Horses Use Mathematics

Horse's might be smarter than fifth graders. They use math frequently. The picture shows my daughter and niece lopping across Coogan's Ranch near Buena Vista, CO., in late July.

The lope (or relaxed canter) is a three-beat Western riding gait, meaning that there are three footfalls heard per stride. Each footfall is the "grounding" phase of a leg. The three footfalls are evenly spaced, and followed by the "suspension" phase of the gait, which is when all four legs are off the ground. The three beats and suspension are considered one stride. The movement for one stride is as follows:

1. Beat One: the grounding phase of the outside hind leg. There are many riders who think a front leg is the first beat of the canter, which is incorrect. At this time, the other three legs are off the ground.
2. Beat Two: the simultaneous grounding phase of the inside hind leg and outside fore leg. The inside fore leg is still off the ground. The outside hind leg (beat one), is still touching the ground, but is about to be lifted off.
3. Beat Three: The grounding phase of the inside foreleg. The outside hind leg (beat one), is off the ground. The inside hind leg and outside foreleg are still touching the ground, but are about to be lifted up.
4. The inside hindleg and outside foreleg (beat two) are lifted off the ground. The inside foreleg is the only foot supporting the horse's weight.
5. The inside foreleg is lifted off the ground.
6. Suspension: The horse has all four legs off the ground.

The faster the horse is moving, the longer is the time of the phase of suspension relative to the time of the three beats.

The lope and gallop are related gaits, as the rider simply asks the horse to gallop from the canter by allowing it to lengthen its stride until it is four-beat, rather than three-beat. When the stride is sufficiently lengthened, the diagonal pair of beat two breaks, resulting in the inside hind striking first, before the outside fore. The horse is able to easily move in and out of the gallop using the canter.

The trot is a two beat diagonal gait of the horse where the diagonal pairs of legs move forward at the same time. There is a moment of suspension between each beat.