The very fact that a horse is called upon to gallop implies a high level of athletic demand, higher than that typically required by the walk, amble or trot gaits that we have previously reviewed in this series. In our last installment, we detailed the biomechanics and stride characteristics of galloping. This prepares us to now take a closer view of some possible side effects of galloping, especially as they relate to the hoof but also to the horse’s carpal joint or “knee.”

The canter and gallop are similar in that both are asymmetrical and thus can be performed on either a right or left lead. However, the canter is slower and daintier, while the gallop, by contrast, is the gait of the war horse, polo horse, jumper and racehorse.

Musical notation for the canter is shown in Figure 1. It should be no surprise to learn that Figure 1a debunks the idea that the canter is a “three-beat” gait. The canter is instead a four-beat gait, each bar of its music consisting of three sounded beats plus one unsounded beat (Figures 2 and 4). The unsounded beat — the period of suspension, during which the horse flies through the air with no foot in contact with the ground — is extremely important and here is why: There is only one such moment in each bar of canter music, whereas in each bar of trot music, there are two.

Horses that pseudo-trot often have abnormally shaped feet, and as a result, tend to have soundness issues that limit their useful lives and/or competitive careers. They thus typically require more farrier skill than the naturally sound horse.