THE AMERICAN SADDLE HORSE 



35 



The slow pace is a somewhat similar movement, but borders more on the 

 side-wheel gait, or lateral pace, in which the two feet on one side of a horse 

 strike the ground at the same instant. The true pace, however, is in no sense 

 a saddle gait. It is rough and uncomfortable. A rider cannot rise to it and 

 save himself, as in a trot, and it is positively the worst gait a saddle horse can 

 possess. In the slow pace this side- wheel motion is slightly modified so that 

 the impact on the ground of the two feet on a side is broken, thus avoiding 

 the rolling motion of the true pace. The slow pace is a very comfortable gait, 

 and is very showy, especially when a horse throws just a bit of knee action 

 into it. It has grown common in the show ring during recent years, as saddle- 

 horse trainers appreciate its catchy qualities and endeavor to teach their horses 

 to go this gait. The best 

 saddle-horse men, however, 

 do not look on it with 

 favor, as it is so easily cor- 

 rupted into the abomina- 

 ble side-wheel pace, which 

 ruins a saddle horse for 

 comfortable and satisfac- 

 tory work. Unless a rider 

 is careful his mount may 

 almost imperceptibly de- 

 generate from a distinct 

 and correct slow pace into 

 a plainly defined pace, and 

 then there is sure-enough 

 trouble. 



The fox trot is a slow 

 trot or a jog trot. It is a 

 rather peculiar gait and 



not so desirable as the running walk or the slow pace. Some horses cannot 

 acquire either of these two gaits, and so their trainers pull them down into a 

 very slow trot and seek to pass that gait off as a fox trot. It is a broken-time 

 gait, in a measure, somewhat easier than a pure trot, and when cleanly per- 

 formed it will answer as a business gait. 



The trot is the diagonal gait. The off fore foot and the near hind foot strike 

 the ground at the same instant, and the horse bounds off them to hit the 

 ground again with the near fore and the off hind. This gives a two-beat gait. 

 The impact of the feet on the ground is one, two, one, two. 



The pace is the lateral gait. The off fore and off hind foot hit the ground 

 at the same interval, and the other pair on the near side follow. This is also a 

 two-beat gait. 



The rack is a four-beat gait. Each foot hits the ground at a separate inter- 

 val in a one-two-three-four beat. The rack can be distinguished by ear as far as 

 the footfalls of the horse may be heard ; each foot rings clear its own note on 

 the hard ground. In teaching the rack the horse is forced forward by the spur 



FIG. 10. An American saddle horse showing his gaits 

 at the fair. Photograph from the American Breeder 



