Acquired Gaits

AMBLE — A four-beat lateral gait distinguished from the pace by being slower and more broken in cadence; performed in four-time without suspension. It isn’t a speed gait — it’s smooth, comfortable, easy to ride and can be collected.

FLAT FOOT WALK — A natural, inherited, loose, four-beat gait, slower than the running walk. Each foot strikes the ground separately at regular intervals: left fore, right rear, right fore, left rear; the hind hooves may overstep the print of the fore by as much as 46 centimeters. There is a characterized bobbing or nodding of the heard, flopping of the ears and a clicking of the teeth in rhythm with the movement of the legs. The center of balance is some-what behind the movement so the horse appears to squat.

PACE — A two-beat lateral gait with suspension performed in two-time in which the hind and foreleg on the same side move forward simultaneously. The gait is smooth and fast, ranging from 19 – 48 kilometers per hour and results in more rotation of the spine from side-to-side and less lateral bending than the trot. This gait is an inborn affinity to some breeds.

RACK — Also known as broken amble or single foot because only one foot strikes the ground at a time. The gait is a smooth, bilateral, four-beat, natural gait in which each foot strikes the ground separately at equal intervals and at a high speed. There is no head movement and the entire body drops slightly. The gait is midway between a pure trot and a flat pace with the sequence of footfalls similar to, but more distinct than the slow gait.

SLOW GAIT — Also known as stepping pace or four-beat stepping pace; the slow, four-beat, broken gait per-formed by five-gaited horses such as the American Saddlebred at a speed less than 17 kilometers per hour. The emphasis is on precision and form; there is a slight break in cadence from the pace, in which the near fore and the near hind feet leave the ground simultaneously, followed with an interruption, by the off fore and off hind. This gait is primarily a show gait producing a characteristic sideways swinging motion of the rider; it’s very comfortable to ride and is a collected form of the rack.

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