Some walkers trot but the main purpose of their breeding was to be very smooth with lateral movement instead of diagonal. They can canter but gallop? They're not really built for that but some can sure motor at the running walk.

 

My standardbred gallops. I've retrained a few pacers to gallop and become successful on the cross country field.

I don't have experience with other gaited breeds so I can't speak for them.

 

If you want something to tear around on, I'd skip gaited stock. Galloping any breed, however is not something that should be done to excess.

A good gaited horse is prized for their smoothness, at whatever their chosen gait is, not fair to mess that up.

 

Do not forget gaited horses are horses, and horses gallop. Gaited horses are just wired a little differently in the brain, plus some to a greater or lesser extent have their conformation tweaked a little also.

It is not often said, but because their hind legs come way up underneath them, many TWHs have a beautiful canter. Well conformed TWHs can gallop, and gallop very fast. Have a look at cowboy versatility events with walkiers on youtube. I would say my TWHs best a most preferred gait is a canter and it is heavenly and very easy even for beginners to ride. She does not like to gallop fast I think because of her shoulder conformation but her half sister who I own adds an extremely atheletic and fast gallop to a beautiful canter.

Some gaited horses are wired very strongly for lateral movement, ie a tendancy to pace. At a canter or gallop their brain will not necessarily keep their legs organised in the steady three or four beat traditional canter and gallop as easily. This is easy to find out on a particular horse. If it has a horrible canter, then it has a horrible canter.

The majority of gaited horses canter and gallop and do so very well but some do not have pleasant or co-ordinated canters. This can also be said of non-gaited breeds.

My experience with Walkers is that they can do just about anything you want, plus a lot you dont, but you just have to ride them right to get all the different alternatives. Unlike non-gaited where you just have the standard walk trot canter, where you just sit there and the horse does it, with walkers you may need to shape the horse to get the gait you want. You may need to actively ride for a gait to get it. You can also get everything else in between.

If you are new to gaited horses go and try out as many as you can of different breeds and within breeds.

 

I would say if you've never ridden at gaited horse before to try them out at a cantor or running walk. Like previous posters have mentioned, that gait is the one that they fall into naturally and it is quite fast, actually.

 

I wouldn't buy a gaited horse that just liked to trot.....

When you say gallop do you mean canter? because all of my gaited stuff will canter and do a really nice job of it, though most of mine are nearly as fast in their faster gait as they are at a canter.

it has been said, but a gaited horse is still a horse, given a choice on pasture only two of the 7 gaited horses on the farm will hit a true gait, on pasture, at liberty most of them will trot canter, and yes gallop around the pasture.

Jim

 

Yes, they gallop. Some of the best times I've had on my TWHs happened when my friends and I would race at full speed in the pasture.

 

Yep. Miss Lacy will gallop, but I much prefer her canter.
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Both my walkers canter and can gallop. Memphis is quite fast. He can get in the canter or gallop much easier than on the flat. Knox can canter much easier (and smoother) whether it's flat or a hill. So I feel it just depends on their conformation, since they are both built differently.

 

The only time my twh will trot is if very upset and only for a few strides. Other than that he flies around at the running walk. Seldom canters altho yesterday with the impending full moon and being a bit windy, he showed me just how well he can gallop. He was pretty snorty yesterday, they both were.

 

I've never seen my TWH trot a single step. No doubt she can but I've never seen it happen. I've rarely seen her break into a canter but she lives with 2 much older and smaller mares so she really has no reason to.