56 



JUDGING FARM ANIMALS 



Fig. 27. ''The pace is a fast, two-beat gait, in which the legs on the 

 same side move together in unison." 



and true pacer displays a sightly gait. In pacing level and 

 true the body remains steadier than in any other movement. 

 The legs move in harmony with the directness of a machine. 

 The nervy, machine-like pace peculiar to many of the fast 

 pacing animals is a study in the degree to which the mini- 

 mum of effort results in the maximum of speed. . . . As a 

 rule, the pace from the standpoint of the spectator is an 

 unsightly gait, but one that is usually thoroughly enjoyable 

 from the point of view of the driver." The pace and trot 

 are interchangeable gaits, and we find light harness horses 

 of note, that have racing records with each gait. Goubaux 

 and Barriere state 8 that certain colts, at first amblers 

 (pacers) will at a later period learn to trot, and reversely, 

 some horses primarily good trotters, amble towards the 

 decline of life, through fatigue and usage. The camel, 

 dromedary, and giraffe are natural amblers. Steepness of 

 croup, and a bent condition of the hocks, has often seemed 

 associated with the pacing gait, for in fact many of our 



8 The Exterior of the Horse, 2d ed., Phil., 1904, p. 506. 



