Horses are good for a lot of things. They are good to pet, and feed, and brush, and blanket. But when you get right down to the nitty-gritty, they’re best for "movin’."

When mankind first met the horse he thought the horse was best for "eatin’." But he soon discovered--everytime he tried to catch a bite--the horse was best for "movin’."

Horses and mankind have been doin’ a lot of movin’ together for the past 5,000 years, and yet, amazingly few horsemen actually know how a horse moves. Sure, sure, sure, he puts one foot in front of the other, and off he goes. Sure, sure, sure the muscles move the bones; but what we need to
know is how them bones gonna move and where.

The majority of people who own horses cannot tell you the sequence of
footfall for the walk, jog or lope, or the walk, trot or canter. There is
a difference, you know, between the jog and trot and the lope and canter,
and the difference isn’t in the kind of saddle on the horse’s back. The
jog and lope are western gaits, in which the flight of the foot travels a
more rounded arc and the horse covers less ground, essentially moving
forward more slowly. Both the jog and lope are unnatural gaits and must be
learned by the horse. (The western horseman wants a slow moving horse when
pushing cattle so he doesn’t run all the fat off the cow and all the money
out of the bank.) The flight of the foot during the trot and canter is
much more natural and follows a longer, lower path. (The English rider
doesn’t care about fat cows, he just wants to catch the quick, brown fox.)

Even though horsemen have watched horses walk for years, most don’t seem
to know how the horse does it. The most common error is thinking the horse
begins walking by moving a front foot. He does not.

All of a horse’s action initiates in the hindquarters. (That is the
second of the six elements of horse training.) The hindquarters push the
horse forward, the horse loses his balance and reaches forward with a front
leg to catch himself and reestablish his equilibrium.

The sequence of strides at the four-beat walk might be left hind, left
fore, right hind, right fore. The front foot begins moving before the hind
foot strikes the ground in its new position because a good horse over
strides his front foot print with his hind foot. If the horse doesn’t
overstride, he is said to be short behind--a good indication he may have a
lameness.

The trot is a two-beat diagonal movement. The action is still initiated
by the hindquarters, but in this case a front leg moves simultaneously.
The horse may begin the trot by moving his right hind and left fore
together, then the left hind and right fore together.

There is no overstriding , and the horse must shorten his body and elevate
the flight of the hoof. The jog is essentially a very short forward
movement while the trot should have good extension.

The lope or canter is a three-beat gait in which one side of the horse’s
body is extended (the leading side) and the other side is contracted (the
pushing side.)

The sequence of strides for a left lead begins with the right hind foot
which takes a short (pushing) stride. The left hind and the right fore
then move together. The left hind is an extended stride while the right
fore is a short stride.

The final (third) beat is the left fore which moves on a long stride.
Horses also pace, which means they move both legs on the same side at the
same time. Sometimes it is natural; mostly it is cultivated. If you have a
horse which is not a pacer (Standardbred), and he paces, it usually means
he is hurting somewhere.

Some horses single-foot. A single-foot is a very smooth four-beat gait
which could also be thought of as a very fast walk.

"Gaited" horses essentially walk, trot and canter, but with very
exaggerated and flashy foot flight. There are some "naturally gaited"
horses, although the "excessive action" seen in show competition is
man-enhanced. The "flashy" action of most competition "gaited" horses is
the result of painful training and shoeing techniques, not nature.

The standard reply of horsemen who don’t know how a horse moves or the
sequence of strides at a particular gait is, "So, what?"

So the horse knows where his feet are supposed to go. So when the rider
doesn’t, the horse is restricted, hindered, made to move incorrectly, is
put under a strain and can be injured. "That’s what!"