Gaited horse gaits primer

[Amanda Perez <amandaperez@ureach.com>]

Can't comment on Abetta saddles, but I may be interested in 
buying your aussie saddle: email me if you have it still!

As far as gaits, here is as much as I know

1.  Trot: two beat diagonal gait.  Diagonal because sequence in 
which the legs move is (left-right) left-rear (the left rear + 
right front followed by the right rear + left front), and it is 
two-beat because the hooves hit the ground two at a time (in 
pairs).

2. Pace: two-beat lateral gait: two beat just like the trot, 
but instead of diagonally opposite legs moving together, the 
legs that are on the same side move in tandem (left rear + left 
front, right rear + right front).

Once you understand the difference between the pace and the 
trot, the rest become easter.

3.  running walk: lateral 4 beat pace: lateral means the 
sequence in which the legs move is left-left right-right (the 
left rear followed by the left front followed by the right rear 
followed by the right front.  The running walk is a pace where 
the pairs of legs that move together do not hit the ground in 
exact unison.  The ideal is a 'square gait', where the hoof-
beats are evenly spaced (one-tow-thre-four), but often it is 
more like one-two---three-four (this is sometimes referred to 
as a 'stepping-pace' or 'broken pace').  A rack is just a very 
fast, animated running walk.  Many horses slide between a pace 
and a running walk.

4.  A fox trot is a four-beat DIAGONAL gait - like a trot 
except the hooves in each 'pair' do not move in exact unison, 
so each hoof hits the ground separately.

So, in Miller's Analogies terms,  the fox-trot is to trot what 
the running-walk is to the pace.  

What makes the four-beat gaits comfortable is the fact that one 
hoof is always on the ground: there is no (or very little) 
period of suspension, so the full weight of the horse is never 
landing all at once on a set of legs.

Clear as mud? Now if you REALLY want to get confused, try to 
figure out Paso Fino gaits or Icelandic Pony gaits... I gave up 
before I even started!

Amanda and Cy (who trots, paces, running-walks, racks, 3-beat 
canters, 4-beat canters, cross-canters....)

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