The Harmony in a Gait 271 



near hind due to greater swell in heels, which in turn brought down the 

 off fore a second later with its heels striking hard on ground. Then 

 followed the off hind with its combination of squared toe and longer 

 heels, which again preceded its correlated near fore in striking the 

 ground. The forward reach of the off hind is seen in the marked 

 contact of its heels with ground. Altogether there were, therefore, the 

 four consecutive time-beats of the amble or single-foot. However 

 faulty the shoeing may have been, such conditions may exist in the 

 shape of the foot, naturally or through careless trimming. It only goes 

 to, show how a fault in the gait may be "further accentuated or increased 

 by a wrong adjustment. 



A still more aggravated case was that of a good big trotting mare 

 by Steinway, whose attitude in front as well as behind was faulty, in 

 that she pointed back with fore and forward with hind. She could trot 

 a mile in better time than 2 125. She was shod heavier behind for a trial, 

 but in error, it must be admitted, as the results will show. In Fig. 201 

 that shoeing is given. Under "Toeweights" she appears in Figs. 121 

 and 125. The shoeing now given shows a trial with heavy hind shoes 

 with smooth heels, the near one having longer heels. The mare's habit 

 of forward pointing with the hind feet was simply aggravated thereby 

 and the result was that peculiar extension of the feet, as given. 



The gait started with a trot and ended in a sort of a single-foot, 

 which was all due to the greater and easier extension of hind feet. 

 This single-foot had the characteristics of the pure single-foot, as illus- 

 trated in Fig. 197, but it resembled the pace as well by having the 

 greater extensions on the near side only. If urged still more the mare 

 would have broken into a run to regain her balance. Of the 20 strides 

 shown 12 were trotted and 8 single- footed. The averages of the 12 

 trotting strides were as follows : 



near Fore off near Hind off 



12.98 12.92 . 13.05 12.98 



showing even then an increased extension of hind over fore of 0.06 feet 

 or 0.72 inch ; that is to say, the average stride of the fore is 



