THE AMERICAN SADDLE HORSE 



31 



abominable side-wheel pace, which ruins a saddle horse for comfortable and 

 satisfactory work. Unless a rider is careful his mount may almost imper- 

 ceptibly degenerate from a distinct and correct slow pace into a plainly 

 denned pace, and then there is sure enough trouble. 



The fox trot is a slow trot or a jog trot. It is a rather peculiar gait and 

 not so desirable as the running walk or the slow pace. Some horses can- 

 not acquire either of these two gaits and so their trainers pull them down 

 into a very slow trot and seek to pass that gait off as a fox trot. It is a 



Fig. 10. Showing saddle horses. The St. Louis Fair, 1899. 

 from National Stockman and Farmer 



Photograph 



broken-time gait, in a measure, somewhat easier than a pure trot, and when 

 cleanly performed it will answer as a business gait. 



The trot is the diagonal gait. The off fore foot and the near hind foot 

 strike the ground at the same instant and the horse bounds off them to hit 

 the ground again with the near fore and the off hind. This gives a two-beat 

 gait. The impact of the feet on the ground is one, two, one, two. 



The pace is the lateral gait. The off fore and off hind foot hit the ground 

 at the same interval, and the other pair on the near side follow. This is 

 also a two-beat gait. 



The rack is a four-beat gait. Each foot hits the ground at a separate 

 interval in a one-two- three-four beat. The rack can be distinguished by 

 ear as far as the footfalls of the horse may be heard ; each foot rings clear 

 its own note on the hard ground. In teaching the rack the horse is forced 

 forward by the spur and restrained by the curb. His diagonal gait is thereby 



