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Gait - any forward movement of the horse
Walk - the horse raises its feet one after the other and
puts them down in the same order (4 miles per hour)
Trot or Jog - the horse lifts the front leg on one side
of its body and the hind leg on the other side at the
same time. The other two legs hit the ground together.
The trot is faster than the walk. (9 miles an hour)
Canter - the horse gathers its hind legs under its body
and extends its forelegs. It is a controlled gallop. At
one point, all four feet are off the ground.
(12 - 40 miles an hour)
Different gaits of the horse
The horses paw and prance and neigh,
Fillies and colts like kittens play,
And dance and toss their rippled manes
Shining and soft as silken skeins;...
~Oliver Wendell Holmes
The tallest horse on record was a Shire named Samson. He was 21.2 hands (7 feet, 2 inches) tall. He was born in 1846 in Toddington Mills, England.
