264 Gait of the American Trotter and Pacer 



have the danger point of interference well marked, the near hind being 

 in close pursuit of the retreating near fore. The animal is in the air, 

 but not at his highest elevation from the ground. A better example of 

 the equal forward and backward swing of the legs could hardly be given 

 from life. While the near fore and off hind show nearly the same 

 distance between them as it \vas on the ground, the other pair again 

 bring out, by their temporarily greater separation, the composite un- 

 folding and descent of the fore leg and foot, this distance being about 

 one and one-quarter times as great as that between the other two feet ; 

 but when they also strike the ground they will be closer together than 

 at present. 



Our next glance falls on Kingmond 2:09 in .Fig. 194. Though 

 the position of the feet is reversed it is in direct succession to the pre- 

 ceding ones. The off fore is well beyond the point of interference in 

 its upward flight for flexion, while the hock action of its correlated mate 

 or near hind is at its greatest height ; and the off hind follows the out- 

 stretched near fore in its descent, which looks like an unbending col- 

 umn or prop to support the tremendous impact of the horse with the 

 ground caused by the weight and speed of the subject. It is a good 

 example of the relative immobility of the forequarters and of the fore 

 leg as a straight lever of the whole body for the next hurling forward. 

 It looks as if the off hind would land sooner than the near fore, but 

 if we recall the lines of motion heretofore discussed under Fig. 136 it 

 will become evident how the fore with its more vertical and quicker 

 motion will reach the ground at practically the same moment as the 

 hind will with its more horizontal and slower motion. The fore leg has 

 always ttie momentum of its descent to accelerate it, while the hind has 

 more of a horizontal momentum of less degree. 



The picture of two pacers are also offered in Figs. 195 and 196, as 

 exemplifying the features of that gait. Illustrations for this purpose 

 were hard to get, and though Dan Patch 1:55 % should grace these 

 pages as an illustrious example, it is to be regretted that no good 

 picture could be procured. 



Anaconda 2:01^ and Morning Star 2:04^ are, however, 

 sufficiently representative of that lateral mode of locomotion to illustrate 



