144 



ANIMAL MECHANISM. 



the course of our experiments, that the walking pace, in fact, 

 may present different rhythms. 



Oj the trot. — The notation of the trot is obtained by a 

 more decided anticipation of the hinder limbs, each of which 

 will have entirely completed its pressure on the ground, 

 and begun to rise at the moment when the fore-leg on the 

 same side has completed its stroke. Fig. 40 expresses the 

 absolute alternation of the two persons supposed to be 

 walking. 



Fig. 40.— Notation of a horse's trot 



Authors agree also on this point, that in the trot, the 

 limbs which act together are associated in diagonal pairs. 



The ear perceives but two sounds of the hoofs, as in the 

 amble, but with this difference, that it is always a right and 

 left foot together, and not two feet on the same side, which 

 produce each sound. 



The notation also shows that the pressure of the body on the 

 ground is always diagonal. What it does not express is, that 

 between successive pressures, the body of the animal is, for an 

 instant, suspended in the air. This suspension arises from 

 the fact that the trot is not a walking^ but a running pace, and 

 that to represent it faithfully we must place together two 

 notations similar to that which is represented in fig. 34. 



We have designedly omitted the time of suspension in the 

 former notation ; it would have rendered a difficult subject 

 still more complicated. Besides, this suspension does not 

 always take place ; certain horses have a low trot, which has 

 nothing to characterise it except its rhythm in double time 

 and the diagonal impacts of the feet. 



We will not fatigue the reader by detailing the definition 

 of all the paces admitted by different authors. We shall 

 merely present in a synoptical table the series of notations 

 which correspond with them. In this table (fig. 41) it is 

 seen, that all the lower paces may be considered as derived 



