text:
Pour le Mérite

The Pour le Mérite (, lit. 'For Merit'), also informally known as the "Blue Max", is an order of merit (Verdienstorden) established in 1740 by King Frederick II of Prussia. The Pour le Mérite was awarded as both a military and civil honour and ranked, along with the Order of the Black Eagle, the Order of the Red Eagle and the House Order of Hohenzollern, among the highest orders of merit in the Kingdom of Prussia. The order of merit was the highest royal Prussian order of bravery for officers of all ranks.

The Pour le Mérite was awarded strictly as a recognition of extraordinary personal achievement, rather than as a general marker of social status or a courtesy-honour, although certain restrictions of social class and military rank were applied. The order was secular, and membership endured for the remaining lifetime of the recipient, unless renounced or revoked.

New awards of the military class ceased with the end of the Prussian monarchy in November 1918. German author Ernst Jünger, who died in 1998, was the last living recipient of the military class award.

A civil class for merits in sciences, humanities, and arts was established in 1842 by King Frederick William IV. The civil class was revived as an independent organization in 1923 (Pour le Mérite für Wissenschaften und Künste). Instead of the King of Prussia, the President of Germany acted as head of the order. After the Second World War, the civil class was re-established in 1952. This version of the Pour le Mérite is still active today. The Pour le Mérite is still an order into which a person is admitted into membership, like the United Kingdom's Order of the British Empire, and is not simply a medal or state decoration.

Military class
The Pour le Mérite was founded in 1740 by King Frederick II of Prussia. It was named in French, which was the leading international language and the favoured language at Frederick's court. The French name was retained, despite the rising tide of nationalism and increasing hostility between French and Germans during the 19th century, and indeed many of its recipients were honoured for acts performed in wars against France. The insignia of the military award was a blue-enameled Maltese Cross with golden eagles between the arms (which is based on the symbol of the Johanniter Order) and the Prussian royal cypher and the words Pour le Mérite ("For Merit" in French) written in gold letters on the body of the cross. The ribbon was black with edge stripes of silver-white. The order consisted of only one class, both civil and military, until 1810. Only a few civilians were honored: Pierre Louis Maupertuis (1747), Francesco Algarotti (1747) and Voltaire (1750).

In January 1810, during the Napoleonic wars, King Frederick William III decreed that the award could be presented only to serving military officers. In March 1813, the King added an additional distinction, a spray of gilt oak leaves attached above the cross. Award of the oak leaves originally indicated extraordinary achievement in battle, and was usually reserved for high-ranking officers.

The original regulations called for the capture or successful defence of a fortification, or victory in a battle. By World War I, the oak leaves often indicated a second or higher award of the Pour le Mérite, though in most cases the recipients were still high-ranking officers (usually distinguished field commanders fitting the criteria above; the few lower ranking recipients of the oak leaves were mainly general staff officers responsible for planning a victorious battle or campaign). In early 1918, it was proposed to award the oak leaves to Germany's top flying ace, Manfred von Richthofen, but he was deemed ineligible under a strict reading of the regulations (he had already received his Pour le Mérite without oak leaves in January 1917 ). Instead of the oak leaves Prussia awarded von Richthofen a slightly less prestigious honor, the Order of the Red Eagle, 3rd Class with Crown and Swords. This was still a high honour, as the 3rd Class was normally awarded to colonels and lieutenant colonels, and von Richthofen's award was one of only two of the 3rd Class with Crown and Swords during World War I. In 1866, a special military Grand Cross class of the award was established. This grade of the award was given to those who, through their actions, caused the retreat or destruction of an army. There were only five awards of the Grand Cross of the Pour le Mérite: to King Wilhelm I in 1866, to Crown Prince Frederick William of Prussia (later Emperor Frederick III) and Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia in 1873, to Tsar Alexander II of Russia in 1878, and to Helmuth Graf von Moltke in 1879.

The Pour le Mérite gained international fame during World War I. Although it could be awarded to any military officer, its most famous recipients were the pilots of the German Army Air Service (Luftstreitkräfte), whose exploits were celebrated in wartime propaganda. In aerial warfare, a fighter pilot was initially entitled to the award upon downing eight enemy aircraft. Aces Max Immelmann and Oswald Boelcke were the first airmen to receive the award, on 12 January 1916. It was awarded to Germany's highest-scoring ace, Manfred von Richthofen, in January 1917.

The number of aerial victories necessary to receive the award continued to increase during the war; by early 1917, it generally required destroying 16–20 enemy airplanes, and by war's end the approximate figure was 30. However, other aviation recipients included zeppelin commanders, bomber and observation aircrews, and at least one balloon observer.

Recipients of the "Blue Max", a nickname of the order, were required to wear the award whenever in uniform. Although many of its famous recipients were junior officers, especially pilots, more than a third of all awards in World War I went to generals and admirals. Senior officer awards tended to be more for outstanding leadership in combat than for individual acts of bravery.

Junior officers (army captains and lieutenants and their navy equivalents) accounted for only about a fourth of all awards. Several famous U-boat commanders, including Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière (SMU U-35 (Germany)), Walther Schwieger (SMU U-20 (Germany)) Otto Hersing (SMU U-21 (Germany)) and Otto Weddigen, received the Pour le Mérite.

The Pour le Mérite became extinct as a result of Kaiser Wilhelm II's abdication as king of Prussia and German Emperor on 9 November 1918. This marked the end of the Prussian monarchy and it was never awarded thereafter; however the honour continued to be recognized for, and worn by, previous recipients.

1740 to 1871

 * Henning Alexander von Kleist. Prussian general, awarded Pour le Mérite in 1741 by Frederick II for actions during Battle of Mollwitz during War of Austrian Succession.
 * Isaac de Forcade de Biaix, Prussian colonel and later Hofmarschall to the Prince of Prussia Frederick William II, heir to the throne of Prussia, awarded on 11 June 1742, as a captain with the 18th Prussian Infantry Regiment (von Derschau) for his actions during the First Silesian War.
 * Friedrich Wilhelm Quirin von Forcade de Biaix, Prussian lieutenant general, awarded on 6 January 1746 as a colonel for his actions in the Second Silesian War on the battlefield during the Battle of Soor, the victory of which Frederick the Great attributed to him.
 * Carl Heinrich von Wedel, awarded the Pour le Mérite 1752
 * Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz, awarded 1757, during the Seven Years' War.
 * Charles-Emmanuel de Warnery. Major General.  Cavalry.  In October 1756 for actions at the Battle of Lobositz.
 * Peter III of Russia, who received the Pour le Mérite in 1762 when he withdrew Russia from the Seven Years' War and made peace with Prussia.
 * Gebhard von Blücher, awarded on 4 June 1789, Napoleonic-era Prussian field marshal who led Prussian forces at the Battle of Waterloo
 * Alexander Suvorov, Russian generalissimo, awarded on 28 December 1794
 * Gerhard von Scharnhorst, Napoleonic-era Prussian general.
 * Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Bülow, Napoleonic-era Prussian general; also received the oak leaves.
 * Karl Friedrich von dem Knesebeck, Napoleonic-era Prussian general (later field marshal); first decorated in 1807, received the oak leaves in 1814.
 * Karl Wilhelm Georg von Grolman, Napoleonic-era Prussian general; also received the oak leaves.
 * Ludwig Graf Yorck von Wartenburg, Napoleonic-era Prussian general (later field marshal); also received the oak leaves.
 * August von Gneisenau, Napoleonic-era Prussian general (later field marshal); first decorated in 1807, received the oak leaves in 1814.
 * Hermann von Boyen, Napoleonic-era Prussian general and Minister of War; simultaneously received the Pour le Mérite and the oak leaves.
 * Ernst von Pfuel, Prussian general and Prime Minister of Prussia; decorated in 1814 during the Napoleonic Wars, received the oak leaves in 1831.
 * Helmuth Graf von Moltke, known as "Moltke the Elder"; first decorated in 1839 as a junior officer; he received the oak leaves in 1871 and the Grand Cross in March 1879. Also inducted into the civil class of the order in 1874.
 * Leonhard Graf von Blumenthal, Prussian general (later field marshal) decorated with the Pour le Mérite in the 1864 German-Danish War and the oak leaves in the 1866 Austro-Prussian War.

