Footfall sequnces of horse gaits
Dr. Kathy Anderson
Author
03/27/2025
Added
8
Plays
Description
Video demonstrating the natural gaits of horses. Slow motion and wraps on the horses legs help to demonstrate the footfalls.
Searchable Transcript
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- [00:00:01.500]The gaits of a horse
- [00:00:02.490]describe a specific way of going
- [00:00:04.560]with a sequence of limb movements
- [00:00:06.030]that are repeated with each stride.
- [00:00:07.770]With regular cadence.
- [00:00:09.300]As seen here,
- [00:00:10.500]the walk is a flat-footed ground covering four-beat gait.
- [00:00:14.340]Each foot strikes the ground independently of the others.
- [00:00:17.640]So the basic footfall sequence here
- [00:00:19.410]is going to be left hind, left front,
- [00:00:22.500]right hind, right front
- [00:00:24.570]or blue, red, pink, purple,
- [00:00:28.050]blue, red, pink, purple.
- [00:00:30.750]As we slow this down,
- [00:00:31.800]so you can see it a little bit better.
- [00:00:33.390]Again, the four beats are
- [00:00:36.360]left hind, left front, right hind, right front
- [00:00:41.220]or blue, red, pink, and purple.
- [00:00:46.800]He steps down squarely with each foot
- [00:00:48.810]independent of each other.
- [00:00:50.370]Again, to count them out one more time,
- [00:00:52.800]we're gonna go with the
- [00:00:54.600]blue, red, pink, and purple.
- [00:01:00.330]1, 2, 3, and 4.
- [00:01:05.460]Back into real-time again.
- [00:01:07.350]Again, to see that a distinct four-beat walk
- [00:01:10.680]of left hind, left front, right hind, right front.
- [00:01:14.520]1, 2, 3, 4.
- [00:01:20.580]The jog or trot is a two-beat diagonal gait
- [00:01:23.130]where the horse's legs work in pairs
- [00:01:25.560]such as the diagonal front and hind limb working together.
- [00:01:29.310]And then a period of suspension between the beats.
- [00:01:31.920]The footfall sequence would be
- [00:01:33.120]left front, right hind together,
- [00:01:35.460]right front, left hind together.
- [00:01:37.590]As you can see here, pink, purple, pink, purple.
- [00:01:41.040]And you can see that area,
- [00:01:42.150]that period of suspension between the gaits.
- [00:01:47.700]If we slow this down just a little bit
- [00:01:49.650]for you to see it a little bit better
- [00:01:52.440]here in slow motion,
- [00:01:53.400]you see the pink, purple, pink, purple,
- [00:01:57.450]and between the beats,
- [00:01:58.620]a bit of suspension between those, right?
- [00:02:02.160]You can count them out,
- [00:02:03.780]1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2.
- [00:02:09.780]With that slight area of suspension between the two.
- [00:02:13.140]Moving it back to real-time again,
- [00:02:14.790]you can get in the nice sequential cadence rhythm with them
- [00:02:18.630]of a 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2.
- [00:02:23.460]The lope or canter is a three-beat gait
- [00:02:25.260]with the diagonal pair of legs
- [00:02:27.000]striking the ground simultaneously
- [00:02:28.680]and the other two landing independently
- [00:02:30.750]and are called the leading legs.
- [00:02:32.310]The horse will either be in the right or the left lead,
- [00:02:34.500]depending on the footfall sequence.
- [00:02:36.420]On the left lead, the footfall sequence
- [00:02:38.640]would be the right hind,
- [00:02:39.990]left hind and right front diagonal legs together
- [00:02:42.300]and the left front.
- [00:02:43.650]So if we look at this horse in slow motion,
- [00:02:45.900]you can see that the left hind or the pink,
- [00:02:49.650]then the diagonal legs of the purple
- [00:02:51.720]and the blue leg of the leading leg,
- [00:02:54.180]1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3,
- [00:03:00.240]pink, purple, blue,
- [00:03:01.620]and then the moment of suspension,
- [00:03:03.510]pink, purple, blue, a moment of suspension.
- [00:03:06.840]When we move this horse up into real-time again,
- [00:03:09.750]you can see that three-beat motion
- [00:03:11.280]of the 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3 of the three-beat lope.
- [00:03:15.210]Horse when tracking to the right or on the right lead
- [00:03:17.280]is just opposite of that to the left.
- [00:03:19.320]So now on the right lead, we're gonna have the right front
- [00:03:21.987]and the left hind and right rear together,
- [00:03:24.300]followed by the right front in that period of suspension.
- [00:03:27.090]So here we have in slow motion,
- [00:03:28.530]the purple, pink diagonal legs, blue in the front
- [00:03:31.860]period of suspension,
- [00:03:33.570]1, 2, 3, purple, pink, then blue.
- [00:03:38.640]Again, it will be the purple, pink, then blue,
- [00:03:41.910]and then a moment of suspension as this horse lopes around
- [00:03:45.150]in the right lead, purple, pink, and blue.
- [00:03:49.800]Remember, it's important for the horse
- [00:03:51.480]to be on the correct lead, which would be the inside lead
- [00:03:54.510]whenever he is turning for the best balance and stability.
- [00:03:57.990]Again, he's bent to the right loping purple, pink, and blue.
- [00:04:03.510]We take this horse back into real-time one more time
- [00:04:06.120]just for you to see again that 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3.
- [00:04:11.160]Through this short video,
- [00:04:12.360]we hope you now have a better understanding
- [00:04:14.100]of the footfall sequences of a horse's natural gait.
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- Tags:
- horse gaits
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