OMIA:001715 : Gaitedness

Categories: Normal phene

Possible human homologue (MIM number): 614754 (gene)

Links to MONDO diseases: No links.

Cross-species summary: All horses have three naturally occurring gaits, namely (in order of increasing speed) walk (four-beat, lateral), trot (two-beat, diagonal) and gallop (four-beat). Some breeds of horse exhibit more than one form of a particular gait, particularly at intermediate speeds. The alternate forms of intermediate-speed gait are classified as pace (a two-beat gait) or ambling (a four-beat gait), which can be regular (including the Tölt gait of Icelandic horses), lateral or diagonal. Some breeds are four-gaited (e.g. walk, tölt, trot and gallop) and others are five-gaited (e.g. walk, tölt, trot, gallop and pace). "Gaitedness" is the ability to exhibit alternate forms of gait. Gaited breeds included Icelandic horses, Kentucky mountain saddle horse, Missouri fox trotter, Paso fino, Peruvian paso, and Rocky mountain horse, Tennessee walking horse. Non-gaited breeds include Arabian horse, Gotland pony, North-Swedish draft horse, Przewalski’s horse, Shetland pony, Swedish ardennes, Swedish warmblood, and Thoroughbred. (Information taken from Andersson et al., 2012)

Species in which this phene is found:
ass (donkey) (Equus asinus)
horse (Equus caballus)
mule (Equus asinus x caballus)

Edit History


  • Created by Frank Nicholas on 30 Aug 2012
  • Changed by Frank Nicholas on 30 Aug 2012
  • Changed by Imke Tammen2 on 14 Aug 2021
  • Changed by Imke Tammen2 on 01 Sep 2021
  • Changed by Imke Tammen2 on 29 Dec 2023