1871 to 1914

 * Otto von Bismarck, Prussian minister president and German chancellor during the unification period; decorated in 1884 with the Pour le Mérite with oak leaves. Also inducted into the civil class of the order in 1896.
 * Leo von Caprivi, Prussian general, decorated in 1871 for merit in the Franco-Prussian War.
 * Alfred Graf von Waldersee, German field marshal, decorated August 1901 with the Pour le Mérite with Oak leaves for his services as Allied Supreme Commander in China 1900–1901

German air force

 * Max Immelmann, German flying ace with 15 aerial victories, one of the first aviator recipients along with Oswald Boelcke and namesake of the "Blue Max" and Immelmann turn.
 * Oswald Boelcke, German flying ace with 40 aerial victories, one of the first aviator recipients along with Max Immelmann.
 * Wilhelm Frankl, German flying ace with 20 victories, one of the first German Jewish recipients in World War I.
 * Hermann Göring, decorated as an ace pilot in June 1918 finishing World War I with 22 air victories and later the third and final commander of Jagdgeschwader I
 * Manfred von Richthofen, better known as the "Red Baron", the top-scoring ace of World War I with 80 aerial victories and the first commander of Jagdgeschwader I.
 * Lothar von Richthofen, German flying ace with 40 victories. Younger brother of Manfred Von Richthofen.
 * Ernst Udet, second-highest-scoring German ace of World War I with 62 victories.
 * Erich Loewenhardt, third-highest-scoring German ace of World War I with 54 victories.
 * Werner Voss, fourth-highest-scoring German ace of World War I, credited with 48 victories.
 * Josef Jacobs, German flying ace with 48 victories. His total tied him with Werner Voss.
 * Kurt Wintgens, the first military aviator ever to down an enemy aircraft with a synchronized machine gun. Credited with 22 aerial victories.
 * Bruno Loerzer, German flying ace with 44 victories.
 * Julius Buckler, German flying ace with 36 victories.
 * Gotthard Sachsenberg, German flying ace with 31 victories.
 * Kurt Wolff, German flying ace with 33 victories.
 * Heinrich Kroll, German flying ace with 33 victories.
 * Rudolf Berthold, high-ranking German ace with 44 victories, Was shot to death by German communists in 1920.
 * Robert Ritter von Greim, World War I ace with 28 victories and World War II field marshal.
 * Eduard Ritter von Schleich, better known as the "Black Knight", destroyed 35 enemy aircraft.
 * Carl Menckhoff, fighter ace, with 39 confirmed victories.
 * Paul Bäumer, fighter ace with 43 confirmed victories.
 * Ernst von Hoeppner, Commanding General of the Air Service.
 * Josef Veltjens, German fighter ace, with 35 confirmed victories as lieutenant (reserve).
 * Fritz Pütter, German flying ace with 25 victories.
 * Franz Büchner, German flying ace with 40 victories.
 * Friedrich Ritter von Röth, flying ace with 28 confirmed victories, was Germany's top Balloon buster of World War I with 20 observer balloons shot down.
 * Heinrich Gontermann, Ace pilot credited with shooting down 21 aircraft and 18 observation balloons. He was Germany's second best Balloon buster of World War I.
 * Hans Joachim Buddecke, German fighter ace in World War I, credited with thirteen victories. He was the third ace, after Max Immelmann and Oswald Boelcke, to earn Pour le Mérite. He fought in Gallipoli to fly the Halberstadt D.II and Fokker E.III with Ottoman FA 6 against the Royal Naval Air Service. The Turkish campaign was successful, with four confirmed victories and seven unconfirmed, and Buddecke was personally awarded the Gold Liakat Medal by Enver Pasha.

German army

 * Erwin Rommel, decorated as an Oberleutnant in December 1917 for service in Italy
 * Paul von Hindenburg, German field marshal and later President of Germany; awarded the Pour le Mérite in September 1914 and the oak leaves in February 1915.
 * Erich Ludendorff, German general of World War I; awarded the Pour le Mérite in August 1914, one of the earliest World War I awards, for the Siege of Liège, Belgium; received the oak leaves in February 1915.
 * Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria, German field marshal; awarded the Pour le Mérite in August 1915 and the oak leaves in December 1916.
 * Albrecht, Duke of Württemberg, German field marshal; awarded the Pour le Mérite in August 1915 and the oak leaves in February 1918.
 * Werner von Blomberg, decorated as a major in June 1918 and later a Field Marshal General in the Wehrmacht.
 * Fedor von Bock, Awarded Pour le Mérite in 1918 for efforts of leading his battalion at the Somme and Cambrai. Later Field Marshal and commander of Army Group North, Polish campaign, 1939. Commander Army Group B in conquest of Western Europe 1940. Commander Army Group Centre in Russia 1941. Commander Army Group South in Russian Ukraine and Caucasus 1942.
 * Erich von Falkenhayn, Chief of the German General Staff from 1914 to 1916; awarded the Pour le Mérite in February 1915 and the oak leaves in June 1915.
 * Oskar von Hutier, German general awarded the Pour le Mérite in September 1917 and the oak leaves in March 1918.
 * Georg Bruchmüller, German colonel and artillery officer in von Hutier's 8th Army.
 * Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, German general who led the German Schutztruppe in the guerrilla campaign in German East Africa; awarded the Pour le Mérite in November 1916 and the oak leaves in October 1917.
 * Otto Liman von Sanders, German general who served as adviser and commander of Ottoman forces in World War I; awarded the Pour le Mérite and the oak leaves simultaneously in January 1916 for his role in the Battle of Gallipoli.
 * Fritz von Lossberg, World War I master-strategist; expert in the Defence in depth. Awarded 21 September 1916 (Somme); oak leaves on 24 April 1917 (Arras).
 * August von Mackensen, German general (later field marshal) of World War I; awarded the Pour le Mérite in November 1914 and the oak leaves in June 1915.
 * Helmuth Johann Ludwig von Moltke, Chief of the German General Staff at the outbreak of World War I. Nephew of Moltke the Elder.
 * Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein, German officer in the Near East campaigns of World War I.
 * Otto von Garnier, German General of the Cavalry awarded the Pour le Mérite in October 1916.
 * Max Hoffmann, German staff officer; awarded the Pour le Mérite in October 1916 and the oak leaves in July 1917.
 * Hans von Seeckt, German staff officer in World War I; awarded the Pour le Mérite in May 1915 and the oak leaves in November 1915.
 * Ernst Jünger, Army Lieutenant and later novelist, the last living holder of the Pour le Mérite at the time of his death in 1998.
 * Ferdinand Schörner, decorated as a Leutnant in December 1917, later a field marshal in World War II.
 * Heinrich Kirchheim, Company Commander of Jäger-Bataillon Number 10 and a Generalleutnant in World War II. Awarded in October 1918.
 * Johann von Ravenstein, German officer. In May 1918 his battalion broke through the opposing line at Soissons. After capturing the notorious Chemin des Dames, he succeeded, with 10 soldiers, in capturing the bridge over the Aisne at Bourg intact. His troops took 1500 prisoners and captured 32 cannons. Later served in the Afrika Korps.
 * Alexander von Falkenhausen, German colonel, for victories in two Jordan battles in March and May 1918 against British troops.

German navy

 * Henning von Holtzendorff, German Grand Admiral, decorated in March 1916.
 * Alfred von Tirpitz, German Grand Admiral, decorated in August 1915.
 * Reinhard Scheer, German admiral and commander of German naval forces in the Battle of Jutland.
 * Franz Hipper, German admiral.
 * Nikolaus Burggraf und Graf zu Dohna-Schlodien, German auxiliary cruiser commander; one of only two junior officers to receive the highest military honors of the five main German states.
 * Karl August Nerger, German auxiliary cruiser commander; one of only two junior officers to receive the highest military honors of the five main German states.
 * Karl Friedrich Max von Müller, captain of the famous German commerce raider, the light cruiser SMS Emden (1908) during the first few months of World War I.
 * Felix von Luckner, captain of the Seeadler, a sailing ship used as a commerce raider.
 * Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière, German U-boat commander during the First World War, awarded the Pour le Mérite in the autumn of 1916 for sinking 200,000 tonnes of Allied shipping.
 * Walther Forstmann, successful German U-boat Ace and later staff officer in the Kriegsmarine.
 * Walther Schwieger, German U-boat commander who sank the British liner RMS Lusitania.
 * Wilhelm Anton Souchon, German Vice Admiral serving in the Black Sea in World War I.
 * Theo Osterkamp, Naval observer and later a fighter pilot who claimed 32 victories in World War I. He also scored six victories in World War II and became an air force general.
 * Otto Weddigen, German U-boat commander of World War I.
 * Friedrich Christiansen, decorated as Naval Pilot with 13 victories and 8 shared, Oberleutnant on 11 December 1917.
 * Otto Hersing, commander of U-21, the first U-boat to sink an enemy ship using a self-propelled locomotive torpedo. Awarded on 5 June 1915.
 * Paul Behncke, German admiral.

Civil class
In 1842, King Frederick William IV of Prussia, appointed Alexander von Humboldt Chancellor of the Order of Merit with powers to recommend candidates to this new civil class of the Order Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts (Orden Pour le Mérite für Wissenschaften und Künste), with the three sections: humanities, natural science and fine arts. When a vacancy occurred the Academy of Arts and Sciences nominated three candidates, one of whom the king appointed.

In November 1918 the Kingdom of Prussia came to an end, and with it that state's sponsorship of the Pour le Mérite. However, unlike the military class of the order, the class of the order for achievements in the arts and sciences did not come to an end. The members re-established their order as an autonomous organization, with revised rules and processes for nomination.

The awarding of new memberships resumed in 1923. Recipients included Albert Einstein (1923), Käthe Kollwitz (1929) and Ernst Barlach (1933).

During the era of National Socialism in Germany (1933–45), the order was re-absorbed into the state honours system, and the list of its members was reviewed and revised according to the policies of the new government. A number of Jews and other perceived dissidents or "enemies" of the state were deprived of their awards by the Nazi regime. They included Einstein (who resigned his membership in the order in 1933, and refused invitations to renew it after the war), Kollwitz, and Barlach. Such actions were later repudiated by both the order and the postwar German government.

In 1952, the order was re-established again in West Germany with assistance of Federal President Theodor Heuss, – now as an independent organization with state recognition and the President of the German Federal Republic as Protector of the Order. However, unlike the somewhat similar Bundesverdienstkreuz (Federal Cross of Merit), also established by Heuss, it is not a state order.

