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The Origination, Distribution, Function, and Nature of Alternative Lateral Horse Gaits
Version 1
: Received: 22 June 2023 / Approved: 22 June 2023 / Online: 22 June 2023 (12:27:12 CEST)
A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.
Vincelette, A. The Characteristics, Distribution, Function, and Origin of Alternative Lateral Horse Gaits. Animals 2023, 13, 2557. Vincelette, A. The Characteristics, Distribution, Function, and Origin of Alternative Lateral Horse Gaits. Animals 2023, 13, 2557.
Abstract
This article traces the origination, distribution, kinematics, function, and nature of alternative lateral horse gaits, i.e. intermediate speed lateral-sequence gaits involving the synchronization of ipsilateral limbs in the swing phase. Such alternative lateral horse gaits (namely, the running walk, rack, broken pace, hard pace, and broken trot) have been prized by equestrians for their comfort, and have been found in select horse breeds for hundreds of years and even exhibited in fossil equid trackways. After exploring the evolution and development of alternative lateral gaits via fossil equid trackways, human art and historical writings, and the genetics and history of modern horse breeds, functional and biomechanical reasons are offered for the genesis of these gaits. The article concludes by tracing similarities and differences between and within the expression of these alternative lateral gaits by various horse breeds. Fast and low-swinging hard pacing gaits are common in several horse breeds of East and North Asia, high-stepping rack and running walk gaits are often displayed in European and North and South American breeds, the broken pace is found in breeds of Central Asia, Southeast Asia, West Asia, Western North America, and Brazil in South American, and the broken trot occurs in breeds of North Asia, South Asia, and the Southern United States, and Brazil South America.
Keywords
horses; gaits; alternative lateral gaits
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Animal Science, Veterinary Science and Zoology
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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