I04 EQUINE LOCOMOTION. 



as well to have both tired, as one fresh and the other 

 fatigued. The chief advantage which rising in the 

 stirrups has to the horse, is that the man who adopts 

 it, conforms better to the movements of the animal than 

 one who bumps up and down. Men who ride, might 

 with advantage learn how to change their time of rising 

 in the trot, so that, after having made one pair of diagonals 

 bear their weight for a time, they might be able to change 

 it on to the other pair. Ladies whose stirrup is on the 

 near side, and who rise in the trot, almost always do so 

 during the left diagonal support, and come down during 

 the right diagonal support. As the weight at the trot 

 is distributed between one hind and one fore leg, the 

 trot (or, possibly, the amble) should be used, when prac- 

 ticable, for going over hard ground, in preference to the 

 canter, and still more so to the gallop. 



Figs. 73 to 92 show phases, from photographs, of the 

 trot, from the left to the right diagonal support. 



The Amble, which is known in America as ^'pacing" 

 (Fig. 98), is very seldom a natural gait among horses. 

 Goubaux and Barrier tell us that some foals begin at the 

 amble, and that they do not learn to trot until later, when 

 they have acquired age and strength. Many American 

 match trotters take to ambling, after they have become 

 foot-sore from hard work at trotting. I learn from Pro- 

 fessor Ewart that owing to the popularity of ambling in 

 Iceland and consequent selection in breeding, the large ma- 

 jority of Iceland ponies and many half-bred Iceland ponies 

 are amblers from their birth, and that they do not trot. 



The amble is a pace of two time, and consists of the 

 alternate movement, in progression, of the right and left 

 (or left and right) pair of legs. In the " flying amble," 

 which is depicted in Figs. 93 to 97, there is a period of 

 suspension between each stroke ; but there is little or 

 no period of suspension in the ordinary amble. The 

 amble is a very easy pace for the rider, but is unpopular 



