114 



THE HORSE IN MOTION. 



(Plate XXXVII.), it will be found to be impossible to distinguish one 

 pace from the other, as shown in the silhouette. This pace is called 

 racking, or pacing, in America, and ambling in England. The objec- 

 tion to the name pacing is that the word pace is used constantly as a 

 general term for all the different modes of progression, and therefore 

 leads to ambiguity. While in the trot the centre of gravity falls near 

 the intersection of the two straight lines drawn through the diagonal 

 footprints, in the amble it is shifted from side to side, as the right or 

 left feet alternately support the weight. The effect of this is to give 

 a rolling motion to the body like that of a ship with the wind abeam. 

 It is an easy pace for the rider, being free from the sharp undulations 

 of the trot. The necessity which exists of rapidly changing the base 

 of support from side to side makes it practicable in the horse only 

 when the speed is considerable, and quite impossible in the rate pur- 

 sued in the walk. In the camelopard, owing to the shortness of his 

 body and the great length of his legs, it is the only method of loco- 

 motion possible, as he would overreach in the paces used by the horse. 

 He is able to make progressive motion in this way at whatever rate, 

 from the great elevation of the centre of gravity, and the consequent 

 slow oscillation of it ; for the time of its oscillation increases with the 

 length of the line from the centre of gravity to the base of support. 



The amble is natural to some horses, which take to it instead of the 

 trot; as some people are sinistrous, though the greater number are 

 dexterous instinctively, and others are ambidexterous. 



Some horses are amblers first, and afterwards learn to trot and travel 

 equally well in both paces ; indeed, considering the small proportion of 

 horses that fall into this pace, and the record made by them on the 

 turf, it may be thought to have no disadvantage over the regular trot. 

 It would seem to give great advantage to a short-bodied horse, as there 

 is no danger of overreaching. 



Many of the photographs reproduced in the photolithographs, and 

 used in this volume to analyze the paces, were imperfect in lights and 

 shades, and others, when the subjects were dark-colored, were in sil- 

 houette, to which all were reduced. The outlines are quite perfect, and 

 the details in other respects are quite unimportant to the study of the 



