THE GAITS IN PARTICULAR. 



513 



The phase of suspension of these trots coincides with a more or less 

 lengthy and elevated projection of the body, which gives to them vary- 

 ing aspects. It is greatest in the long trot, medium in the ordinary, 

 and very little marked in the short. According to the height to which 

 the body is raised, it renders the gait high or low. It is, in general, 

 proportional to the speed employed and the vigor of the animal. 



When the velocity of the trot is carried to the extreme, the syn- 

 chronism of the diagonal beats is seen to disappear; the latter are 

 slightly disassociated, and this all the more as the hind-foot reaches 

 farther beyond the fore-foot of the same side. The amplitude of the 

 steps then reaches its highest limits. This is the beginning of a new 

 variety, the broken trot, trot of the hippodrome or the race-course, which 

 the English, on account of its velocity, call the flying trot. We will 

 study it presently. 



Kinematic Analysis of the Play of the Members in the Trot. 

 1st. Anterior Member. The period of dispersion of forces, to 2, very 

 marked, is manifested t above all, during the contact with the ground, as deduced 



X A 



FIG. 207. Kinematic analysis of the play of the anterior member in the ordinary trot 



(Messrs. Marey and Pages.) 

 A. Phase of contact. | S. Phase of elevation. 



from the researches of Messrs. Marey and Pages (Fig 207, A), by the sudden and 

 forcible descent of the fetlock, which is also perceived by the carpus and the 

 elbow, although less sensibly by the latter. The curve of the withers is greatly 

 depressed in its middle, in consequence of the flexion of the angle of the 

 shoulder. 



During the elevation, S, the trajectory of the withers also offers a curve in its 

 middle, a marked inflection, due to the shortening of the opposite member, now 

 in its contact, which weakens, in its turn, the concussion of the body upon the 

 ground. 



The trajectories of the fetlock and the knee, sensibly parallel, forcibly 



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