The amble was particularly prized in Horses in the Middle Ages due to the need for people to travel long distances on poor roads. The Old High German term for a gaited horse was celtari (Modern German Zelter), cognate to Icelandic tölt. English amble is a 14th century loan from Old French, ultimately from Latin ambulare "to walk".
As roads improved and carriage travel became more common, followed later by railroads, riding horses that trotted became more popular in Europe; the dominant uses of riding horses came to include light cavalry, fox hunting and other types of rapid travel across country, but of more limited duration, where the gallop could be used. The amble was still prized in the Americas, particularly in the southern United States and in Latin America where plantation agriculture required riders to cover long distances every day to view fields and crops.[1] Today, ambling or gaited horses are popular amongst casual riders who seek soft-gaited, comfortable horses for pleasure riding.
As a general rule, while ambling horses are able to canter, they usually are not known for speed, nor is it particularly easy for a horse to transition from an ambling gait into the canter or gallop. Thus, in history, where comfort for long hours in the saddle was important, ambling horses were preferred for smoothness, surefootedness and quiet disposition. However, when speed and quick action was of greater importance, horses that trotted were more suitable due to their speed and agility. When horses were used in warfare, particularly during the Middle Ages, it was not uncommon for a knight to ride an ambling horse to a battle site, then switch to a war horse for galloping into the actual battle.[1]
