PACES OF THE HORSE. 



143 



To express this succession of movements of the two persons 

 walking, it is only necessary to alter the place of the signals of 

 the hind feet with respect to those of the fore feet. We shall 

 obtain the rhythm indicated by authors by causing the signals 

 of the hind feet to slip towards the left, which will give the 

 following figure : — 



Fig. '69. — Notation of the horse's walking pace 



It is seen, therefore, that when compared with the amble, 

 the walking pace consists in an anticipation of the hinder 

 limbs, whose footfalls precede those of the corresponding fore 

 limbs by the half of the duration of one of their pressures 

 on the ground. 



If the notations be read from left to right, like ordinary 

 writing, it is evident that each sign situated farther to the 

 left than another precedes it in order of succession. Thus, 

 in fig. 39, the impact of the right hind- foot precedes that of 

 the right fore-foot. But as it is of little consequence, in the 

 series of successive acts of the same kind of pace, whether we 

 choose one instant rather than another as the point of depar- 

 ture, we shall always take as the commencement the impact 

 of the right fore-foot. 



The ear distinguishes four beats, separated by regular 

 intervals, each of which is indicated in the notation by a 

 vertical line. Finally, the body rests on the ground twice 

 laterally and twice diagonally during one entire pace. It is 

 easy to ascertain this by looking at fig. 39, in which, after 

 the first impact, the body rests on the right feet (lateral biped 

 L) ; after the second impact, on the right foot in front, and 

 the left foot behind (diagonal biped D), &c. 



But this notation only expresses the theory of the most 

 extended pace. The equality of intervals between the strokes 

 of the feet is not admitted by all writers. We shall see, in 



