- Gaits -

Most horses have four gaits. The walk, trot, canter, and gallop. However, there are several other types of gaits. The walk is a four beat gait, when the horse puts one foot in front of the other, stepping with its hind feet into the tracks made by the forefeet. The trot is a rough, two beat gait. In English riding, the rider 'posts' or moves up and down to the beat of the trot, and in Western, the riders 'sits' the trot. Canter is a three beat gait that is often called the rocking horse gait. It is called this because the horse rocks back and forth from its front legs to its back legs. Gallop is a fast, four beat gait that has a 'moment of suspension' which is when the horse is in the air with no part of it touching the ground.

Horses have many different gaits, and some of them have even been made up by trainers. Symmetrical gaits include these. A horse walks by swinging its legs in the order of left front, right rear, right front, and left rear. A horse paces by moving its legs in the order of the left and then the right legs nearly in unison, and trots by swinging the diagonally opposite legs nearly in unison. Some of the made-up gaits include the stepping pace, the fast rack, and several others. Asymmetrical gaits include the canter and the faster gallop, in which the left and then the right hind leg touches the ground, followed by the left and then the right front leg; the sequence may be reversed right to left, introducing the counter canter.

• Basic Horse Gaits

• The Essence of Gait

• Freedom of Gaits

• How to Ride Your Gaited Horse

• Less Than Perfect Gaits

• Feel Your Horse's Feet in Each Gait

• Gaits Without Gimmicks

• Riding At The Artificial Gaits

• Different Horse Gaits

• The Gaits

Walking

• Walking Your Horse - Basics

• Working the Walk

• Exercises at the Walk

• How Fast Can Your Horse Walk?

• How To Walk A Horse

• Riding the Walk: Cues

• Take a Walk: Training the Dancer

• Work That Walk!

• Re-examining the Basics of the Walk

• Walk Pirouettes: Performing the Movement

Trotting

• The Basics of Trotting

• Teaching Sitting Trot

• Learning the Posting Trot

• Introducing the Rider To Posting Trot

• The How and Why of Posting to the Trot

• Learning to Post

• Teaching the Posting Trot

• How to Ride the Trot

• How To Trot Your Horse

• Horse Riding: The Trot

• The Trot (video)

• Freedom and Regularity of the Trot

• The Horse Magazine: The Trot

• The Mystery of the Abominable Sitting Trot Revealed!

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Cantering

• Basic Gaits, Canter Included

• How to Canter Your Horse

• Tips on How To Get Your Horse to Canter

• Horse Riding: The Canter

• Re-Examining the Basics: The Canter

• Improving the Canter Depart

• Slowing Down a Fast Horse Canter

• Balancing A Green Horse at the Canter

Galloping

• The Basics of Galloping

Reinback

• Executing the Reinback

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