I40 EQUINE LOCOMOTION. 



object. This very rare form of shying is probably inherited 

 from wild ancestors. 



Foot-prints of the Horse during various Paces. 



— In the study of the foot-prints of the horse we are struck 

 with two notable facts : (i) The faster the pace^ the 

 greater tendency has the hind foot to be placed beyond the 

 fore foot of the same side. Here we have the influence of 

 instability of equilibrium in increasing the speed (p. 69). 

 (2) The faster the pace^ the nearer do the foot-prints of 

 all four feet tend to come into the line of direction in 

 which locomotion takes place. As Lenoble du Teil ex- 

 presses it, the foot-prints of the race-horse at full speed 

 resemble the marks that would be made by the spokes of 

 a wheel which had no felloes. In this case, the line of the 

 foot-prints will be more or less in the line of progression, 

 and consequently the loss of propulsion from lateral devia- 

 tion will be reduced to a minimum. This fact proves the 

 undesirability, from a speed point of view, of any undue 

 width between either the fore or hind legs (p. 68). In 

 Figs. 197 to 204, for which I am indebted to Barrier and 

 Lenoble du Teil, the left-hand dotted line of each diagram 

 shows the direction of the prints of the near feet ; 

 and the right one, those of the off feet. In Figs. 197 and 

 200 the prints of both fore feet are covered by those of 

 the hind feet. In Fig. 203 the prints of the near fore foot 

 are covered by those of the near hind foot. In these 

 figures, only the succession of the foot-prints has been 

 noted, but the lateral distances between the respective 

 lines of direction of the near and off feet have not been 

 marked. 



The length of stride in the canter is about 12 feet ; that 

 of the full-speed gallop of the race-horse, about 24 feet. 

 The stride of Dan Patch, the famous American pacer, 

 when pacing at full speed, was found to measure 21 feet. 



