tripple, noun

/ˈtrɪp(ə)l/
Forms:
Also triple, trippel.
Origin:
South African Dutch, DutchShow more (Englished form of) South African Dutch trippel, trippelen (from Dutch trippen to trip, skip).
A horse’s gait in which both left and then both right legs move together, similar to the amble.
1860 A.W. Drayson Sporting Scenes 67His action..is peculiar; he rarely walks, his mode of progression being a sort of tripple, at which he travels at about six or seven miles an hour: trotting is not admired by the Boers.
1880 P. Gillmore On Duty 296A slow tripple — a pace similar to what is designated ‘racking’ in North America.
1882 W.R. Ludlow Zululand & Cetewayo 12The usual pace of colonial horses is the triple, just between a walk and a trot.
1889 H.A. Bryden Kloof & Karroo 14The triple is a sort of shuffling canter on three legs, peculiar to the Cape, and a horse that possesses it commands a higher price than its fellows.
1901 Field 9 Mar. 322The ‘tripple’ is between a fast walk and a slow trot.
1910 D. Fairbridge That Which Hath Been (1913) 269Frans and Joan rode at a gentle ‘tripple’, for the first night of their journey was to be spent at Elsenberg..no great distance from Parel Vallei.
1944 J. Mockford Here Are S. Africans 66He schooled his pony to pace the tripple — an easy gait, a smooth-flowing lope — which tired neither of them.
1946 S. Cloete Afr. Portraits 60Each time they are off-saddled, the Boers let them roll, which they say rests them by relieving the stiffness that comes from carrying a heavy man at the canter or triple for long periods. This triple corresponds more or less to the American pace, the horse moving both near and then both off feet together, instead of alternately.
1967 S.M.A. Lowe Hungry Veld 87The horses responded to the mood of their masters...By sensitivity to the feel of the guiding hands and the stiffness of the limbs of the rider, they knew they were required to break into a quick tripple.
1977 F.G. Butler Karoo Morning 91This horse was best for a long canter, that for a tripple.
1986 W. Steenkamp Blake’s Woman 112A smooth gait which..was called a ‘trippel’ and was favoured by the Boers.
1989 J. Hobbs Thoughts in Makeshift Mortuary 297The three horsemen..pass Gordon riding at a fast triple.
1991 Best of S. Afr. Short Stories (Reader’s Digest Assoc.) 104The ‘trippel’ or ‘tripple’..is a smooth, easy gait that is one of the least tiring for both horse and rider.
A horse’s gait in which both left and then both right legs move together, similar to the amble.
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Dutch
trippelaar, nounn.tripple, verb intransitivev.
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