144 



JUDGING FARM ANIMALS 



extension should be noted and emphasis placed on the lat- 

 ter. The knee will be carried high, the hock will not show 

 excess of motion, and the feet will move no higher above 

 the ground than is necessary to secure freedom of motion. 

 While similar extension may be expected in the pace, the 

 peculiarities of gait make it unreasonable for the judge to 

 expect such harmony of motion as is usually found in the 

 trotter. One should not be too critical of swaying or lurch- 

 ing, if the necessary speed is attained. In commenting on 



Fig. 78. — "The relationship of flexing to extension should be noted." 



the light harness horse, at either trot or pace, Jordan says, ^ 

 "the average or standard gait of either should result in 

 the greatest symmetry of action, together with the greatest 

 economy of energy and the greatest speed. It is true that 

 there will always be horses that have their own way of 

 going apparently, and this may be due to a peculiar de- 

 velopment and conformation. Their defects are often en- 

 tirely offset by muscular and structural compensations. In 

 all such cases, however, the locomotion must be along lines 

 of directness and symmetry, otherwise there would always 



^The Gait of the American Trotter 

 1910, p. 86. 



md Pacer. Rudolph Jordan, Jr., 



