# Canter and gallop, differense?



## free_sprtd (Oct 18, 2007)

they are different gates. Here ya go...copy and paste from wikipedia lol

Canter
The canter is a controlled, three-beat gait that usually is a bit faster than the average trot, but slower than the gallop. Listening to a horse canter, one can usually hear the three beats as though a drum had been struck three times in succession. Then there is a rest, and immediately afterwards the three-beat occurs again. The faster the horse is moving, the longer the suspension time between the three beats.[7]
In the canter, one of the horse's rear legs – the right rear leg, for example – propels the horse forward. During this beat, the horse is supported only on that single leg while the remaining three legs are moving forward. On the next beat the horse catches itself on the left rear and right front legs while the other hind leg is still momentarily on the ground. On the third beat, the horse catches itself on the left front leg while the diagonal pair is momentarily still in contact with the ground.[7]
The more extended foreleg is matched by a slightly more extended hind leg on the same side. This is referred to as a "lead". Except in special cases, such as the counter-canter, it is desirable for a horse to lead with its inside legs when on a circle. Therefore, a horse that begins cantering with the right rear leg as described above will have the left front and hind legs each land farther forward. This would be referred to as being on the "left lead".[7]
When a rider is added to the horse's natural balance, the question of the lead becomes more important. When riding in an enclosed area such as an arena, the correct lead provides the horse with better balance. The rider typically signals the horse which lead to take when moving from a slower gait into the canter. In addition, when jumping over fences, the rider typically signals the horse to land on the correct lead to approach the next fence or turn. The rider can also request the horse to deliberately take up the wrong lead (counter-canter), a move required in some dressage competitions and routine in polo, which requires a degree of collection and balance in the horse. The switch from one lead to another while moving in a straight line is called the "flying lead change" or "flying change". This switch is also a feature of dressage and reining schooling and competition.
If a horse is leading with one front foot but the opposite hind foot, it produces an awkward rolling movement, called a cross-canter, disunited canter or "cross-firing."
The word is commonly said to be short for "Canterbury-gallop", but it may come from an expression meaning "corner-gallop".[_citation needed_]
_See also: lead (leg) and lead change_ 
*[edit] Gallop*

 
The suspension phase, seen in the canter and the gallop


 
In motion


 
_Le derby d'Epsom_, painting by Théodore Géricault, 1821


The gallop is very much like the canter, except that it is faster, more ground-covering, and the three-beat canter changes to a four-beat gait. It is the fastest gait of the horse, averaging about 25 to 30 miles per hour (40 to 50 km/h), and in the wild is used when the animal needs to flee from predators or simply cover short distances quickly. Horses seldom will gallop more than a mile or two before they need to rest, though horses can sustain a moderately-paced gallop for longer distances before they become winded and have to slow down.[8]
The gallop is also the gait of the classic race horse. Modern Thoroughbred horse races are seldom longer than a mile and a half, though in some countries Arabian horses are sometimes raced as far as two and a half miles. The fastest galloping speed is achieved by the American quarter horse, which in a short sprint of a quarter mile or less has been clocked at speeds approaching 55 mph (88 km/h).
Like a canter, the horse will strike off with its non-leading hind foot; but the second stage of the canter becomes, in the gallop, the second and third stages because the inside hind foot hits the ground a split second before the outside front foot. Then both gaits end with the striking off of the leading leg, followed by a moment of suspension when all four feet are off the ground. A careful listener or observer can tell an extended canter from a gallop by the presence of the fourth beat.[8]
Contrary to the old "classic" paintings of running horses, which showed all four legs stretched out in the suspension phase, when the legs are stretched out, at least one foot is still in contact with the ground. When all four feet are off the ground, the legs are bent rather than extended.
According to Equix, who analyzed the biometrics of racing thoroughbreds, the average racing colt has a stride length of 24.6 feet; that of Secretariat, for instance, was 24.8 feet, which was probably part of his success.
A controlled gallop used to show a horse's ground-covering stride in horse show competition is called a "gallop in hand" or a _hand gallop_.[8]
Note that when a horse jumps over a fence, the legs are stretched out while in the air, and the front legs hit the ground before the hind legs, which is completely different from the suspended phase of a gallop. Essentially, the horse takes the first two steps of a galloping stride on the take-off side of the fence, and the other two steps on the landing side. A horse has to collect its hindquarters after a jump to strike off into the next stride.[9]


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## Supermane (Sep 23, 2007)

A canter is a three beat gait and a gallop is a four beat gait.
Canter = back outside, back inside + outside front, then inside front
Gallop = outside back, inside back, outside front, inside front

http://www.equusite.com/articles/basics/basicsGaits.shtml


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## Zab (Oct 4, 2008)

I think I know...
I think.. that canter in swedish is gallop, and gallop in swedish is fyrsprång..
but we generally just call it gallop all the time..Oo Dunno why really, only heard fyrsprång.. like.. two or three times in my life..O__o
And we say horses has three gaits, not four.. so I guess we don't see it as a special gait but just as a kind of gallop... like ''skolgallopp'' (very collected and slow canter)...


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## free_sprtd (Oct 18, 2007)

awww that makes sense


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## SonnyWimps (Feb 22, 2008)

I've noticed also, in some shows...especially western shows...they consider a past paced canter as a gallop. During a Western Obedience class, htey called for a gallop...one horse took off in a real gallop, where the others were just at a really fast canter...and none were elminated...and the horse that was doing the real gallop got eliminated shortly after.

But free sprtd had a great explination of it


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

free sprtd had it right. Most of the people I know (Texas cowboys and ranchhands) don't even refer to a canter, we call it a lope (short for gallop I suppose) and call the faster gait a run. I didn't even know what a canter was until I was nearly 15 and I have been riding my whole life. I guess there are lots of different ways to describe the same thing.


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## Zab (Oct 4, 2008)

I suppose there is..
No wonder I found it confusing XD


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## Tazmanian Devil (Oct 11, 2008)

smrobs said:


> free sprtd had it right. Most of the people I know (Texas cowboys and ranchhands) don't even refer to a canter, we call it a lope (short for gallop I suppose) and call the faster gait a run. I didn't even know what a canter was until I was nearly 15 and I have been riding my whole life. I guess there are lots of different ways to describe the same thing.


I was always taught that lope and canter are the same thing, just western vs english terminology. Same for jog (western) and trot (english).

However, some people are taught that the jog and lope are simply much slower versions of the trot and canter, such as those seen in western pleasure competitions. Guess not everyone agrees on some of the terms.


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