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I thought I’d done a post awhile back (too far back maybe) about horse gaits, but maybe it’s time for another one. I do try to keep the horse stuff at a generalist level, but may not have.
Here’s a pretty good video of someone working a horse at canter, then hand gallop, then canter, and finally at trot. What you should notice (and this canter is just slow enough you can see it in the video) is the three clean beats: the strike-off hind leg starts the first canter stride, then the other hind and diagonal front come down together, and finally the second front leg comes down just before the moment when all four hooves are off the ground–the moment of suspension.
This is a working canter or maybe medium canter, not a slow collected canter or a faster extended canter. When the rider asks him to move on into a hand gallop, you can see that the diagonal pair are no longer together…it’s a four-beat gait (you can hear that as he comes past the photographer.) You can also see that the horse is not completely cooperative as he gets faster into the hand gallop (tries to poke his nose out and evade control.) In the comments, the rider points out that this is a reconditioning ride after injury. Nice moving horse, though.
Notice that in the trot (a good working trot or possibly not quite as good medium trot) the legs move in diagonal pairs and in this case the horse is “tracking up”–the hind hooves are hitting the ground where the front hooves just were. This means the horse is using his abs and lifting his back some. The rider is posting to the trot to make that a little easier.
Here’s a video of a slow collected canter and an extended canter.
Comment by jjmcgaffey — June 21, 2013 @ 11:13 pm
So what is the difference (if any) between a gallop and a hand gallop? I’ve seen references to a hand gallop in fiction frequently, but never a (simple) explanation of it.
Comment by elizabeth — June 21, 2013 @ 11:38 pm
A hand gallop is a gallop “in hand”–that is, under control, responsive to a request to slow down again, as shown in the video referenced in this post. A gallop is a horse galloping faster and not as responsive (or at all responsive) to rider’s request to slow down.
Also see comment #35 in Limits of Power Errata, where I gave a full explanation. It’s after midnight, not doing it again right now.
Comment by Daniel Glover — June 22, 2013 @ 7:36 am
Elizabeth,
You may have been remembering our off line conversation about this topic when I noticed it. With all your correspondence I imagine it’s easy to forget. Though you may have posted here too that I don’t remember.
Comment by elizabeth — June 22, 2013 @ 8:19 am
Sleep has occurred. Therefore I can write more (some more–work has to occur today too.)
So you’re on this horse and it’s cantering quietly, nicely forward but not pulling, and you’re enjoying the smooth 3-beat gait and the breeze in your face. You signal (with your legs) that you’d like a bit more speed, there’s a little sort of surge feeling and you give a little with your hands…the horse accelerates to the pace you selected. And the horse comes back down a notch when you ask, no head tossing or shaking, no leaning on the bit, all’s smooth and cooperative. You think, it’s a gorgeous day and this is a nice big flat space…let’s see how this horse goes in a controlled gallop. Once again you ask with your legs, feel the surge, ease your hands a little without throwing the reins away, and keep asking with leg as you lighten your seat. The canter quickens, quickens more, and the horse shifts to the four-beat gallop. Halfway around the space, you change your seat and back, and resist a little with your hands, asking the horse to slow down again.
One of two things happens (OK, three…) The horse comes back to your hand, slowing, regaining the three-beat canter. Or the horse ignores the signal, and goes on, often speeding up. Or the horse (the rarer third choice) decides it’s had enough of you and starts bucking. In a gallop. That’s…not a good thing.
If the horse comes back to your hand, and can be put into a gallop and slowed from a gallop without a fuss, the horse has a “hand gallop” gait for you to use. If the horse goes right on galloping, with lessening attention to what you want, it doesn’t. Ditto with the bucking.
A plain gallop can be a lot of fun. When I was a young teenager, I had a chance to ride a Quarter Horse mare used in brush racing. At that time, I loved to ride fast and my main riding skill was staying on…I had no real education in riding. We rode across a plowed field to get to a dirt road that ran between two paved roads. I would take her up to one paved road, turn her around (she’d be dancing on her toes at this point), and turn her loose. She’d take off down the road, with the acceleration that only Quarter Horses put out, and she’d run about halfway to the next paved road or more before she’d answer the bit. Then we’d turn around, and walk back to the starting point, and do it again. I wasn’t in control; I didn’t care. The mare and I wanted the same thing–the thrill of speed. That was galloping. That was sheer excitement and fun. I have been run away with by other horses, when they bolted for some reason. I nearly always found it thrilling, rather than scary. (I was young and ignorant, not ever having hit the ground yet.)
