# Western-Walk,Jog,Lope,gallop-English- Walk, Trot, Canter, Gallop...RIGHT?!



## thunderhooves (Aug 9, 2009)

Am I right? That western rides use " walk, jog, lope, and gallop " to describe their gaits? And English people use "walk, trot, canter, gallop"? I am confused because i read a post on here that said " He has a nice canter, but his lop won't be good because he's too fast".
i use trot on the lungr line, even though i ride western, and trot instead of jog usually, but I use lope for any speed of.....well.... lope!
Help?


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## Wallaby (Jul 13, 2008)

Loping is slower than cantering, same with jogging verses trotting. They are really the same gait (loping/cantering, and jogging/trotting), just one is a wee bit slower than the other. At least that's my understanding. =)


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## Scoutrider (Jun 4, 2009)

You've got it! All disciplines walk and gallop, English has trot and canter, and western has jog and lope. 

It's a pretty solid differentiation, actually. Even the little shows I go to, western division classes the announcer calls for jog/lope, and English div. calls for trot/canter. Open classes (open equitation, etc.), they call "jog or trot" and "canter or lope", since any discipline is eligible.


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## JustDressageIt (Oct 4, 2007)

For multidisciplinary horses, like Wallaby said, the jog and lope are slower (tempo) than the trot and canter.


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## thunderhooves (Aug 9, 2009)

And if you're one discipline?


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## Roperchick (Feb 1, 2010)

in the show circuits they say trot/canter for english because they want a faster gait. jog/ lope is more tipically used for western. english likes more forward movement in walk trot n canter. western likes slower more collected movement. smetimes they will ask for say jog with forward motin whick means a faster jog. and they will ask for a hand gallop which is just a lope/canter whith more forward movement. or they may ask to extend the trot/ jog or canter/ lope which just means to have your horse extend their steps.


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## JustDressageIt (Oct 4, 2007)

English: Walk, Trot, Canter, Gallop
Western: Walk, Jog, Lope, Gallop

If a horse does one discipline, then you choose the terms according to that style (English or Western.) When people start referencing both about one horse, they can be referring to a horse that does both styles, if the horse is stronger English, they may say "Good trot, needs work on jog."


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## rocky pony (Oct 5, 2007)

This all is still new news to me..I'm pretty much a western rider, have done a bit of english in the recent years but definitely more of a western rider and was trained that way. Around here pretty much no one ever uses the term "jog" for anything...I've never heard it used by anyone in person. It took me awhile to pick up that it was referring to a western type of trot. Usually here people assume that western horses have a slower gait and english horses have a faster gait...so if someone is saying that a multidiscipline horse needs to have a better "trot" they would say that they need to be faster or more forward or if they need a better "jog" they say that they need to be slower or smoother..

Then as far as lope/canter, I was raised on lope only but then picked up canter only after moving to a more english based barn...I sort of assumed they were the same thing and heard them used interchangably pretty often. Now when I think of it I try to use lope for western horses and canter for english horses.
I just don't know if I will ever pick up on "jog" though...it feels weird to me. Maybe if I move to an area where it's more commonly used I will start using it but for now I will probably continue as I have been, haha


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## lolayla (Jul 25, 2008)

^agreed rocky pony. i have been western my entire life and it wasnt until i started chatting online that i had ever even heard the term "jog". it has always been walk, trot and lope for me. i knew what a canter and gallop was but it just wasnt a term used in my home.


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## TabianoPaint (Apr 30, 2010)

yer you've got it, well i ride western pleasure so im totally into the western styles... theres not much of a difference except the speed im pretty sure but im no expert.


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## Gidji (Dec 19, 2008)

Essentially they are the same gait, its just that the western gaits are usually more of a flat kneed action and are slower. That doesn't mean however that the horse has no impulsion. They should still have impulsion and ground covering paces. Any horse's lope that looks like it is pulling itself along is not correct.


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