The revived civil order of the Pour le Mérite is awarded for achievements in the arts and sciences. Active membership is limited to 40 German citizens, ten each in the fields of humanities, natural science, and medicine and the arts. Honorary membership can be conferred on foreigners, again to the limit of 40. When a vacancy occurs, the remaining members select a new inductee.

Notable recipients of the civil class
Among famous recipients of the civil class of the Pour le Mérite in the first group of awards in 1842 were Alexander von Humboldt, Carl Friedrich Gauss, Jakob Grimm, Felix Mendelssohn, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling and August Wilhelm Schlegel. Foreign recipients in the "class of 1842" included François-René de Chateaubriand, Michael Faraday and Franz Liszt.

Later recipients included Theodor Mommsen (1868), Charles Darwin (1868), Thomas Carlyle (1874), William Thomson, Lord Kelvin (1884), Joseph Lister (1885) Johannes Brahms (1887), Giuseppe Verdi (1887), Hubert von Herkomer (1899), Camille Saint-Saëns (1901), John Singer Sargent (1908), Ferdinand von Zeppelin (1910), Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (1911), Sir William Ramsay (1911), and Max Planck (1915).

New members of the revised order in 1923 included Albert Einstein (1923), Gerhart Hauptmann (1923), Richard Strauss (1924), Wilhelm Furtwängler (1929), and Käthe Kollwitz (1929).

Among those inducted in 1952 were Otto Heinrich Warburg, Otto Hahn, Paul Hindemith, and Emil Nolde.

Later recipients include Arthur Compton (1954), Hermann Hesse (1954), Albert Schweitzer (1954), Thomas Mann (1955), Oskar Kokoschka (1955), Carl Orff (1956), Erwin Schrödinger (1956), Thornton Wilder (1956), Werner Heisenberg (1957), Lise Meitner (1957), Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1957), Felix Bloch (1959), Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker (1961), Karl Jaspers (1964), Otto Klemperer (1967), Carl Zuckmayer (1967), Henry Moore (1972), Karl Popper (1980), Carlos Kleiber (1990), Witold Lutosławski (1993), Rudolf Mößbauer (1996), Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard (1997), Umberto Eco (1998), Hans Magnus Enzensberger (1999), Wim Wenders (2005), James J. Sheehan (2006), and Svante Pääbo (2008).

More recent recipients were Gidon Kremer (2016), Emmanuelle Charpentier (2017), Heinz Holliger (2018), Sir Christopher Clark (2019), and Herta Müller (2021).

In 2021, 14 Nobel Prize laureates were member of the order.

Similar orders in other countries
Besides Prussia, several other states of the former German Empire also conferred similar awards for the arts and sciences. These included the Kingdom of Bavaria's Maximilian Order for Art and Science (Maximiliansorden für Kunst und Wissenschaft), the Duchy of Anhalt's Order of Merit for Science and Art (Verdienstorden für Wissenschaft und Kunst), and the Principality of Lippe's Lippe Rose Order for Art and Science (Lippische Rose, Orden für Kunst und Wissenschaft).

A number of other countries have founded similar high civic honors for accomplishments in the arts and sciences. The sovereign of the Commonwealth realms confers the Order of Merit and Order of the Companions of Honour. The Republic of Austria confers the Austrian Decoration of Honor for Science and the Arts, founded in 1955. Like the Order Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts, this was in a sense a revival of an earlier imperial award, in this case the Austro-Hungarian Decoration of Honor for Art and Science (Österreichisch-Ungarisches Ehrenzeichen für Kunst und Wissenschaft), which existed from 1887 to 1918. Unlike the German award, however, the design of the modern Austrian award is unlike that of its imperial predecessor. France has the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for significant contributions to the arts and literature. In Poland the Gloria Artis Medal has been established for the same purpose.

Other countries also may recognize accomplishments in the arts and sciences, but with more general orders also awarded for accomplishments in other fields. France's Légion d'honneur is an example of a decoration often conferred for accomplishment in many fields, including the arts and sciences. Belgium awards either its Order of Leopold or Order of the Crown for outstanding accomplishments in the arts and sciences, and may award its Civil Decoration for lesser accomplishments in these fields.

Recipients of both classes
Only a small number of persons have received both the military and civil classes of the Pour le Mérite:
 * Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, military class 1839, civil class 1874
 * Otto von Bismarck, military class 1884, civil class 1896
 * Hermann von Kuhl, military class 1916, civil class 1924

title: Pour le Mérite


text:
Talk:Pulse

On merging
Suggestion : heart rate and pulse rate are not exactly the same thing. Pulse rate can be palpated, typically in the radial artery at the wrist by the second fingertip (index) of a trained observer. The heart rate has been traditionally auscultated using a stethoscope. Pairing of the palpable pulse to the audible pulse is a good start but obviously neglects advances allowed by electrophysiology. The debate on this looks fairly old and minimally relevant.lbeben 01:14, 16 June 2014 (UTC) hence if merged it will lead to the school ofthought that they r the same whcih isnt true.

On a fundamental understanding this is true. Palpation of pulses and auscultation of heart sounds are time proven and antiquated tools in study of the heart. These terms are still valuable in study of healthy individuals. In an individual suffering from heart conduction disease such as atrial flutter, heartbeats may be gated by the AV node allowing only every second (2:1) third (3:1) or fourth (4:1) electrical impulse generated by the sinoatrial node to get through to the ventricles. Further understanding of this topic suggests study of contemporary Left Ventricular Assist Devices (LVAD)s that blurs both of these terms as well as making blood pressure difficult to measure.

Well conditioned athletes
"A normal pulse rate for a healthy I'd just like to say that I don't really like the wording here. The thing is, while there is some correlation between how well conditioned you are and your pulse rate, you can't say that a certain pulse rate means you are well conditioned. Obviously this is my own research, but I almost never go above 60 BPM even with a sedentary lifestyle, and I quickly drop below 50 BPM if I run a few km per week. There's nothing strange or unhealthy about me, some people just have naturally low pulse rates.

So the problem here is that it implies things that aren't always true. I suggest changing the tone to a larger perspective, instead of talking about well trained athletes and such, lets just say that "the average human pulse rate is around 70 bpm, but rates as low as around 30 bpm and as high as 100 bpm have been recorded in healthy individuals". That's true and has little ambiguity.

I don't have any good sources for this, so I don't want to start editing, but I just wanted to point this out. 81.235.139.191 (talk) 12:41, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Pulse / Heart rate
What is the exact relation between pulse and heart rate? Do these terms mean the same thing (and should the articles be merged)? If not, the difference should be made clear and the articles should be linked to each other. (Disclaimer: I don't know anything about medicine, I'm just wondering.) 212.90.80.75 16:16, 17 Aug 2004 (UTC)

 * Pulse and heart rate are usually the same, unless the heart is not strong enough, and only pumps very little blood with some strokes. In that case, the heart rate can be (much) higher than the pulse. I'll make some changes. JFW | T@lk  17:20, 17 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Pulse annd heart rate are not the same. Pulse is a measure of the heart rate, however it also has other properties which are characteristically changed in some diseases: rhythm, fullness and the shape of the pulse wave. User_talk: Eleassar777

 * Pulse and pulse rate are different. When a doctor says pulse it encompasses several things - rate (beats per minutes - normal vs. tachy vs. brady), rhythm (regular, regularly irregular (present in second degree heart block), irregular irregular (present in atrial fibrilation)), pattern/type (normal, pulsus tardus et parvus, pulsus paradoxus, pulsus bisferiens), strength (strong, normal, weak, absent).  Heart rate and pulse are distinct from one another - see pulsus paradoxus. Nephron 04:47, 21 January 2006 (UTC)

a function of mass?
My suspicion is that a person's resting pulse rate is a function of body mass. The smaller the mass the higher the pulse rate. In order to maintain a particular flow volume there is more friction and less momentum per pulse in the smaller system thus a higher pulse rate needed. See:

http://www.math.niu.edu/~rusin/teaching-math/360/014.pdf

 * Firstly: why are you announcing this here? Wikipedia is not a forum for original research.
 * Secondly: how would you propose the feedback system would work if pulse rate were a function of the BMI? Through the hypothalamus??? :-) JFW | T@lk  01:31, 21 Nov 2004 (UTC)

PULSE 8 HEART RATE

The values given in the section about palpability of the pulse are somewhat a myth. A lot of people believe these values to be incorrect or at least misleading.

For example, in the book on the clinical examination I use (A.Kocijancic, Klinična preiskava, Littera Picta, Slovenia, 2000), it is written that the brachial pulse is palpable when the systolic pulse is at least 50 mmHg. So this is close to saying that it is not palpable under 50 mmHg (and not under 80 mmHg). User; Eleassar777

I agree, this is probably an oversimplification. I work with newborn and prematurely born children. It is possible to feel a pulse here also, in spite of blood pressure being real low at times. I suspect body habits is a factor. When the patient weighs 0,5 kg the blood pressure need not be high to be felt. --Ekko 08:44, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

The longest time without a pulse rate
The following was added to the article on 9/27/2005 by 4.154.204.183. Google verifies it, but it has serious stylistic problems and it was not well-placed well within the article. I reverted and placed the passage here in case someone else can find a good place for it. -Abe Dashiell 00:23, 28 September 2005 (UTC)

"The longest time a person survived without a pulse in their vacular system is 3 days Julie Mills was at the point of death from severe heart failure and viral myocarditis when on Aug 14 1998 surgeons at the John Radcliffe Hospital Oxford used a nonpulsatile blood pump to support her for a week in which her heart recovered and the pump was removed Longest time survived without a pulse"

This is a compelling case if it can be encyclopedically documented with emphasis on writing fundamentals.

