How to tell if your horse galopes

[halfmoonfino]

I've read everyone's description of a galope, and it sounds exactly like what Pitty does. He gets his head up and starts to canter very slow, very collectedly, and with great power. It seems to be very natural for him and is easy to get him to do. My old riding instructor called it his "rocking horse" canter because he looked like a toy doing it. So how do I know if it's a galope that he's doing or not?

Also....I'm having issues understanding the trote. Is it diagonal pairs like a trot or same-side pairs like a pace? Or is it in between like a stepping pace or something... :-? it's a little confusing to me... :shock:

[Pasogirlz]

Trote is diagonals at the same time, but they sorta pick them up and put them down in place. So it is very comfy compared to a normal trot.

[Brigitte]

Mar sometimes can do a wee bit of a galope too. You just have to listen to see if its 3 beats or not

[cowboy ed]

these horses are specifically bred to do this. there may be some that do a similar movement, but it is just not the same.

[Jasfino]

I just bought Lee Zeiglers book titled Easy Gaited Horses and I never knew there were so many gaits and how very similar they can be to each other. I will be a lifetime figuring it all out. :shock:

[Brigitte]

I took a year and a half to be able to tell the difference, and that is with having Fino, Trocha and TyG horses here. At first I couldn't even tell them apart by listening, now I can do that by just looking at them. You'll get it sooner or later ;-)