page_title: Ambling gait
section_title: Heritability and breeding
hierarchical_section_title: Ambling gait / Heritability and breeding
caption_attribution_description: Peruvian Paso with foal at the Hacienda Mamacona
context_page_description: An ambling gait or amble is any of several four-beat intermediate horse gaits, all of which are faster than a walk but usually slower than a canter and always slower than a gallop. Horses that amble are sometimes referred to as "gaited", particularly in the United States. Ambling gaits are smoother for a rider than either the two-beat trot or pace and most can be sustained for relatively long periods, making them particularly desirable for trail riding and other tasks where a rider must spend long periods in the saddle. Historically, horses able to amble were highly desired for riding long distances on poor roads. Once roads improved and carriage travel became popular, their use declined in Europe but continued in popularity in the Americas, particularly in areas where plantation agriculture was practiced and the inspection of fields and crops necessitated long daily rides.
  The ability to perform an ambling gait is usually an inherited trait. In 2012, a DNA study found that horses from several gaited and harness racing breeds carried a mutation on the gene DMRT3, which controls the spinal neurological circuits related to limb movement and motion.
context_section_description: In most "gaited" breeds, an ambling gait is a hereditary trait.  However, some representatives of these breeds may not always gait, and some horses of other breeds not considered "gaited" may have ambling-gaited ability, particularly with training.  A 2012 DNA study of movement in Icelandic horses, harness racing horse breeds, and mice determined that a mutation on the gene DMRT3, which controls the spinal neurological circuits related to limb movement and motion, causes a premature stop codon in horses with lateral ambling gaits.  This mutation may be a dominant gene, in that even one copy of the mutated allele will produce gaitedness. Horses who are homozygous for the gene may have a stronger gaited ability than those who are heterozygous. Horses can now be tested for the presence or absence of this allele. In 2012, the mutated gene was found in the Icelandic horse, the Tennessee Walking Horse,  the Peruvian Paso, and the Kentucky Mountain Saddle Horse.  In 2014, a new study of the DMRT3 gene, now dubbed the "gait keeper" gene, examined over 4000 horses worldwide and DNA study found that gaitedness originated in a single ancient domestic ancestor as a spontaneous genetic mutation. In 2016, a study of DMRT3 SNP in paleographic DNA located the ambling horse mutation to medieval England with subsequent spread by Vikings first to Iceland in the 10th century.
  Breeds known for galloping ability, including the Thoroughbred and even the wild Przewalski’s horse, do not possess the mutated form of the gene.
  A number of horse breeds have observed natural gaited tendencies, including the American Saddlebred, Boerperd, Icelandic horse, Missouri Fox Trotter, Paso Fino, Peruvian Paso, Racking horse, Rocky Mountain Horse, Spotted Saddle horse, and Tennessee Walking Horse. The two-beat lateral pace is also sometimes classified with the ambling gaits as an "alternate" gait, and may be linked to the same genetic mechanism as the lateral ambling gaits.  The pacing horses studied were all homozygous for the DMTR3 mutation.  But not all horses with the homozygous mutation could pace, suggesting other factors had to come into play for that gait to occur. Although ambling gaits are seen in some Mustangs, and other Colonial Spanish Horses,  DMRT3 mutations are rarely seen in feral or wild horses. Researchers theorize that this is due to the difficulty that horses with this mutation have in moving from an ambling gait to a gallop, leading them to be easy prey for predators. Humans, however, have selectively bred for ambling horses, leading to a much more frequent occurrence of DMRT3 mutations among the human-bred horse population.
  Of note is that the trotting bloodlines of the Standardbred, though distinct from the pacing bloodlines, also are homozygous for the DMRT3 mutation, suggesting that it not only affects lateral gaits, but inhibits the transition to a gallop. In the studies of Icelandic horses, those animals homozygous for the DMRT3 mutation scored poorly for their ability to both trot and gallop. Researchers concluded that breeders selected away from the mutation in horses bred for sports such as dressage, show jumping, and racing at a gallop.
caption: Gaitedness is generally inherited, as seen in this young, untrained Peruvian Paso foal
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