Expression: "He heard a horse's shoesteps."

[Tom]

Hi

Could you please tell me what we hear when a horse runs--I mean, his shoe fall or shoe steps? How do you find this sentence?

[Alan]

Hi Tom,

I would be inclined to say: He heard the sound of horses' hooves (hoofs).

Alan
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[Tom]

Thank you, Alan

...but what about human beings?

[Alan]

That would simply be 'footsteps'

Alan
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English as a Foreign Language
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[Yankee]

Hi Tom

A less common, but not unusual term for footstep(s) is footfall (humans).

The sound of horseshoes can be described in a variety of ways depending on the horse's gait and what sort of surface the horse is walking/running on, etc.
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[Tom]

[Yankee]

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Well, Tom, have you ever heard a horse running? Did the sound bring anything else to mind? What can you compare it to?

For example, if you heard a horse walking or trotting down a paved road, you might hear a clippety-clop sound. Clippety-clop is a typical word for that. If a horse walks or runs on a non-paved surface, I don't think you hear clippety-clop at all. If a horse is running you might instead compare the sound of the hooves to thunder -- and especially if a lot of horses are running.
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[Alan]

Hi,

For clarification, to me 'footsteps' is the movement of feet walking on the ground and so you can say: The sound of footsteps but 'footfall' is the sound itself of a footstep/footsteps. You say: I heard a heavy footfall or I heard the sound of heavy footsteps.

Just a thought.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
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[Yankee]

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Or you can say "I heard heavy footsteps."

I agree that 'footfall' is usually the sound itself.
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