Gait types and faults in horses

Abstract

Horses have different ways of walking and running.All of them are called as horse gait. Most horsesinherently possess different distinct forms of gaitswhich are called the walk, trot, pace, canter andgallop. At the walk, the four legs are placed to theground in regular succession. The sequence of footsis left fore, right hind, right fore, left hind. At the trot,even though the trot is a two -beat gait, the diagonallegs are moved synchronously. The pace is fasterthan trot but slower than canter. In t he pace, the twolegs on the same side of the horse move forwardtogether. At the canter, one foreleg leads while theother foreleg and its diagonal hind leg movetogether, and the other hind leg movesindependently. At the gallop gait, it is a three -beatgait. The footfall sequence is right hind, followed byleft hind slightly before right fore, followed by leftfore. There are unique types of gaits that only somebreeds are capable of them. Some horse breeds havea 5, 6 or more gaits that is either natural or trained.Because of variety of reasons horses can sometimesperform walking incorrectly. Gait and fault types arealtogether studied in this review.