516 THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. 



A G and PD, anterior left and posterior right, strike the ground at the 

 same time. The simultaneous lowering of the curves of these two 

 feet shows that their elevations are also made simultaneously. Below 

 these curves is the notation which expresses the duration of the con- 

 tact of the left diagonal biped. 



" The second beat is produced by the feet AD and PG, right diag- 

 onal bipeds, and so on over the whole length of the tracing. 



" It is seen in the notation of this tracing that the contacts {full 

 lines) are double the length of the time during which the body is sus- 

 pended above the ground {intervals between the full lines). This sus- 

 pension therefore coincides with the theory of Bouley, and is contrary 

 to that of Raabe ; but it seems to us that there is a great variation in 

 the relative duration of these two phenomena in the trot. Thus, cer- 

 tain horses, trotting in harness, have furnished tracings in which the 

 phase of suspension was scarcely perceptible (Fig. 210), in such a 



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Fig. 210.— Notation of an ordinary trot in which the phase of suspension is net perceptible. 



manner that this form of the trot here approaches the low gaits, but 

 still preserving the perfect synchronism of the diagonal beats. We 

 have not yet been able to study them in the fast trotters ; in them, 

 perhaps, there is an inverse tendency, the time of suspension increasing 

 at the expense of the duration of the contact," 



This is the result of our own observations also. When the move- 

 ments are high and extended the body remains longer in the air than 

 in contact with the soil ; it seems as if the horse displaces himself by 

 diagonal jumps. The strides, in this case, are very long. It may be 

 the same in circumstances exactly the reverse, when, for example, the 

 horse, taking small steps, balances himself, as it were, in the air during 

 the projection, and carrying the feet low (Lenoble du Teil). 



At other times the speed is still considerable, but the time of con- 

 tact and elevation of the members appears sensibly equal ; the pro- 

 jection is then not very extended. This is due to the fact that the 

 movements are more rapid ; the trail then shows the imprints ill closer 

 relation, the beats are more precipitated, and the body moves more 

 closely to the ground. 



needle; the effect of this narrowness i.s a slight deformity of the curve, which, however, does 

 not interfere with the study of tlie rhythms." 