This is incorrect as patients around the world (Canada, USA, Hong Kong, Australia) are routinely supported to recovery or tranplantation in a nonpulsatile cardiovascular state using a similar strategy as at the Radcliffe. The support system is called extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and has been employed successfully in babies as small as 1.8 kg. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.112.20.176 (talk) 01:40, 17 October 2010 (UTC)

Re:- Merge
I'd be inclined to just delete resting pulse, or have it direct here. It contains no information that isn't already in the main Pulse article. If someone wanted to expand on the concept of a resting pulse rate and the factors affecting it (age, health etc..) then it might be worthy of its own article, although I doubt it really. As it stands it reads like a dictionary definition and adds nothing. --John24601 22:28, 19 January 2006 (UTC)
 * Hi, I added the merge signs for people into the subject to give their opinion, and I agree with you to delete the contents of Resting pulse and make it a re-direct. Poulsen 22:50, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

My understanding is that Dick Cheney has had no pulse since 2009, when Fairfax INOVA hospital implanted a pulse-less, continuous rotor heart assist device within his chest. The continuous rotor device pumps blood continuously without a pulse. This device is unique to neither Darth Vader nor Dick Cheney. The device is available at first-line heart centers world-wide. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.18.54.173 (talk) 23:38, 31 July 2012 (UTC)

"Pulse" or "pulse rate"?
Is it correct to say "a pulse of 60 bpm" or "a pulse rate of 60 bpm"? It seems to me one or the other must be correct, but not both. The current article seems to treat the two uses as equivalent. --Ds13 05:40, 20 January 2006 (UTC)
 * The pulse is a sign which has 3 main characteristics - the rate, the rhythm, and the strength. In good clinical practice, the person who checks the pulse will assess and record all 3 of these. However, in most cases any rhythm disturbances will be chronic (and therefore insignificant) or emergent(therefore presenting symptoms which indicate an immediate electrocardiogram, which is far better at determining the exact rhythm, so rhythm isn't really that important. Similarly, strength of the pulse is much more objectively measured via blood pressure, so it's not often commented on. Consequently, the pulse rate is the only clinically important feature of the pulse in its own right, the other two are rarely checked and are, in any case, better assessed via different methods. As for how you describe it, it doesn't really matter, although if you were being super accurate I guess I'd go for the second of your two options. --John24601 09:42, 20 January 2006 (UTC)
 * John24601, thanks for the comprehensive response! --Ds13 17:28, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

Death
"The lack of a palpable carotid pulse is often an indication of death." Seriously? No WAY! Why is this even in this article? --158.59.25.127 (talk) 01:41, 3 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Absence of central pulses doesn't always indicate death - a carotid pulse usually indicates a systolic BP less than 60 - if you have a monitored patient in ICU it's perfectly possible to see a BP in the 40/20 range with no palpable pulse, but the body is still perfused (to a degree) and the patient is alive. --John24601 (talk) 17:55, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

Not to mention that there are people living on assistive heart devices who don't have a pulse. 173.2.165.251 (talk) 13:26, 4 June 2011 (UTC)

history
this looks interesting

History of the Pulse?
The page on the circulatory system has a good "history of discovery" section, some of which I think belongs on this page also. Thoughts? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.175.73.203 (talk) 20:55, 6 March 2012 (UTC)

Nadi pariksha
An article of Nadi pariksha have been created. Maybe you would like to have a look at it. Thanks. -- Abhijeet Safai (talk) 12:15, 25 May 2013 (UTC)1
 * I've redirected it. The sources are very poor, and it's just a pulse evaluation technique, so I've redirected it to a parent article, IRWolfie- (talk) 18:32, 25 May 2013 (UTC)2

Too many incorrect links: this article's title needs to be disambiguated
I noticed that there are many incoming links to pulse that are about different meanings of the same word, such as Pulse (physics) or Pulse (signal processing). Should this page be renamed to Pulse (medicine) so that these incorrect links can be corrected more easily? Jarble (talk)

Historical use
For future editors: "A Brief Journey into the History of the Arterial Pulse" (2011) --156.22.9.252 (talk) 23:07, 12 July 2015 (UTC)

Problem with this page and redirect
"Pulse rate" is a redirect to this article, however the article heartrate begins with "Heart rate (or pulse rate)". There's obviously a sort of contradiction here, but I'm not sure how it should best be resolved. I've also posted to the talk page for "heartrate" here, so let's please keep conversation on that page so as not to cause confusion by having simultaneous discussions on the same topic on two different talk pages. Vontheri (talk) 16:58, 3 June 2024 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Talk:Pulse


text:
Talk:Horse gait

Canter & Gallop
- I'm no horse expert, but shouldn't the gallop or run be listed as a fourth gait after the canter? Daniel Quinlan 02:30, Aug 11, 2003 (UTC) - There is no unanimity among various speakers of English. Some people seem to use canter to refer to the three beat "run" and gallop to refer to the four beat "all out run". Other speakers don't use one or the other term at all. Check out the Littauer book I cited. "Gallop" comes into English from old French, and ultimately traces back to a word that means "to run." "Canter" is a contraction of the expression "Canterbury gallop," the slow pace at which pilgrims made their way toward Canterbury. So there is some historical grounds for saying that "canter" should mean slower and "gallop" should mean any "run" or a fast "run." Anyway, any horse book that I've already seen speaks of three gaits. And there are "three-gaited horses" and "five-gaited horses." The five-gaited horses do the original 3 plus two other gaits, neither of which is a "fast canter."

The important thing is that there are several different ways that horses can order the movements of their legs. I'm looking for one of my books that may describe the other two gaits that five-gaited horses do. Harnes racing horses either trot or "pace. In the pace, both legs on the left side move, then both legs on the right side move.

It is these mechanics that we need to get down clearly. What people, as individuals, prefer to call the gaits is an "ee-thur" "eye-thur" kind of question, I think.

Patrick0Moran 03:50, 11 Aug 2003 (UTC)

I've read in various places that canter and gallop are two separate gaits. I tried a modification to the article to distinguish a bit more between the two. I'm finding sources that point either way on the net: vs. (first two are about Icelandic horses, the latter is a comment from a Spanish reader regarding the first link I listed above) From this, I'm left to conclude that 3 vs. 4 is a matter of perspective, opinion, language, culture, or some combination of those. I'm going to see if I can make appropriate changes to the article to present a NPOV. Daniel Quinlan 06:26, Aug 11, 2003 (UTC)
 * http://www.equusite.com/articles/basics/basicsGaits.shtml
 * http://www.fourwinds.net/resource/galprnt2.html
 * http://www.hickoksports.com/glossary/gequestrian.shtml#gtop
 * http://www.geocities.com/absea98/igait.html
 * http://dq.com/java/
 * http://www.horses-and-horse-information.com/horse-gaits.html
 * http://www.sunycgcc.edu/webgallery/tkristjansdottir/Finalproject/Main.html
 * http://www.icelandichorse.is/gallop.html
 * http://www.equusite.com/cgi-html/articleComments/basicsGaits.html

Well, I'm done that, I hope the result is to everyone's liking. Now, someone just needs to merge the information found in gaits into this article; it looks like the majority of the articles linking to gaits are about human gaits or are at least not about horse gaits (a few are about horse gaits, though). Daniel Quinlan 08:54, Aug 11, 2003 (UTC)

I think there may have been some sense that the word "canter" is elegant, and "gallop" is crude. Also the language is changing. (I expect to hear a BBC announcer say something like, "She writed her name on form," any day now.)

There are lots of people who express opinions on the WWW, not all of them qualified to make authoritative determinations. In principle, I would rather go with a recognized authority like Margaret Cabell Self. In her book Horsemastership, she says: "The correct term for the canter is the gallop and until a few years ago only the term gallop was used in international competition. However many people think that a canter is the slow form of a gallop and in the most recent book on the Olympic Games put out by the British Horse Society the term canter is used." She then goes on to give 5 subcategories of the gallop.

Her book was written in 1952, so there has been plenty of time for the language to change. I think the right thing to do is to concentrate on the description of the gait and its sub-divisions, and then say that there are different choices of terms made for these several variations and the gait(s).

Patrick0Moran 02:14, 12 Aug 2003 (UTC)

I just added
 * In a right-lead gallop, the sequence of events is the following: after the suspension phase, the left hind foot hits the ground, then the right hind foot, placed in front of the left hind foot. The left front foot hits the ground, then the right front foot, placed in front of the left front foot. Then the horse reaches the suspension phase again.

I'm unclear as to when the various feet leave the ground. Does the left hind foot leave the ground before or after the left front foot hits the ground? Does the right hind foot leave the ground before or after the right front foot hits the ground? In other words, is there ever a point in time when there are three feet touching the ground? AxelBoldt 21:10, 31 Mar 2004 (UTC)

 * Ok, I found the answer here, will add an explanation shortly. AxelBoldt 22:25, 31 Mar 2004 (UTC)

-

The etymology of canter is as you say from Canterbury - and amazingly at one time people did actually think a canter was just a slow gallop - happily for art lovers everywhere Muybridge and his motion picture experiment disproved the four foot 'rocking-horse' flyer and showed us that a gallop and a canter are two distinct gaits.

