An easy gallop. Also used as verb.
1675. If it rides but a Trot or a hand gallop, it may be twice as far off e’re morning.—Dryden, ‘The Mistaken Husband,’ iv. 6, ‘Works,’ viii. 626. (N.E.D.)
1771. I have actually seen a waggon pass through Piccadilly at the hand-gallop.—Smollett, ‘Humphry Clinker,’ i. 29. (N.E.D.)
1783. [The mare] paces, trots, and hand-gallops well.—Advt., Maryland Journal, Jan. 24.
