Pictured (top left) is a beautiful filly exhibiting her ability to perform the two-beat diagonal gait known as trot. The trot is not one of the middle gaits but all gaited horses can also trot.  She is nicely "collected" meaning she has rounded her body and is working powerfully from behind with diagonal pairs of legs in unison.  In the trot, diagonal pairs lift together, move forwards together, and strike the ground together.  In order to perform this gait trotting horses must "bounce," causing discomfort to a rider.  The pure trot of course is ridden by "posting" or "rising to the trot." which makes it more comfortable.
      Gaited horses do not bounce because there is always at least one hoof on the ground.

    Tiger Horses can also trot but the "Working Tiger" can move back and forth between the trot (above left) and the "Indian Shuffle" (above right) with great ease of motion. Our "running walk" horses do not shift gait this easily and prefer to stay in one gait.    In the picture top right the filly exhibits he ability to shift to the "Indian Shuffle" gait.  You may think she is performing a diagonal gait because diagonal pairs are placed while the other pair are raised.  Look more closely at the whole picture.  The placed hind has slid into place producing a puff of dirt while the opposite placed fore shows no dust. This is because it has quietly dropped into place split seconds after the sliding hind has anchored the stride.  The delay in this footfall pattern is so slight it is impossible to see with the naked eye.  Careful video analysis and a photograph taken at precisely the right time, made it possible for us to identify this very smooth 4-beat (lateral) gait.
      There is some up and down movement like that of the trot but it is quite minimal and contrary to the collected trot because the Indian Shuffle is performed with the horse in a sort of strung out mode with head slightly raised and the horses back slightly hollow.
      To those of you really paying attention to this lesson you will ask; "why do you call it a lateral gait when diagonal pairs are so obviously working together?" 
      Answer: Notice the position of the raised fore.  It is "ahead of the vertical" (the placed opposite fore leg being "the vertical"). If the horse were a diagonal mover, the raised fore would be placed "behind the vertical."  If it were a "square" or evenly timed middle gaiter, the raised fore would be perfectly level with the vertical and the horse would be trotting and not gaiting. In this photo you easily see that the raised fore is placed ahead of the vertical making it a lateral gait. I think we can all agree that while close, there is a definite difference between the soft "shuffle" and the hard trot.   We hope you can see this and that you enjoyed the lesson.©1992 TIGRE The Tiger Horse Breed Registry All photographs copyrighted 1993 Victoria Varley