Horse Gaits – Stuff You Want To Know

All horses move naturally with four basic gaits:

• the walk,
• trot or jog,
• canter or lope, and
• gallop.

Besides these basic gaits, some horses pace, instead of trot.

In addition, there are many “ambling” gaits such as the slow gait, rack, fox trot, running walk, and tölt. These special gaits are often found in specific breeds, often referred to as “gaited” horses because they naturally possess additional gaits that are approximately the same speed as the trot but smoother to ride. Technically speaking, “gaited horses” replace the standard trot (which is a 2 beat gait) with one of the four beat gaits.

Horse breeds with additional gaits that often occur naturally include:

• Tennessee Walking Horse which naturally performs a running walk;
• American Saddlebred which can be trained to exhibit a slow gait and the rack;
• Paso Fino, which has two ambling gaits, the paso corto and paso largo;
• Peruvian Paso, which exhibits the paso llano, and sobreandando;
• Icelandic horses which are known for the tölt.

The fox trot is found in several breeds, most notably the Missouri Foxtrotter.

Standardbreds, depending on bloodlines and training, may either pace or trot.