Modern authority (i.e. the British Horse Society) is quite clear that the gallop is distinct from the canter and the BHS examines the transition between the canter and gallop as two separate gaits. GavinCorder (talk) 14:37, 14 January 2010 (UTC)

-

Five-beat gait
Piers Anthony in one of his books refers to a five-beat gait used by a unicorn in an unsuccessful attempt to unseat a rider. Is this actually possible or is this a totally made-up idea? --Phil | Talk 13:51, Jul 22, 2004 (UTC)

§ There is something called a "disunited canter" in which the horse somehow scrambles the normal sequence. I'm not sure what the sequence could be, but it is very uncomfortable for the rider and probably for the horse. I think the horse pushes off with a front leg, let's say the left leg. There is a moment when almost all the horse's weight is on the front left leg. Then the horse lands on the right front and the right rear leg, as though it were one beat of the pace. With momentum going forward it now has only one choice of what to land on, the left rear foot. If it were to land next on the right front foot it would be in position to get a normal canter going, but it can't do that because it's just used its right front foot and can't reach forward with it in time, so it lands on all it's got left, which is the left front foot. Then it lands on the right front and right rear, which is what it did the first time around. If it were to pace the legs used would be right, but it is not putting right front and right rear and then left front and left rear down exactly together because it is still trying to canter. So in all the confusion you actually might get five individual beats going as the horse joggles back and forth trying to regain its balance. I'm just guessing. Somebody would have to use high-speed motion photography to really figure it out I guess. But it feels like you are riding a washing machine in spin cycle with an unbalanced load. P0M 14:55, 22 Jul 2004 (UTC)

No, a "disunited canter" is the same as "cross-firing" (see canter). A disunited canter will produce 3 beats. A five-beated gait is totally made up, and not seen in any equids today. They will only put each foot down once in a a stride, its just the variables of the stide (length of time each foot is down, and sequence of footfalls) that changes the gait. So unless you know of a five-legged horse, their isn't a five-beat gait. --Eventer

"Non-natural gaits" info appears incorrect
WP:V ''Only two gaits are natural to wild horses: the walk and the gallop. The trot and the canter have been developed in horses through domestication, breeding, and training.'' (Similarly, back at horse, there's the line The canter is not a natural gait, but a restrained form of a gallop.) Where did that come from?

First, the trot is a basic horse gait. Even day-old foals can and do trot, so it's not taught. The trot is the basic "going somewhere" gait for a horse.

The canter is a natural gait, too. The normal horse gait for fast movement is a canter; the gallop is more for emergencies, and most breeds can't sustain it for very long. Young horses do canter.

There's a gait tutorial for young riders here:, and it says the usual, that walk, trot, canter, and gallop are all natural gaits.

See this note from Temple Grandin on herding wild mustangs at trot and canter..

There are some subtle intermediate forms possible between the canter and the gallop; see. It's possible, although difficult, to gradually change from one to the other. But that's something done at the higher levels of dressage only, and has to be taught. Most horses will explicitly transition. But, since at the higher levels of equitation, those intermediate forms are seen, there's a tendency to use one term for both gaits. AT that level, you're teaching the horse to dance.

More cites are available if needed, from Xenophon to Podjasky to the British Pony Club Manual.

That "canter is not a natural gait" line is now all over the web, all copied from Wikipedia. --John Nagle 23:26, 6 April 2006 (UTC)

 * I'll look at this and see if I can make some sense of the controversy and come up with something that explains the whole thing. Bottom line is that what is a "natural" or an "artificial" gait is sort of arbitrary.  Horses can do any number of very weird things with their feet when loose in a pasture.  A horse that feels good may "naturally" execute the "artificial" airs above the ground, and, what really IS the difference between the "artificial" Piaffe and a naturally "prancing" horse, other than one you want and the other is a pain-in-the-neck disobedience?  But anyway, I will think on the matter and see what can be done.  Montanabw 04:41, 2 July 2006 (UTC)
 * It is my understanding that all dressage 'maneuvers' are based on natural movements, including passage, piaffe, levade, etc. --AeronM (talk) 03:14, 2 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Yes. This discussion section brings up a lot of material that I think should be in the article.  Which reminds me, to the list of natural movements add: prong!  --Una Smith (talk) 03:51, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

Ryan Barks : I have always been taught that there are 4 types of gaits walk, trot/special gait, lope/canter, and gallop/run. Everything else is semantics I think. Your basic garden variety horse will do all of these gaits in the pasture nearly from birth. The "straight goinig" breeds (quarter horse, thoroughbred, morgan, arabian, appaloosa, etc) walk, trot, canter, gallop. Call them what you will, those are the movements. The so called "gaited horses" will naturally walk, gait (running walk, paso largo, foxtrot, etc), canter, and gallop. through training some will lose the canter and only walk, gait, gait faster, and eventually gallop.

I do not claim to be an expert myself, but I know people who definitly are. My father has been in the gaited horse business for nearly 20 years.

this is an interesting discussion because as I understand it there was some debate for years on what happens to a horses feet when running. with the invention of slow motion photography we knw know that there is a suspension phase. Some people say a gallop is a 4 beat gait. I still say it is three. Listen to a horse run on a hard packed surface. It is three beats, like a canter, just a different rhythm. Techincally from seeing it in slow motion there are four separate footfalls, but you dont hear them that way. A trot is two, a pace is two, but a different two. A "gait" is four. A walk, is, well a walk is a walk.

Merge of tolt
I didn't put in the merge tag, but it's an interesting question. Fundamental question is if we should have all the gaits in one article, merging the other articles in, or go the other way and be sure there is a separate article for each gait and link a brief summary here to the main article (I think most do have separate articles, though not necessarily linked here). Anyone else who wants to comment? Montanabw 20:32, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

I think that the running walk and the flat walk (from the Tennessee walkers) should also be put in- these wonderful horses have gaits all their own. (see Tennessee Walking Horse on this site). Katibug 10:44 PM Oct 1 06

 * I think it's already in there, probably buried in a section with the other unusual gaits. This article overall is kind of a disorganized mess and needs some cleanup, IMHO.  Montanabw 06:23, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

"Disunited" gallop
This article, conveniently, but inadvertantly I'm sure, contains an excellent example of a horse moving in an "incorrect" gait: the cartoon-like rotoscope (the second one down) of the gallop is not a proper gallop.

Look at the photographic rotoscope above the white, cartoon-like one I am referencing. In a correct (natural) gallop the horse never has both legs from one side down at the same time. The cartoon-like illustration shows the near (closest to the viewer) hind foot stepping down, then the far hind steps followed by the far front, then the near front.

A "disunited" gait occurs when the rider or the horse (or both) is off balance upon starting the gait, when the horse is mis-cued by the rider or when the rider wants the horse to gallop (or canter) incorrectly for a short while as an exercise. The gait is wrong because it causes the horse to be off balanced, and horse and rider could both fall if they try this gait on a circle, therefore, horses at liberty rarely if ever travel disunited.Taosein 21:17, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Canter
It says that the leading leg is the front left while it is the inside front leg, the leading leg changing depending which reign the rider is on.

Your comment would be more credible if you could spell "rein" correctly. That said, will review text and clarify if needed. Montanabw (talk) 18:48, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

Group gaits
In biomechanical terms, amble and walk are walking gaits, trot and pace are running gaits, canter and gallop (separate or together) are leaping gaits. I propose to reorganize this article accordingly. --Una Smith (talk) 02:27, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

 * Leads and lead changes apply only to leaping gaits (canter and gallop). Also, the discussion of whether canter and gallop are one or two gaits would make more sense if together in an article with descriptions of both. --Una Smith (talk) 04:35, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

 * As to biomechanical terms, I cannot agree that this would be a suitable way to reorganize, though I see no harm in some reference to biomechanics within the sections. I think it is critical to look in terms of what actual horse people say and do as well.  You would be departing dramatically from what people come across in books on equestrianism and horse gaits, (particularly in calling the trot a "running" gait) which could create a lot of confusion (given that wikipedia is usually the number one search result in most Google searches) and could even come pretty close to original research.  Montanabw (talk) 23:30, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

 * Canter and gallop probably should be in one article and one section here, I actually agree with you there, but the 3 beat/4 beat issue has been hashed out over and over again and so I think I would prefer to just let sleeping dogs lie.   Montanabw (talk) 23:30, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

