ABDALLAH GAIT. 299 



great expenditure of power. The legs extend far backward, and are 

 drawn up and sent forward with apparently great muscular force and 

 energy; hence they have the appearance of big-gaited trotters, 

 although this term is also often used to describe a wide, open gait. 

 The Clays are not generally, nor necessarily, wide, open-gaited, but 

 they extend far out behind and reach far forward. Their measure- 

 ment often appears long from hip to hock, and Knickerbocker's 41-2- 

 inches comes to him by legitimate right of inheritance fi'om two lines 

 of long-leverage ancestry. It is this extreme measurement and the 

 great power, or rather appearance of power, with which they drive them- 

 selves forward, the body swaying to and fro, that gives them distinct- 

 ive type or character of gait. It is, in appearance, a violent and 

 demonstrative way of going, and, in reality, involves tlie expenditure 

 of great propelling power; and it may be a question worthy of con- 

 sideration, if the failure of some of this family to hold out in the race 

 be not owing to their prodigal use of phj^sical resources. If a horse 

 possesses an unusually long measurement from hip to hock, it is 

 a question to be considered wdiether he should not also have a long 

 thigh — the one leverage rendering the other necessary also. The 

 produce of Sayer's Harry Clay invariably have a long line from hip 

 to hock, so far as I have met them — 40 to 42 inches — and it is a note- 

 worthy fact that the sires that have succeeded best with them have 

 also had a long thigh — Volunteer 24 inches, and Messenger Duroc 

 25-|- inches. But in this matter there are some apparent exceptions, 

 which are controlled by location and power of muscle, as in the case 

 of Lady Thorn, and by the character of that muscle, and the form or 

 way in which it chiefly works. 



The Abdallah gait is like that of the Clay in this, that the hind leg 

 appears to extend backward much in the same line or manner as the 

 Clay, but not so far, and is brought forward also much in the same 

 line, though not so far, but with an elastic, springy motion — the very 

 opposite of the violent and demonstrative, that gives the eye the 

 impression that, in reality, no power at all is being expended. The 

 legs appear to extend moderately, but do not really appear to bend, 

 and the muscles work so easily that they do not seem to be working 

 at all; the body appears to rock gently to and fro on four straight 

 legs, and yet glides or dances along with an ease that can scarcely be 

 described or even comprehended. The perfection of the Abdallah 

 gait is seen in Goldsmith Maid; and the ease with which she will 

 dance and glide along, her body gently swaying to and fro, and pass 



