I20 EQUINE LOCOMOTION. 



fore leg. In the canter shown in Figs. 131 to 137 — which 

 with or without a period of suspension, is usually re- 

 garded as the typical canter — the supports are the same 

 as the footfalls. In the one portrayed in Figs. 138 to 146, 

 the diagonal support (off fore and near hind, Figs. 139, 

 140, and 141) does not at any time act unaided (as in the 

 other form of canter, Fig. 133) ; but is assisted by the other 

 hind leg and the other fore leg in turn. This smooth 

 style of canter might be termed (to use a popular ex- 

 pression) a hand gallop. We may note that when there 

 is a period of suspension in the canter, and also in the 

 gallop, it is obtained by the fore-hand being raised by the 

 straightening of the leading fore leg (and especially by 

 that of its fetlock joint), as it quits the ground (Figs. 

 142 to 144). 



The time (three) of the movement shown in Figs. 138 to 

 146 is irregular ; for the interval during which the sus- 

 pension takes place between the coming down of the near 

 fore and off hind, is longer than either of the other two 

 intervals. Supposing that the speed is the same, and that 

 there is the same interval of suspension in an irregular 

 canter of this kind and in a typical canter, the former 

 would be less distressing to the horse than the latter ; for 

 the weight is better distributed in it. The same remarks 

 apply to the canter shown in Figs. 147 to 155, which is a 

 series, from photographs, of an easy canter of a high caste 

 Arab, in which the near hind is on the ground when the 

 left diagonals come down (Fig. 149), and they are supporting 

 the body when the off fore reaches the ground (Fig. 151). 



We see, in the canter, that the leading fore has more 

 work to do than the non-leading fore leg. Hence, if this 

 pace be long continued, the horse will often change the 

 leading fore leg. 



The Gallop.— This is a pace of four time, in which 

 the feet follow one another in succession, with an interval 

 of suspension between the coming down of the leading 



