To pronk or not to pronk! The gait of domestic animals.

Pronking is an amusing type of gait that involves leaping into the air with all four feet off the ground. Gazelles are well known to do it when being pursued by a predator and sometimes during play.
Amongst domestic animals lambs and kids (but not adult sheep and goats) can be seen doing it during play. Horses (particularly foals) are seen doing it during play or just to burn up excess energy.



The common types of gaits in seen in our four-legged domestic animals include: walk, trot, pace, canter, and gallop.

Walking gait

At the walk, quadrupeds have one foot raised and the other three feet on the ground, except briefly as they transfer weight from one foot to another. The walk is a four-beat gait. You can clearly hear this as a horse walks along a hard surface.

The trot is a two-beat gait. Diagonally opposite limbs alternate in supporting weight. At a slow trot there are always two diagonally opposite feet on the ground. But at a faster trot there is a phase in the gait when all four feet are off the ground between transferring weight from one pair of limbs to the other.

Pacing gait

The Pace is a two-beat gait where the two legs on the same side of the animal move forward together. Compare this to the trot where two diagonally opposite legs move forward together. In both the pace and the trot, two feet are always off the ground. The trot is a much more common gait.

The canter is an asymmetrical, three-beat gait. The sequence of limb impact on the ground is 1-2-1: a hindlimb, then 2 diagonals, followed by a forelimb. The animals can be seen to lead with the left or the right. The leading forelimb is the one that is not part of the diagonal. At faster speeds there will be a suspension phase when all four limbs are off the ground.

Galloping gait

The gallop is very much like the canter, except that it is faster. The three-beat canter changes to a four-beat gait. Generally one hind limb hits the ground then the other then one of the front then the other. It is the fastest gait.