THE TROT. 145 



into. Lecoq speaks of the trot of such horses as being decov.su, 

 i.e. unconnected, inharmonious; and ascribes it to weakness. 



Not only is the motion of the limbs quicker in the trot than in 

 the walk, but their sphere of action is augmented — they perform 

 larger gyrations in the air, notwithstanding they have less time 

 to make them in, and, on this account, a very small amount of time 

 indeed is allowed them for grounding and again lifting themselves. 

 In rapid trotting, the tread of the hind foot — the propeller of the 

 machine — upon the ground is barely sufficient to afford the requi- 

 site fulcrum, the fore-foot at the instant simply sustaining the 

 body in front while this propulsion is being accomplished. And 

 during this acceleration of the pace, every time fresh impetus is 

 given to the moving machine, whereby it is lifted with a spring 

 into the air, all four legs are off the ground. Common close ob- 

 servation shews that this is the case, the best situation for the 

 observer being, as Lecoq says, a pit or hollow deep enough to 

 place his eyesight on a level with the ground upon which the 

 horse is trotting. Vincent and GoifFon, Lecoq informs us, have 

 made a calculation, that the time occupied in moving the foot in 

 the air is thrice that consumed in the grounding of it : supposing 

 the treading of either foot to occupy a second of time, its revolu- 

 tion in the air takes three seconds. Lecoq, however, himself, 

 thinks that this latter interval is over-rated. It is evident that the 

 tread of the foot — the hind one in particular — must be both forcible 

 and instantaneous ; forcible, to give the requisite propulsion ; in- 

 stantaneous, because the swift motion will not admit of more : 

 what the precise periods, however, may be, either for grounding or 

 suspension, or their proportionate intervals, must, we suspect, be 

 matter more of speculation than of fact. 



By an increasing rapidity of movement the momentum, once 

 generated, is readily sustained through alternate beats or treads of 

 the hind feet, the fore limbs appearing to effect little else than, in 

 diagonal directions with the hind feet, propping or lifting the.fore 

 quarters. The trot carried to this springing celerity of movement — 

 this flying or swinging trot, as it is called — 'becomes rather an arti- 

 ficial than a natural pace. By all horses it is not acquirable : some 

 seem formed by nature to take it ; others, by dint of practice and 



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