The canter and gallop are variations on the fastest gait that can be performed by a horse or other equine. The canter is a controlled three-beat gait, while the gallop is a faster, four-beat variation of the same gait. It is a natural gait possessed by all horses, faster than most horses' trot, or ambling gaits. The gallop is the fastest gait of the horse, averaging about . The speed of the canter varies between depending on the length of the horse's stride. A variation of the canter, seen in western riding, is called a lope, and is generally quite slow, no more than . Etymology Since the earliest dictionaries there has been a commonly agreed suggestion that the origin of the word "canter" comes from the English city of Canterbury, a place of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages, as referred to in The Canterbury Tales, where the comfortable speed for a pilgrim travelling some distance on horseback was above that of a trot but below that of a gallop. However, a lack of compelling evidence made the 18th-century equestrian Richard Berenger remark in The History and Art of Horsemanship that "the definition must certainly puzzle all who are horsemen and all who are not" [author's italics], and suggest his own derivation, noted in contemporary dictionaries, from the Latin word cantherius, a gelding, known for its calmness of temper. Sequence of footfalls The canter is a three-beat gait, meaning that there are three hoofbeats heard per stride. Each footfall is the "grounding" phase of a leg. The three footfalls are evenly spaced, and followed by the "suspension" phase of the gait, which is when all four legs are off the ground. The three beats and suspension are considered one stride. The movement for one stride is as follows: Beat One: the grounding phase of the outside hind leg. At this time, the other three legs are off the ground. Beat Two: the simultaneous grounding phase of the inside hind leg and outside fore leg. The inside fore leg is still off the ground. The outside hind leg (beat one), is still touching the ground, but is about to be lifted off. At the gallop, this beat is divided, with the inside hind landing first, making the gallop a four-beat gait Beat Three: The grounding phase of the inside foreleg. The outside hind leg (beat one), is off the ground. The