 * If I may weigh in briefly, probably one of the best books on horse gaits is: which I, in a moment of extreme energy, used to source parts of this article. Most horse people think in terms of the number of beats in the gait, not in the biological biomechanical terms. While I understand the desire to add information on the biomechanical aspects (and fully support that effort, I might add), how most everyday horsepeople experience the gaits also is important and needs to be kept in mind. She breaks them down into "Walk", "Trot", "Canter", "Gallop", "Rein-back (backing up)", "Pace", "The Amble and its Derivatives", "Transitions [between gaits]", and "Jump". Ealdgyth - Talk 23:47, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
 * There is more than enough room to explain the 3 beat/4 beat difference between canter and gallop, and the other details of concern to horse people, but this is not a horse encyclopedia and it distresses me that most of the gait pages are written as though all 4-legged animals are horses. I expect most of the content on gaits won't stay in Horse gait but rather will end up in stand alone articles on the gaits themselves.  Horse gait could then explain how gaits are grouped by horsemen and in the field of biomechanics.  I know only enough about how horsemen do it to know that there are other common sort orders beyond the one given by Harris.  And there are even different foundations:  in addition to the number of beats per stride, there is the number of moments of suspension in the stride:  0 in walk, 2 in trot and pace, 1 in canter, 1 or 2 in gallop.  --Una Smith (talk) 02:35, 2 April 2008 (UTC)
 * As long as how horse people talk about gaits (in all the various systems) stays much the same and is accessible and not wiped out, I can't object to articles on the various types of animal locomotion. I'm not sure why you think that we need to remove this information, why not write a Walk (animal gait) article that covers all aspects, and leave the walk section here, as it seems rather horse-oriented. There is no need to wipe content here just to put it into a general animal gait article, as you say, there is plenty of space available. I guess I'm not seeing where the comment "this is not a horse encyclopedia" came from. The article is pretty clearly about horses, it's right there in the title. I can see that you might want to rework say the Canter article to be less horse centric, but I think I'd just rename the Canter article to Canter (horse gait) and rework the Canter article to be a general article on that animal gait. Ealdgyth - Talk 02:44, 2 April 2008 (UTC)
 * I'll think about that more, but my initial answer is this. Currently Horse gait has a narrow and unencyclopedic POV.  On the one hand, it lacks much of the known diversity of horse gaits and of horse gait classification schemes.  On the other hand, it describes the more common gaits as if they occur only in horses.  Granted, the article title is Horse gait, but as far as the biomechanics go horses are not unusual so I think some of its current content should go to other articles and new content should be added that is specific to horse gaits. --Una Smith (talk) 04:04, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

Just thinking out loud..... do cows canter? Dogs? I guess they do, we just don't call it that. Which reminds me of this cute video. (Love the tempi changes!). : )  --AeronM (talk) 03:24, 2 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Yes, cows and dogs canter: in my experience cows use the transverse canter, whereas dogs use the rotational canter. --Una Smith (talk) 04:04, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

 * In my humble opinion, this article is titled "horse gait." So, obviously, it is about horses.  What is so "narrow POV" about that?   Some of what is being discussed here about other animals could go into animal locomotion or a new article on animal gaits.  Conversely, I really don't see what is being omitted on horse gaits here, (the various sections got so extensive most were spun out into new articles on each gait or type of gait) and as for the rest, Una, you are doing this thing of on one hand calling an article too narrow, but simultaneously wanting to delete sections because you think they belong in other (usually more obscure) articles, and then also calling the whole article a POV fork.  This is at least the third or fourth time I have seen you do this?  It is difficult to understand what your motives are here, and I really do want to assume that you are acting in good faith, but  they appear, on the surface, to simply be intended to be disruptive and to promote some theory that isn't even clearly expressed (as in what "diversity of horse gait classification schemes?").  I know that saying this is just throwing fat on the fire yet again, but please also remember WP:NOR and WP:SOAP.   Montanabw (talk) 22:54, 2 April 2008 (UTC)
 * If there is a place in Wikipedia for ad hominem remarks, that would be on user talk pages, not here. --Una Smith (talk) 03:52, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Question
I have read in some places that the reverse/backing up is considered a gait, and differentiated from the walk in that the footfalls are not the same.... any thoughts on whether or not to add to article? --AeronM (talk) 20:54, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
 * If it's true that the footfalls are different, it should probably have a spot. Despite having ridden for years, I really don't pay that much attention to the footfalls so I'm not an expert on gaits (grins). Ealdgyth - Talk 21:26, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

 * When horses back up, their legs move in pairs. Right at the moment, if memory serves, I think it's in diagonal pairs (need to go to the barn and ask someone to back up for me and double check...)  In essence, like a trot, only slow and backwards (making me think of the line about Ginger Rogers, did everything Fred Astaire did, except backwards and in high heels...) whatever you guys want to do, backing up sort of is and isn't a gait, but I think mentioning it in some fashion is probably a good idea.  There is also the article rein back.   Montanabw (talk) 03:04, 4 April 2008 (UTC)
 * I agree rein back qualifies as a gait: it is stereotypic and because there is no moment of suspension it is not a trot in reverse.  (I have seen a horse "canter" in reverse, a circus act;  it was peculiar!)  --Una Smith (talk) 06:55, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

 * Which leads me to another question: the term 'rein back' is Western, but not English.  Is there an equivalent term for English? And should we differentiate them?  Just wondering out loud.  --AeronM (talk) 17:56, 4 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia has a few articles about words or expressions, but for the most part Wiktionary is the more appropriate place for those. If the gait is the same in both persuasions, I don't see merit in having separate articles. --Una Smith (talk) 22:26, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

 * Actually, out west, we think of "rein back" as a word that English riders use! LOL!  We just say "back."  I have no clue where "rein back" came from, I've seen it mostly in Dressage books, personally.  I suggest we have Ealdgyth check that great book on gaits she has and see how it's classed there, and then source whatever is there.  Montanabw (talk) 04:04, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

 * The rein back is English terminology. See the http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&rlz=1B3GGGL_enGB234GB234&q=site%3Awww.bhs.org.uk+rein+back&btnG=Search&meta=&aq=f&oq= British Horse Society pages for examples. 80.0.214.219 16:12, 18 January 2010 (UTC)

 * Ah, British English. Once again, we are separated by a common language.  Odd too that it is really only seen in the US  with the dressage crowd, you don't really even hear it used in general English riding unless dressage-oriented. USEF rules usually just say "back" for most classes.   Montanabw (talk) 22:00, 18 January 2010 (UTC)

 * It's not a matter of semantics but international rulebooks and standard terminology! And I assure you that you do hear it in general English riding from pony club through to the Olympics! GavinCorder (talk) 21:52, 19 January 2010 (UTC)

 * I am aware of that, my point is simpler: The term is not used for western riding nor in saddle seat English riding, where the term is simply "back" or back up." ("Stand quietly and back readily" being standard lingo in pleasure class judging specs) It also isn't used in hunt seat or hunter classes at breed shows.  It originates with the Dressage world and is correct within that context, which clearly includes the other Olympic disciplines and pony clubbers, all of which are strongly "cross-fertilized" by the dressage tradition.  And the dressage tradition is wonderful.  But the whole discussion (two years ago) began because someone thought you said "rein back" in western riding, when the reality is that it's just very stuffy in the US to say "rein-back" outside of the sport horse world, and even there the H/J - only bunch find it a wee bit hoity-toity!  LOL!

 * I'm reading what's here and have made a direct reply to those above who thought the rein back was not English or standard international terminology. Such as yourself it seems. I'm sorry to insist but it is correct. You are mistaken to think the rein back is not used in eventing, hunter classes and show jumping, all of it, I can assure you it is! It is the correct terminology not just in dressage. I have no idea what they do in Western - I'll take your word for it since that is obviously where you have gained your experience - I find your 'hoity toity' comment somewhat ignorant and parochial.

 * PS. It may come as a shock to you to learn that what you call "saddle seat English riding" is no more English than an English muffin! ;-) GavinCorder (talk) 14:50, 26 January 2010 (UTC)

Gavin, you completely misunderstand me. I DO agree it is standard technical terminology within the international Sport Horse disciplines, particularly dressage. But it is a term of art. The conversation above began over someone, not me, who claimed the term "rein back" was used in WESTERN riding and NOT in English, when in fact, the opposite is true (you and I agree there)  And the whole thing arose over the question of whether backing up is a "gait." What I am trying to explain is the term "rein back" is discipline-specific, a horse might back up when it is loose, but it does not "rein back" as here are no reins involved! "Rein back" does not refer to the footfall pattern of backing. It refers to the specific act of horse backing up under the control of a rider in the saddle. Further, outside the sport horse/international disciplines, the term "rein back" is less common, and the simple term "back" is used in its place. Does this clarify my position to you now?? Montanabw (talk) 05:19, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

And PS back atcha, Saddle Seat riding is in fact an "English" discipline, broadly speaking (At least to the same degree as Americans speak "English" at least! LOL!). The USEF rules (Rule EQ-116, to be precise) define the saddle used for the discipline as "Flat English-type. Forward seat, Western and side saddles are prohibited." Now it is definitely NOT one of the sport horse disciplines, obviously, but English in its roots nonetheless. It developed primarily in the United States for use on Saddlebreds and gaited horses, but the saddle is unquestionably derived from "English" styles from tree to stirrups to girthing system, and in fact if you go back 100 years to the older English "show" saddles that placed riders back in the saddle (as opposed to the modern "forward seat") and compare them to the early Saddle Seat designs prior to the modern "Lane Fox" cutback, they were virtually identical. I will agree that you sure as heck can't jump in one, but it IS within the broadest reaches of English disciplines -- the rider posts the trot, uses a double bridle, carries the reins in both hands, etc. Technically, one could even legally ride saddle seat in an older-style dressage saddle, and some people used to, though one does not see this at all today. Montanabw (talk) 05:19, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

Oh, and PPS: As for "parochial," remember that one of our top dressage riders, Debbie McDonald, hails from Idaho, I can drive to the Sun Valley area in a day. But there is regional use: When most American riders outside of the US east coast speak the word "rein back" out loud (as opposed to writing, where it is technical terminology), they are in fact viewed as a wee bit pretentious. (The competitive dressage world does put on airs: there is a term, "Dressage Queen" or "DQ" that describes some of the divas that inhabit it.)  Montanabw (talk) 05:19, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

