528 THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. 



it may not be altogether accurately founded, the laity have compared 

 the ordinary walk of a man to the walk of the quadrupeds ; his man- 

 ner of running to the trot, and a certain variety of the latter, which 

 children imitate in their plays, to the gallop. The only error in this 

 comparison is that the quadrupedal locomotion resembles, as Duges 

 has described, that of two men following each other, and not that of 

 one alone. 



In the gallop of the infant, instead of emitting the sounds at equal 

 intervals of time, the contacts of the feet are precipitated, one slightly 

 preceding the other ; the body is then projected to fall upon the foot 

 which was first rested, and thus continued. 



The anterior and posterior members of a galloping-horse behave 

 themselves as those of the two men should who follow each other at 

 the gallop. There is no difference in the rhythm in either case. The 

 association of the feet of the two pedestrians may alone differ from 

 the mode of combination of the two bipeds of the horse, but there is 

 nothing to prevent it from being identical. 



If the fore pedestrian now assumes this gait (Fig. 219) while the 

 hind preserves the trot, we will have the defect known under the name 



FIG. 219. Notation of the canter in Jront. 



The irregular beats, AO, AD, of the anterior biped have a different rhythm from that of the 

 isochronous beats of the posterior biped, PD, PO. 



the canter in front. If, on the contrary, the hind pedestrian gallops 

 while the other trots, we produce the canter behind. The saut de pie, 

 still so obscure, is perhaps only a single stride of the latter. 



Finally, let us advance further and suppose that the horse canters 

 at the same time upon the two bipeds, and we will gradually realize 

 the normal gallop. 



This manner of regarding the canter as a form of transition be- 

 tween the trot and the gallop leads us to say that this gait is much 

 less defective than was hitherto believed. Certain indolent, though 

 perfectly sound, horses employ it with great facility, and would will- 

 ingly preserve it if those who drive them did not choose to make them 



1 In order to simplify the figure, the periods of suspension, which exist here as in the ordi- 

 nary trot, have not been regarded. 



