the.com/gallop
The only gait where all four hooves agree to leave the ground at once.
means To run at the fastest possible pace, with a bounding, springing stride — whether on four legs or two.
from Traces back through Old French 'galoper' to a Frankish root related to 'wala hlaupan' — roughly 'to run well' or 'run fully' — built on a Germanic ancestor of 'leap.' English picked up the word in the medieval period for horses at full stretch, and only later let it loose on anything that moves fast, from conversations to inflation.
- suspension phase
- horse is fully airborne mid-stride
- top speed
- roughly 40-48 km/h for racehorses
- footfall pattern
- asymmetrical, unlike the symmetrical trot
- word origin
- from old french galoper, to run hard