Ekidemy

A gait is judged first on its regularity: even, clearly marked beats, four at the walk, two at the trot, three at the canter followed by a moment of suspension. Then come its freedom (the horse goes forward without hesitating), its scope (the length of the strides), its elasticity (the spring in the movement) and its balance. The back acts as a bridge: supple and toned, it carries the energy made by the hind legs through to the front.

• The walk

  Four even beats

  A good walk is long-striding and regular; the hind legs step under, and at medium walk each hind foot lands in front of the print of the forefoot: the horse overtracks. The neck and tail swing. Faults: a walk that goes lateral and drifts towards the pace, often from a stiff back; a walk that turns diagonal and jogs, in a tense horse.

• The trot

  Two beats and a moment of suspension

  A good trot is symmetrical: both diagonal pairs cover the same ground, with real suspension and a back that carries. Faults: irregularity, one diagonal shorter than the other, a possible sign of lameness; a hurried, flat trot with no suspension.

• The canter

  Three beats and a moment of suspension

  A good canter is balanced: the hind legs step under the body, the forehand lifts, the back swings with every stride. Faults: a flat canter on the forehand, and the four-beat canter, when the diagonal pair no longer lands together — a sign of stiffness or lack of impulsion.

Other signs tell you how the back is working: a tail carried loosely, neither clamped down nor swishing, a neck that goes with the movement and a steady contact in the hand. Beware: irregularity is not a question of style. An irregular horse must be seen by the vet before it is worked.

Faulty gaits

A faulty gait is a natural gait distorted by pain, fatigue, poor conformation or bad training.

The pace

A two-beat gait in which the horse moves in lateral pairs: both legs on the same side together. Natural in a few breeds, it is a fault in a riding horse that was not born with it. The French call it amble — not to be confused with the English amble, a slow four-beat gait.

The broken trot

A trot that has come apart — the French traquenard: the two feet of a diagonal pair no longer land together, and you hear four footfalls instead of two.

The aubin

The horse canters with one pair of legs and trots with the other: an aubin in front if it canters with the forelegs and trots behind, an aubin behind the other way round.

The disunited canter

The horse canters on the right lead in front and the left lead behind, or the other way round: on the second beat, a lateral pair lands instead of the diagonal pair. Correct it by coming back to trot and striking off again on the correct lead.

Artificial gaits

An artificial gait is acquired through training; spectacular to watch, it takes great muscular effort. The passage is a very cadenced, elevated trot with a prolonged moment of suspension; the piaffe, a trot almost on the spot; the Spanish walk flings each foreleg high and forward in turn. Beyond them come the airs above the ground of the haute école, in which the horse leaves the ground with two or all four legs, such as the courbette, the croupade and the capriole performed by the Cadre Noir of Saumur.