Eadweard Muybridge Horse Walking (Bowling 1997)

The walk is the slowest gait of the horse, with an average speed of four miles per hour (mph) (Waring 28). Each of the horse’s hooves is set down independently of the others, resulting in four distinct beats. The walk more natural to the horse is the diagonal walk, where the step of a foreleg is followed by that of the opposite hind leg. For example, if a horse leads its walk with the left foreleg, its next step is with the right hind leg, its third step with the right fore, and its fourth with the left hind. Unless the horse is tired, the hind hooves step in the hoof prints left by the fore hooves (28).

A walk that most horses must be taught is the lateral walk, in which a foreleg is followed by the hind leg on the same side, but is otherwise similar to the diagonal (28).