THE GALLOP. 19 



this position is necessary in the gallop, because he is 

 collected. In the measured and balanced gallop there 

 is greater regularity of action, and the rhythm of foot- 

 beats is more uniform than in the run ; and the carriage 

 of the horse is more graceful and elegant in the former 

 pace. In fact, there is so little correspondence between 

 the gaits in motion, action, and tenor, that it is a 

 matter of surprise that they have ever been held to be 

 identical. 



THE CANTER. 



The canter is a spurious pace of the disunited horse, 

 and is not performed by the animal in liberty or when 

 properly ridden. It is not that the velocity is too low 

 to permit the legs in their proper order to support the 

 centre of gravity, but it is owing to the uncollected state 

 he is in, and to the languor of his action, that he does 

 not maintain the poise required for a regular pace. That 

 want of momentum is not the cause of the feeble action 

 of this pace is proved by the fact that the gallop can be 

 performed by a well-suppled horse at a rate no faster 

 than a walk. And the strides of the horses with which 

 I made my experiments for obtaining the footprints in 

 the sand were shorter than those of the cantering horse 

 in Mr. Muybridge's photographs. 



