For example, in one stride, how many clop sounds does a galloping horse make? In the past this has been a troubled issue that folks went to a lot of trouble answering. How many clop sounds does the reader think a galloping horse makes?

Here are a couple of tools:

William Tell Overture –

Images of a horse at full gallop –

Film analysis has proven that at one point all four hooves are off the ground – but, a skeptic might ask, how many hooves in a stride make an audible ‘clop’ noise?

It has been proposed that if a horse is wearing shoes, it is possible to hear only the largest moment of clop volume and less strenuous  clops may not be heard. This is because the experience of clops is a combination of expectation, hearing and visual senses all responding together.

One theory is that the lead hoof starting another stride may not make a clop because it is a landing step rather than an acceleration step. What could contradict this comment is the familiar slang of ‘clipity-clop’ which suggests the opposite, that the lead hoof is actually the super-thrust of the next stride and the other the hooves land with less ‘clop’.

If you take on this quiz, you will be an expert onomatopoeist. On the other hand, if you search YouTube which has thousands of examples, you are a cheater and not willing to stand on your own beliefs.

This is important because, for the moment, nothing else is important.

Ancient Mariner