 * Using an English saddle on an American breed of horse in an American sport in America, doesn't make it English! Saddle seat riding really has no presence in this country, no heritage and no tradition. It's as American as a McMuffin. It's NOT an English discipline. You must understand you are are making assumptions based on your own country's tradition because YOU guys have labelled it English! Which is as daft as holding a competition called the World Series that the world doesn't enter. Oh woops sorry you've got one of those! ;-) —Preceding unsigned comment added by GavinCorder (talk • contribs) 19:15, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

 * I'll grant you a valid point on that one, in that Amercans do group all styles of riding based on saddles with an English-type tree "English" riding, (distinguishing the styles as "hunt seat" Saddle Seat" and "Dressage" -- all in contrast to Western riding, which is actually derived from 15th and 16th century Spanish traditions, but I digress...)  but then I don't really suppose you in England call "English" riding "English riding", eh? (grin)  And I doubt it's called "English riding" in, say Germany...!  It's a question of dialect, I suppose, just like how you insist on calling a halter a "headcollar" when there is no collar involved!  (LOL and noogies).  As I often point out, I think it was Mark Twain did say the Brits and the Yanks were a people separated by a common language!  Montanabw (talk) 00:13, 28 January 2010 (UTC)

Tripling
The Lesotho horses are trained and raced using a gait called "tripling". Guess that it is a form of ambling. See: http://away.com/tripideas/lesotho-horseback-riding-300456.html Cgoodwin (talk) 03:00, 15 December 2008 (UTC) and also The State of the Basotho Pony in Lesotho

 * Yeah, probably. They have "largo races" with Paso Finos in Colombia.  Without seeing an example, I hesitate to say much more or do anything about it in the ambling article until we have some clue of what it actually looks like.  Montanabw (talk) 05:53, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

"Ambling gaits"
I found the descriptions of the different "ambling gaits" to be rather confusing. What exactly is the difference between a rack and a running walk? I rode a few of both walking horses and saddlebreds when I was young, but not enough to make a real comparison. Of the horses I rode, the saddlebreds seemed to come up higher in the front end when they were "gaiting" at a fast speed, but that could have been attributable to individual action, and not gait differences between the breeds. I also find the phrase "speed of a pace" confusing. Just about any standardbred can pace a mile in under two minutes and I think the record (which has probably been broken, since I worked with them) was 1:53 or something. But, just like a horse can trot in place, I would think it's possible for a horse to pace in place, which would make his speed 0 MPH. So I'm not sure what actual speed "speed of pace" would be referring to. I think that most people who look up this section want to find out the actual DIFFERENCES between the different breeds' gaits. (I know I did.) Are there differences (besides lateral and diagonal)? Or are they basically the same gaits with different names? This section does not make that very clear. Could someone familiar with this subject please clarify? Equusma (talk) 22:09, 29 June 2012 (UTC)

 * See ambling for more detail. My answer is "that's the hilarious part", there is virtually NO difference other than lateral and diagonal footfalls, style and speed! So you are correct to say "basically the same gaits with different names."  But tell that to the different breed associations, who insist that THEIR breed has a TOTALLY UNIQUE way of going that is WAY BETTER and SMOOTHER than any other breed of horse alive? Horrors!  (big grin)  And yes, there are basically two forms of an ambling gait: the lateral gaits, derived from a pace (or maybe sped up from the walk, take it whichever way you want to), broken into four beats, basically becoming a lateral gait (right front and hind move, then left front and hind move, or vice-versa) like the running walk/rack/tolt/stepping pace/paso largo/paso fino/etc (depending on speed and style), and the trot broken into four beats, basically the fox trot/trocha/etc. (right front and left hind move then left front and right hind, or vice-versa).  The only other real difference is if the desired form is a cadenced 1-2-3-4 pattern (Sounds like "ta-ta-ta-ta"), or a slightly broken 1-2, 3-4 pattern.  (sounds like ta-TA, ta-TA) See ambling for more details.   I'll agree that a little rephrasing in this article might clarify things, horse people have a bad habit of saying "pace" to mean either speed in general, a gait in general, or the pacing gait itself.  My own experience with riding gaited horses is with a few Tennessee Walkers, Fox Trotters and Paso Finos. Not a ton.  My amusing tale is that I once discovered an Arabian mare I once owned was gaited, totally by accident; when she got into her 20s, I took her for a short trail ride on the 4th of July when the neighbors were starting to set off fireworks early.  Not wanting her to bolt, I just decided not try to keep her soft on the bit but to simply hold her back from trotting.  With her head carried high and her back hollow like an action horse is shown (which she wasn't and which I normally never allowed) I suddenly realized that she was still doing a 1-2-3-4 footfall, but she was smooth as silk while fenceposts were totally whipping by!  I laughed and realized that she was doing a rack. But she is a descendant of Raseyn who had been trained to do five gaits, so I should not have been surprised.   Montanabw (talk) 23:14, 29 June 2012 (UTC)

Citations needed
Why is there a citation needed tag on this page? There are lots of them now, about 20. Is it OK if I remove the banner?

 * WHere there is a lot of material still uncited, the banner is there to help tag the article as needing more work.  Montanabw (talk)  20:09, 17 April 2015 (UTC)
 * OK. What material needs citations? — Preceding unsigned comment added by RealClayton (talk • contribs) 21:23, 20 April 2015 (UTC)
 * Well, to meet the good article criteria, every single thing not already sourced. Doesn't mean the material is challenged as inaccurate, just needs more footnotes.  Though not a hard and fast rule, this means pretty much every paragraph needs a citation. This article is about C-class at best (the assessment says B, but I think that's a stretch).  Has some citations, needs more.  See WP:RS and WP:V.  A good article or a featured article for WikiProject Equine looks like these:  Thoroughbred, Appaloosa - and so on.  Montanabw (talk)  03:18, 21 April 2015 (UTC)

RM notice
The discussion at Talk:Gait (dog) may affect this article's title. — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽ʌⱷ҅ᴥⱷʌ≼  13:10, 22 April 2015 (UTC)

Canter & Gallop
So, I've seen another type of "run" which is not described here. As a kid growing up on the Family Ranch, we always had stock horses that we used to handle cattle. All of them were "registered" as Quarter Horses (in the "Model Quarter Horse Association) back when they were accepted into, or rejected from, the registry by "type." In terms of actual breeding, one was a granddaughter of Easter Cloud; one was a Traveler descendent; a couple were Three Bars get -- so there was some variety in the breeding; but, as I recall, they also had the same "Dead Run" gate...

Anyway, the stride was "two-beat" -- launched by both hind feet simultaneously pushing off -- and landed, with the horse fully extended, on the two front feet simultaneously hitting the ground -- almost like they were jumping a creek. To start the next stride, the two hind feet would come forward past the front feet almost even with the horse's nose (right rear passing to the outside of right front; left rear passing to the outside of left front) to land and push off again. It is very much like the stride pictured in the painting at http://travelphotobase com/v/USNM/NMFC167.HTM, in the "collected" part, and very much like the stride pictured in the first image at http://postalmuseum.si.edu/research/topical-reference-pages/the-pony-express.html when stretched out. To someone standing off to the side, it looks like the horse is "leaping" or "bounding" repeatedly -- only with not much "up and down" movement. To someone riding the horse when it takes off, it feels like you just touched off a rocket strapped to your tail! The croup and withers of the horse actually "lower" a good six inches or more when they "stretch out" and horses doing this seem to "streak" across level ground. This is, obviously, a "sprint" gate. I don't know that I've seen any horses, other than the ones I grew up with, do it -- but it is not like I have paid a lot of attention...

I did find a YouTube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtb41cnknEA&list=PLnOgoTJvdFtrJ3aneYUTS12tI6XlGMpJf) of one of the old 1938 Zorro Serials. The opening sequence, which shows several different horses running, but has been cut to look as though it is all the same horse, does show one horse that appears to use this stride. Now, I am not saying that the rear hooves or the front hooves land at *exactly* the same time; but they are close enough that you only hear two beats when listening in the real world. On the YouTube Video clips, you have to make liberal use of the Pause/Play to see that the front and rear feet (on at least one of the horses) are actually moving in pairs and the rear feet are simultaneously passing the front -- as described above...

When I was a kid, the old-time cowboys I worked with called this a "Dead Run"; and, no, they did not use that to mean "gallop" or "high lope."

My $0.02 Worth! (And that's Inflation!)