Galloping a horse in hand is also a lot of fun, and a lot safer. Usually it’s slower (though still fast), but the important thing is that if you need to turn or stop quickly, you can. The rider, not the horse, makes the decisions. So the rider doesn’t just relax and enjoy it–the rider has to be alert, has to ensure that the horse is still responsive.
It’s not smart to send a horse into a gallop if this is your first ride on it–keep it in canter, see how responsive it is to slowing and speeding up and slowing again in canter before you go faster, because the faster a horse goes, the more its primal instinct takes over. (There are exceptions, which I’ve been in, and in that case–you really want to have ridden a lot of galloping horses in a lot of situations, including being run away with, and having multiple tools for dealing with that situation. Because the chances of the horse bolting out of control are high.)
Horses are prey animals whose main defense is running away. All the equidae are prey animals and all depend most on alertness and speed to stay alive. Once they’re running, any hint of threat brings out the “FASTER!” reaction. It takes training to convince a horse that it should let someone else decide, in a crisis, how fast and which direction to go. Some horses are more trainable than others. Some horses are bolder, or more phlegmatic, than others. But the horse you just got onto at the riding stable or at a sales barn may or may not be capable of staying in hand in a gallop. So…don’t.
Except if you’re very experienced and also maybe a little bit crazy, like me, when it comes to horses and speed. (Learn a flying dismount. It won’t necessarily save you, but it gives you a better chance of survival if a horse bolts unexpectedly. Safety stirrups are also a good idea. Bailing out and realizing that one boot’s still stuck in a stirrup is one of those heart-stirring moments you really do not want. Been there.)
Comment by Sam Barnett-Cormack — June 22, 2013 @ 10:05 am
I would assume that a good riding helmet and body protector would also be a good idea in that scenario.
Comment by elizabeth — June 22, 2013 @ 11:27 am
Would have been, yes. The helmet I had at the time wasn’t that good, old-fashioned hard hat only. The kick-back that got my boot out of the stirrup rotated me in the air so instead of landing forward and rolling properly, I landed facing backward and smacked myself on the back of the head on the ground. Luckily, not on rock, but thick grass. Still…knocked out for awhile. My second concussion coming off a horse. It is never good, shortly before your 40th birthday, to regain consciousness and find your mother sitting beside you saying “Do you know who I am yet, dear?” Esp. when I had pooh-poohed the notion that I might need her on that trip and she had pointed out that since I had the toddler along, she could be helpful.
Comment by Susan — June 22, 2013 @ 12:57 pm
Wow, Elizabeth, this sounds like something my oldest daughter might do! And with all due respect- I think you’re both a little crazy! I also envy you, having always wanted to learn to ride. Horses are such beautiful animals! And thank you for the clear explanation. Your books and this blog are so informative!
Comment by Kerry aka Trouble — June 22, 2013 @ 9:32 pm
Is a hand-gallop usually ridden in two-point? I thought she was going to put him to the fence in a minute, but she never came close enough to jump it.
Also, nice flying changes of lead as she reversed the circle – no hesitation that I could see.
Comment by jjmcgaffey — June 23, 2013 @ 2:28 am
Thank you! That makes perfect sense of the references, as I’ve never seen before. And ouch on the concussion. I’ve come off horses a couple times, but never with more than bruises to show afterward (and never at a gallop).
Comment by Audrey — July 12, 2013 @ 7:45 pm
What a wonderful description of a well-trained horse’s gait and your adventures ahorse! I can certainly understand what a bone-jarring feeling it is to hit the ground after being dumped: I’ve also come off horses a few times.
Once I was warming up for a dressage lesson and holding the horse to a trot when it clearly wanted to move faster. It decided it had enough of me and bolted. The class was in an indoor ring with a packed dirt floor so landing was hard, and despite my helmet I was shaken up so badly I couldn’t continue. The instructor caught the horse and galloped it around the ring a few times before reining back and holding it to a trot again, and although the horse’s displeasure was quite evident it didn’t try any more tricks.