Dressage for Cardiologists: Gallop or Canter?

To the Editor.—  In his 1894 textbook, Potain,¹ taught by Bouillaid, described the bruit de galop, an abnormal heart sound causing a rhythm that he likened to the sound of galloping horses: "Fort analogue au bruit des chevaux que nous entendons chaque jour galoper dans les rues ou sur la promenade." Today, gallop is regularly used to mean triple or quadruple cardiac rhythms. This is incorrect.Among equestrians, gallop has a precise meaning: it denotes the faster, four-beat gait, in which each hoof lands separately. When the gallop is slowed and shortened ("collected" in equestrian terminology), it becomes the canter, a three-beat gait in which a forefoot and the opposite hindfoot land simultaneously. This distinction is clear in the literature of both classical horsemanship² and veterinary medicine.³ Indeed, in dressage, the most ancient and advanced form of equitation, it is considered a serious fault to perform