536 THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. 



of the hoofs or the canons, which are thus in an attitude ill suited to 

 exercise sufficient pressure on the pneumatic foot-bulb. We expect 

 to obtain them and appreciate their duration in all the varieties of 

 the walk by means of our electrical shoe. 



Varieties of the Rhythm. — The remarks which precede apply 

 to a particular variety of the walk, that in which the four beats 

 occur at equal distances from each other, a circumstance which implies 

 a perfect equality between the diagonal and lateral contacts. All 

 authors do not admit this special rhythm. Some, with Lecoq, say 

 that the beats are drawn nearer in lateral bipeds ; others, with Raabe, 

 claim, on the contrary, that they are brought closer in diagonal 

 bipeds. 



It follows, then, thcat for the former the body should be supported longer 

 upon the lateral than upon the diagonal base. If, in fact, the interval which 

 exists between the beat of the posterior left, PG (Fig. 230),^ and the anterior 



Fig. 2^0.— Walk, with predominance of the lateral contacts. 



beat of the same side, A G, is shorter than that which elapses between the latter, 

 A G, and the posterior right, PD, it necessarily follows that the distances from 

 PG to AG (diagonal base) will be less than that from AG to PD (lateral base). 



Besides, if the inferior line of the notation be displaced to the left so as to 

 bring PD nearer to AG and remove PG from A G, the opposite hypothesis will 

 be represented, in which the lateral contacts will be shorter than the diagonal. 



In the first case, the gait will approach the broken amble ; in the second, it 

 will be more analogous with the running walk. 



How is this divergence of opinion explained? The answer is easy 

 and, above all, conciliatory : All parties are right. As Merche prop- 

 erly remarked,^ it is almost impossible to find two horses walking in 

 an identical manner. Is the walk of the race-horse like that of the 

 driving-horse or the trained saddle-horse ? Is that of the heavy draught- 

 horse the same as that of the light draught- or the coach-horse ? Besides, 

 cannot a multitude of conditions modify this gait? The hereditary 

 influences of the animals, their service, the manner in which they 

 are driven or ridden, their state of excitability, the weight which they 



1 In order to simplify the figure, the supplementary bases, due to the exchange of contact, 

 have been ignored. 



8 Merche, Nouveau Traits des formes ext6rieures du cheval, p. 596. 



