THE HORSE 223 



in which are listed and described the choice bulls and cows of 

 the particular breed in which the breeder is interested. 

 Each breed has its own herd book. The herd book for sheep 

 is called a flock book. For swine the registry book is also 

 called a herd book. 



Gaits of a Saddle Horse.* — The three natural gaits of a 

 horse are the walk, trot, and gallop or run. By training the 

 gallop is changed into a canter, which is really only a slower 

 movement and easier to ride. We then have the walk- trot- 

 canter or plain-gaited horse. There are two other easier gaits 

 — the running walk and the rack. The running walk is faster 

 than a flat-foot walk and is an easy movement both for the 

 horse and the rider. In it each foot strikes the ground inde- 

 pendently. The slow pace is a kind of running walk but also 

 resembles the pace. The two feet on each side strike the 

 ground at almost the same time. It is a comfortable gait. 

 The fox-trot is a slow trot or jog.-trot. It is also a kind of run- 

 ning walk. It is a broken-time movement and is somewhat 

 easier than the pure trot. 



The trot is the diagonal gait. The off fore foot and the 

 near hind foot strike the ground at the same instant and the 

 horse bounds off them to hit the ground on the other two 

 feet. This gives a two-beat gait. The pace is the lateral 

 gait. The off forefoot and the off hindfoot hit the ground at 

 the same time, followed by the pair on the near side. The 

 rack is a four-beat gait. Each foot strikes the ground at a 

 different moment and its stroke rings clear and distinct on 

 the hard road-bed. The rack is easy for the rider but hard 

 on the horse. The rack is sometimes called single-foot, but 

 this term is incorrect. 



* Abbreviated from Breeder's Gazette, June 10, 1903. 