147.222.200.75 (talk) 01:27, 30 August 2016 (UTC)

 * Sorry to disappoint, but if you put it into slow motion, you'd still see the football sequence. If you want to pinpoint the precise point you think you see otherwise, we can look at it, but no.  You can look at modern barrel racing horses, QH race horses, roping horses and other modern sprinters; there's a split-second difference in footfalls.  Montanabw (talk) 07:30, 30 August 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 4 external links on Horse gait. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20051104234721/http://www.ultimatehorsesite.com/info/gaits.html to http://ultimatehorsesite.com/info/gaits.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20060518174452/http://www.eidfaxi.is/fraedsla/eindex.php?fraedsla=gangtegundir to http://eidfaxi.is/fraedsla/eindex.php?fraedsla=gangtegundir
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20061111141512/http://www.equixbio.com/bluegrass.htm to http://www.equixbio.com/bluegrass.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20061111141507/http://www.equixbio.com/greenfield.htm to http://www.equixbio.com/greenfield.htm

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 03:36, 5 April 2017 (UTC)

beat
What does beat mean in this context? --Backinstadiums (talk) 09:57, 14 August 2019 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the. —Community Tech bot (talk) 08:56, 21 June 2020 (UTC)
 * 2009 Worlds Championship Horse Show (3877971589).jpg

title: Talk:Horse gait


text:
Guardian

Guardian usually refers to:
 * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another
 * The Guardian, a British daily newspaper

(The) Guardian(s) may also refer to:

Places

 * Guardian, West Virginia, United States, an unincorporated community in Webster County
 * Guardian Nunatak, a landform on Antarctica's Dufek Coast
 * Guardian Rock, an islet off the Antarctic Peninsula in Bigourdan Fjord
 * Guardian telephone exchange, Manchester, England
 * Wonder Mountain's Guardian, a roller coaster at Canada's Wonderland, Vaughan, Ontario

People

 * GuardiaN (Ladislav Kovács; born 1991), Slovak professional video-game player
 * Angel Guardian (born 1998), Filipina actress and singer
 * Don Guardian (born 1953), mayor of Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States

Fictional entities

 * Guardian (comics), characters from various comics
 * Guardian (DC Comics), a DC Comics superhero
 * Guardian (Highlander), a character in the film Highlander: The Source (2007)
 * Guardian, a supercomputer in American science fiction thriller film Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)
 * Guardians, player characters in Destiny, a 2014 first-person shooter video game
 * Guardians, a playable class in the game The Lord of the Rings Online
 * Philosopher kings, also called Guardians, a rôle hypothesised in Plato's Republic
 * The Guardian, the main and player character of The Guardian Legend, a 1988 video game
 * The Guardian, an alien being in the Ultima series of role-playing video games
 * The Guardians, a group of characters in the 1984 TV series Challenge of the GoBots
 * Guardians, police officers in The Handmaid's Tale (TV series)

Films

 * Guardian, a 2001 film directed by John Terlesky
 * The Guardian (1917 film), a silent film starring Montagu Love and June Elvidge
 * The Guardian (1990 film), a horror film directed by William Friedkin
 * The Guardian, a 1997 television film starring Stephanie Niznik
 * The Guardian (2006 film), a drama starring Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher
 * Guardians (2012 film), a German action film
 * Guardians (2017 film), a Russian superhero film
 * The Guardians (2017 film), a French film directed by Xavier Beauvois
 * Guardian (2021 film), a Malayalam film directed by Satheesh Paul

Games

 * Guardian (1986 video game), a 1986 beat 'em up for arcades
 * Guardians (card game), a collectible card game published in 1995/96
 * Guardian (video game), a 1994 3D shoot 'em up for the Amiga CD32 games console
 * Guardians (video game), a 1995 coin-operated arcade game

Literature

 * Guardians (play), a 2005 off-Broadway stage play by Peter Morris
 * The Guardian (novel), a 2003 novel by Nicholas Sparks
 * The Guardian (play), a 1633 Caroline era stage play by Philip Massinger, reworked 1642 by A. Cowley
 * The Guardians (Christopher novel), a 1970 novel by John Christopher
 * The Guardians (Abbey novel), a 1982 novel by Lynn Abbe
 * The Guardians (Grisham novel), a 2019 legal thriller novel by John Grisham
 * The Guardians, a series of military science fiction novels by Richard Austin
 * The Guardians, a novel by Ana Castillo

Music

 * Guardian (band), an American Christian hard rock/metal band
 * Guardians (The Crimson Armada album), 2009
 * Guardians (August Burns Red album), 2020
 * "Guardian" (song), a 2012 song by Alanis Morissette from her album Havoc and Bright Lights
 * "Guardian", a song by Fates Warning from their 1986 album Awaken the Guardian
 * Guardians Drum and Bugle Corps, a drum and bugle corp from Dallas, Texas

Australia

 * Daily Guardian (Sydney), a former newspaper in Sydney, Australia
 * The Guardian, a bulletin of the Communist Party of Australia (1971)
 * One of various newspapers in New South Wales

Canada

 * Brampton Guardian, a free, weekly community newspaper in Ontario
 * Etobicoke Guardian, a weekly suburban newspaper in Toronto
 * The Guardian (Charlottetown), a daily newspaper on Prince Edward Island

United Kingdom

 * Guardian Media Group, owners of The Guardian, The Observer and The Guardian Weekly
 * The Guardian, formerly Manchester Guardian
 * theGuardian.com, online resource of The Guardian
 * Cornish Guardian, a local weekly newspaper in Cornwall, England
 * Farmers Guardian, a weekly newspaper aimed at the British farming industry
 * Glasgow University Guardian, the student newspaper of the University of Glasgow
 * Neath Guardian (published 1925–2009), a local weekly newspaper in Neath, Wales
 * South Wales Guardian, a local newspaper in Ammanford, Wales
 * The Guardian (1713), a London newspaper founded in 1713 and running only briefly
 * The Guardian (Anglican newspaper), an Anglican newspaper founded in 1846 and running until 1951
 * Local and regional newspapers published by Newsquest

United States

 * Boston Guardian (published 1901–1950), an African-American newspaper in Boston, Massachusetts
 * National Guardian, a New York weekly newspaper founded in 1948, renamed The Guardian in 1967 and running until 1992
 * San Francisco Bay Guardian, a free alternative newspaper published weekly in San Francisco, California
 * UCSD Guardian, the student newspaper at the University of California, San Diego

Elsewhere

 * Ashburton Guardian, a daily, later tri-weekly, newspaper in Ashburton, New Zealand
 * The Guardian (Belize), the official print organ of the United Democratic Party
 * Daily Guardian (Iloilo), an English-language newspaper in Iloilo City, Philippines
 * The Guardian (Nigeria), an independent daily newspaper published in Lagos, Nigeria
 * The Sunday Guardian, a weekly newspaper based in New Delhi, India
 * Trinidad and Tobago Guardian, a daily newspaper in Trinidad and Tobago

Series

 * Guardian (web series), a Chinese web drama released in 2018
 * Guardians Evolution, a 2014 claymation series on APTN Kids
 * The Guardian (TV series), a CBS series that first aired in 2001 starring Simon Baker
 * The Guardians (South Korean TV series), South Korea
 * Guardian: The Lonely and Great God, South Korea
 * The Guardians (British TV series), a 1971 UK television drama series

Episodes

 * "Guardians" (The Walking Dead), an episode of the television series The Walking Dead
 * "The Guardian" (Sliders), an episode of the television series Sliders

Visual arts

 * Guardian (sculpture), a statue in Abertillery, Wales, UK
 * The Guardian (sculpture), a public artwork in Redwood City, California, USA
 * Guardians, artworks by American artist Kris Neely
 * Guardians of Traffic, a set of statues on the Hope Memorial Bridge in Cleveland, Ohio, USA
 * Wächter (Anatol) (Guardian), several monumental outdoor sculpture by Anatol Herzfeld

Financial institutions

 * Guardian Bank, Kenya
 * Guardian Building Society, United Kingdom
 * Guardian Capital Group, a publicly traded asset management company
 * The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, a mutual life insurance company domiciled in New York

Other businesses and organizations

 * Guardian Angels, an international volunteer organization for unarmed crime prevention
 * Guardian Industries, a manufacturer of glass, automotive and building products headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan
 * Mannings, known as Guardian in Malaysia and Singapore, a health care retailer

Military vehicles

 * Boeing AH-64E Apache Guardian, a variant of the AH-64 Apache
 * Dassault HU-25 Guardian, a modified Falcon 20 business jet formerly used by the U.S. Coast Guard
 * Grumman AF Guardian, a warplane of the U.S. Navy
 * HMS Guardian, three ships of the Royal Navy
 * USS Guardian, three ships of the U.S. Navy

Other military uses

 * Northrop Grumman Guardian, an anti-missile system for commercial airliners
 * Space professionals of the United States Space Force
 * Weishi Rockets, a family of Chinese multiple rocket launcher systems

Religion

 * Custos (Franciscans) or Guardian, the term used in place of Religious Superior among Franciscans
 * Guardian (Baháʼí Faith), a now defunct hereditary office of the Bahá'í Faith
 * Guardian angel, assigned to protect and guide a particular person or group
 * Guardian deity, a spirit who protects a particular place, person, culture or occupation
 * Medusa (meaning "Guardian" or "Protectress"), one of the Gorgons of Greek mythology

Asia

 * Fubon Guardians, a team in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) in Taiwan
 * Galle Guardians, a provincial T20 cricket team in Sri Lanka

United States

 * Cleveland Guardians, a team in Major League Baseball (MLB) known as the Cleveland Indians from 1915 through 2021
 * Dallas Beer Guardians, an independent supporters group of FC Dallas of Major League Soccer (MLS)
 * Golden Guardians, an esports organization
 * Orlando Guardians, an American-football team in the XFL, formerly the New York Guardians
 * San Diego Guardians, a team in The Basketball League (TBL)

Technology

 * Guardian (database), an intel reporting system the FBI use to track threats
 * Guardian (polymer), a substrate used in the production of polymer banknotes
 * Galaxy (spacecraft), previously Guardian, a cancelled prototype space habitat

Other uses

 * Guardian (fireboat), a fireboat operated in the San Francisco Bay since 1990 in reserve status
 * Guardian of Scotland, the de facto head of state of Scotland during the interregnums of 1290–1292 and 1296–1306
 * Guardian stones, standing stones at the corners of enclosures around a dolmen
 * Guardian temperament, one of the four temperaments according to the Keirsey Temperament Sorter

title: Guardian