ii6 EQUINE LOCOMOTION. 



short that it is all but imperceptible. In horses suffering 

 from certain diseases, especially laminitis (fever of the 

 feet), this interval is so well marked as to be character- 

 istic of the ailment. In heavy draught which taxes the 

 pulling powers of the horse (Figs. 124 to 130), and 

 particularly when going up a steep hill, the toe will be 

 first brought down, as in Fig. 125. In Fig. 124, the right 

 diagonals bear the weight of the horse. In Fig. 125 the 

 near fore comes to their aid. There is a brief left support 

 (Fig. 126). As the off fore is quitting the ground (Fig. 

 126), the off hind comes down, and continues its assistance 

 while the weight becomes shifted on to the left diagonals 

 (Fig. 128). After that, the weight falls on the right pair 

 of limbs (Fig. 129), and again on the right diagonals 

 (Fig. 130). In heavy draught, we see that during the 

 side supports there are never less than three feet on the 

 ground, and sometimes even four. In the diagonal support, 

 however, the two limbs may be alone on the ground for 

 a brief period, or only very slightly assisted by the other 

 legs. From this we may conclude that, in slow work, a 

 fore and a hind limb work better together when they are 

 diagonals, than when they are on the same side. 



In the representations of the walk, as shown in Figs. 

 124 to 130, and in Figs. 118 to 123, dotted lines are used 

 to mark the position of the toe of one of the fore feet 

 (off fore), so as to compare it with that taken up by the 

 toe of the hind foot of the same side. We accordingly 

 see that in the long striding walk, the hind foot oversteps 

 the print of the fore one, nearly as much as it fails to 

 reach it in the walk during heavy draught. 



Figs. 99 to 109 give a series of the normal walk from 

 photographs. The movements of the oH (or near) limbs, 

 in Figs. 99 to 103 correspond more or less accurately 

 with those of the near (or off) limbs in, respectively. Figs. 

 104 to 108. 



The Canter. — The canter is, practically, a pace of 



