298 



Gait of the American Trotter and Pacer 



It was caused by a greater extension of one pair of correlated feet, 

 namely, the off fore and the near hind. The greater forward extension 

 of the off fore over that of the near fore was 0.38 ft., or 4.56 in., and 

 the greater forward extension of near hind over that of off hind was 

 0.43 ft. or 5.16 in. In spite of this difference of extensions, we find 

 the distances between the diagonal feet nearly alike, viz. : 



Near fore off hind : 4.25 ft. 

 Off fore near hind : 4.20 ft. 



which makes a difference of 0.05 ft. or 0.6., a negligible quantity in the 

 gait. This difference appears above when we take the difference be- 

 tween the extensions of the fore and the hind legs, which is, as above, 

 0.43 ft. 0.38 ft. = 0.05 ft., or 0.6 in. ; but a gait of this sort is apt to 

 cause interference on the side of the overactive hind leg, as in this 

 case the near hind. 



The same subject gives a better example of a trot in a later trial. 

 Here we have a stride of 18.64 ft* an< ^ a smaller distance of 3.82 ft, 

 as the average separation between the fore and the hind feet. Once 

 more I desire to bring before the reader the table containing the con- 

 tinuous measurements with the looft. tape line. It presents the fol- 

 lowing figures, which are easily read off the ground and jotted down 

 in the note book : 



