510 THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. 



Be it as it may, it results from these facts that the variety under con- 

 sideration is more stable than the normal amble ; the horse can there- 

 fore take a lon<j:er step without increasing, for this reason, the rapidity 

 of his movements. Hence the ambler breaks his gait only when an 



Fig. 200. — Notation of the broken amble. 



increase of speed incompatible with the synchronous play of the ante- 

 rior and posterior member is demanded of him. In this case the latter 

 is obliged to precipitate its action, to anticipate that of the former and 

 to respond to the required acceleration. 



The interposition of the three supplementary bases between the 

 two lateral successive bases explains also the smallness of the trans- 

 verse displacements of the centre of gravity and, in consequence, the 

 great ease of the reactions of the broken amble. If, however, such a 

 horse is restrained from moving his members with sufficient rapidity, 

 so as to advance them close to the ground without great reactions to 

 the rider, he constitutes a mount hardly surer or more stable than the 

 ordinary ambler. Like the latter, he scrapes the ground, stumbles, 

 and even falls when he is ridden hard on rough roads. 



The broken amble, says Vallon,^ is usual to certain varieties of 

 horses, such as the small horses of Normandy and those of the Hague. 

 It is common in Algeria, and the Arabs produce it artificially by chain- 

 ing, in the pastures, their horses in lateral bipeds ; then, when mounted, 

 they urge them with the spur or the angle of their wide stirrup. But 

 as soon as the training ceases they reassume the normal amble or the 

 walk, and the whole series of these training exercises must be recom- 

 menced. Proj)erly-dressed Barb horses can easily travel two and one- 

 half leagues per hour at this gait, completing thus twenty-five to thirty 

 leagues per day. 



B.— The Trot. 



The trot is a natural gait, with two times, more or less fast, in which 

 the members rise and reach the ground simultaneously in diagonal 



1 Vallon, Cours d'hippologie, t. i. p. 532. 



