RIDING AND TRAINING. l6l 



The horse breaks from the walk into the trot 

 either because of the increased vigour and ti-~ union 

 of action, or because of this vigour and unic and 

 momentum. 



We have seen that in the walk each hind-leg is 

 one beat behind its diagonally disposed fore-leg, but 

 when each hind-leg is moved in unison with its 

 diagonal fore-leg, the horse must go into air from 

 the other pair of legs to permit the first-named pair 

 to be planted ; otherwise the fore-foot of the pair 

 that remained upon the ground would be in the way 

 of the hind-leg of the pair about to reach the ground, 

 or if the steps were too short for that inconvenience 

 to arise, there would be produced an unknown and 

 awkward movement, in which all four feet took the 

 weight at certain stages. 



If the trot depends simply upon this united action 

 of a fore-leg and its diagonal hind-leg, the pace may 

 be very slow. 



But if the speed be so great that the stride is too 

 long for the fore-feet to remain upon the ground 

 together ; and for the hind-feet to remain upon the 

 ground together, the true trot must result, and the 

 horse must go into air from each pair of diagonal 

 bearers. It is for this reason that awkward or 

 impeded horses, that do not perform the trot 

 properly at a slow rate of speed, move in the true 



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