I feel a bit stupid to ask this but is the GALLOP a 3 or 4 beat gait?? I thought it was 3 like the canter only with a much faster tempo, however a few “horse people” I know say it is 4 beat. Then my grandaughter was playing a horse trivia game and it said 4 beats too. Thanks forany clearity on this.
A true gallop is a 4 beat.
Hard question… Nobody can keep up with the legs close enough to find out prob… lol
With 4H we have always said it was a 4 beat gait lots of material saying this… BUT, I have also seen lots of material saying 3 beat as well…
I just did a search and everything said 4
If you watch a video in slo-mo, you will see its 4-beat. An extended canter should be 3-beat, but a true gallop is 4. It can be hard to tell just from watching a horse- their feet move too fast!
Canter = 3 beats
Gallop = 4 beats, period.
A full gallop is always 4 beat.
An unsound (or poorly gaited) horse can fall into an odd 4 beat canter, but that is a bad thing - canter should be a 3 beat gait.
Cheers,
Arcadien
The gallop is a four beat gait…Outside hind, outside fore, inside hind, inside fore leading leg.
The canter is …Outside hind, inside hind AND outside fore TOGETHER and then inside fore leading leg.
[QUOTE=Triplicate;3724928]
The gallop is a four beat gait…Outside hind, outside fore, inside hind, inside fore leading leg. . . . [/QUOTE]
Interesting viewpoint. Anyone have any comments? Look at pictures & see if the above makes any sense.
Try again Triplicate
Outside hind, inside hind, outside fore, inside fore.
[QUOTE=2ndyrgal;3725290]
Outside hind, inside hind, outside fore, inside fore.[/QUOTE]
Good. Correct.
[QUOTE=Evalee Hunter;3725436]
Good. Correct.[/QUOTE]
Agreed. 
[QUOTE=Evalee Hunter;3725436]
Good. Correct.[/QUOTE]
Was doing some searching on 4 beat canters. Saw this post from Evalee. So nice that her words are still with us.
[QUOTE=EventerAJ;3725405]
Watch the end of this video. 4 beats.
Greatest Horse Ever [/QUOTE]
The very end of that video, the slow motion clip of Secretariat galloping showed one leg on the ground, the other three off. That’s three beat to me.
[QUOTE=rcloisonne;4297912]
The very end of that video, the slow motion clip of Secretariat galloping showed one leg on the ground, the other three off. That’s three beat to me.[/QUOTE]
You don’t count the beats for the legs that are off the ground as that makes no sound. You count the beat as the legs hit the ground, in this case four separate times.
[QUOTE=rcloisonne;4297912]
The very end of that video, the slow motion clip of Secretariat galloping showed one leg on the ground, the other three off. That’s three beat to me.[/QUOTE]
By that logic, if a horse is in the suspended phase of the trot with all four feet in the air, the trot becomes a four beat gait… or if a horse is walking slowly and has all four feet on the ground at once, it’s a zero beat gait? Umm, no.
Jennifer
[QUOTE=ThirdCharm;4297995]
By that logic, if a horse is in the suspended phase of the trot with all four feet in the air, the trot becomes a four beat gait… or if a horse is walking slowly and has all four feet on the ground at once, it’s a zero beat gait? Umm, no.
Jennifer[/QUOTE]
Here’s another slow mo video of Secretariat. Fast forward to minute 9. Not a four beat gait.
Definitely a FOUR beat gait and minute 9 of that video only proves it as each of his feet hit the ground individually; one, two, three, four.
Ali
Gallop is 4 beat
The canter is a 3 beat pace with a moment when all four feet are in the air. In canter the horse lands on a single hindleg and takes off from a single foreleg as in the gallop, but in between there are stages when the horse has one, two or three feet on the ground.
The gallop is a 4 beat pace. The legs go down almost as in a canter but with the diagonal pair separated. you can hear four rapid hoofbeats then a gap.
When a horse canters or gallops he leads on the same leg behind as in front. Thus if he’s on the right front, his left feet both back and front go down before his right feet.
Sometimes he may change legs in front but not behind. That’s called disunited cantering (or galloping).
As a horse transitions from canter to gallop you feel a jerk and hear four footfalls not three.
