Gaits

RECOGNIZING GAIT:

Since most soft-gaited horses have the ability to perform more than one of these specialized gaits, it is vital for them to be trained to stick to one at a time. For riders new to soft-gaited horses, it is easy to become bewildered by the horse’s “shifting of gears.” As an observer, when you first start studying the gaits, don’t get discouraged if you can’t tell what gait a horse is performing.

At first, all you will see is a flurry of legs. Your work is to better understand the basic classifications of a horse’s way of going.

The five categories of “second gear” movement are:
1) Lateral 2-beat. 2) Lateral 4-beat. 3) Square 4-beat. 4) Diagonal 4-beat. 5) Diagonal 2-beat.