282 



Gait of the American Trotter and Pacer 



A steeper angle of the feet gives the animal a chance to lean for- 

 ward and overcome the force of gravity better on an uphill grade. 

 Lower angles lend themselves better to a downhill grade, because the 

 leverage at the toe is somewhat easier, which is due to the fact that 

 the position of the toe is slightly lower than that of the heel ; besides, 

 the momentum of the body is aided by the force of gravity rather than 

 impeded by it, as in the uphill grade. 



Fig. 204 will give an illustration of the effect of the up and down 

 grade on the toe leverage. On the incline A B of I, two feet are mov- 

 ing down and two feet up, the former being of a lower angle than the 



no. 204 . 



Extreme anqles of The foot on on incline 



latter. It will appear that the positions D and D' with their low angles 

 are better adapted for both a reasonable contact with ground and a 

 fairly easy leverage at toe on the down grade, while the positions U 

 and U' going uphill with a greater angle or higher heel show again 

 the better facility for a contact with the ground that will not hasten 

 the breakover at toe and yet will quicken its leverage. 



If we reverse the positions of the feet, as downhill in 2 of Fig. 

 204, we have the higher heeled foot at U breaking over too suddenly at 

 U' and again at D we have the low heeled foot breakover too soon 

 at D' going uphill. The result in the last positions will be the reverse 

 of those of i. That is to say, the contact with the ground will be 



