes the ground independently in a regular rhythm. The footfall sequence, with a left lead, will be: near fore, off hind, off fore, and near hind. There is no moment of suspension. The sequence of steps remains unchanged in the ordinary walk, extended walk and collected walk. The average speed of a medium walk is approximately 6.4 kilometers per hour.

TROT — A natural two-beat gait in which the diagonal pair of legs, such as the left fore and right hind, leave the ground simultaneously followed by a moment of suspension where the feet do not touch the ground and then the simultaneous strike of right fore and left hind; this sequence remains unchanged in the collected trot, working trot, medium and extended trots; only the length of stride and duration of suspension changes. Medium trot is approximately 201 yards per minute, although the gait varies considerably from breed to breed.

JOG — A slow trot between a walk and trot with a shortened stride length; the rider remains seated and does not post; usually performed on a loose rein. Also known as hound trot, hound gait, hound pace, hound jog, jiggle or jog trot; about 9.7 kilometers per hour. Originally the gait was the pace that hounds traveled on the road when in route to or returning from a hunt.

CANTER — A rocking, three-beat gait in which the horse’s hooves strike the ground in the following order: one hind foot, the other hind foot and its diagonally opposite forefoot together, the remaining forefoot, followed by a moment of suspension when all four legs are in the air before the sequence repeats. The horse is said to be on a left or right lead depending on which forefoot strides the ground as the single foot at the end of the three-beat sequence; thus a horse on a left lead will perform the sequence: right hind, left hind and right fore together, left fore. Includes the broken canter, collected canter, cross canter, counter-canter, disunited canter, extended canter, false canter, flat canter, medium canter and working canter.

LOPE — A smooth, slow, three-beat gait; the western equivalent of the canter, but somewhat less collected.

All definitions are excerpts from Horsewords: The Equine Dictionary
By Maria Belknap; Trafalgar Square Publishing; ISBN: 1-57076-274-0.