What is a running walk gait?
The Tennessee Walking Horses inherited natural gait is the running walk. This smooth, four cornered gait has a 1-2-3-4 beat with each of the horse’s feet hitting the ground separately at regular intervals; the left front, then the right rear, the right front, then the left rear. The horse will glide over the track of the front foot with the hind foot; right rear over right front and left rear over left front. This action is known as overstride, which is unique to the breed. The hock should show only forward motion; any vertical hock action is undesirable. Tennessee Walking Horses will also nod their heads in rhythm with the cadence of their feet. Tennessee Walkers can perform this gait at 10 to 20 miles per hour, and as their speed increases, the horses overstride will reach a distance of 6 to 18 inches–the longer the horse’s overstride, the better the gait is considered. This unique motion gives the rider a feeling of gliding through the air on a fast moving cloud.
