4 beat canter

Sasana Skye

Sasana Skye

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Is this the norm now? Are judges accepting it? I'm getting limited views reading about it online.

One of the first things I was taught in my (albeit limited) dressage training was correct footfall, and I've gone on to think that a 3 beat canter was correct but more and more now I see pictures and videos of horses who are producing a 4 beat canter (hind leg very obviously landing before the opposing fore) and getting good marks and being celebrated online.

Have we (judges, trainers, riders etc.) become so focused on horses being uphill that the traditional 3 beat canter is being forgotten? Or has something changed in dressage world and I just haven't got the memo...

I don't know, call me old fashioned...interested in hearing other people's views on this.
 
It not something I’ve seen as being accepted/not commented on

Can you link to video examples that have scored well in 4 beat?
 
News to me as well, one of ours got a comment only a few weeks ago that he went into 4 time for a few strides so it is being noticed at the lower levels and is something I watch for when training as an issue to be corrected.
 
I went to a biomechanics presentation three or four years back, by the people who did the Fairfax testing, to the BHS North. They said that four beat canter was the norm at Grand Prix, but nobody except them seemed to be noticing.

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I think there's a difference between a 4 beat incorrect canter and an uphill horse that has DAP+
The uphill horse looks like it has a correct canter. The other horse is clearly not in a correct pace.

Jmho! Plus I think they have shown its impossible to do a canter piri in a proper 3 beat canter, for example.

I'd still expect to be marked down for a noticable 4 time canter
 
This too...granted it looks like the horse is striking off in flying change or something but the point is more about people's attitudes towards it as though this is what a canter should look like
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milliepops said:
I think there's a difference between a 4 beat incorrect canter and an uphill horse that has DAP+
The uphill horse looks like it has a correct canter. The other horse is clearly not in a correct pace.

Jmho! Plus I think they have shown its impossible to do a canter piri in a proper 3 beat canter, for example.

I'd still expect to be marked down for a noticable 4 time canter
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Translation of DAP+ please?
 
Goldenstar said:
Well the mantra should not be gaits gaits gaits it should be correctness straightness and longevity, that’s what they should be breeding for.
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This totally! Because if we breed for gaits we should breed for correct gaits, not freak show horses with legs everywhere apart from where they should be!

DAP+ is a strange one, other people call it a one foot trot. If the hind foot lands before its front counterpart then that front foot will still be on the floor when the hind has left so what looks like an uphill trot in one phase of the pace it is certainly on the forehand in another phase.
 
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