173 



ANIMAL MECHANISM. 



of the withers. This curve, being placed above the notation, 

 enables us, by the superposition of its various elements, to 

 notice with which impact of the limbs each re- action cor- 

 responds. 



OF THE TRANSITIONS BETWEEN THE DIFFERENT KINDS 

 OF PACES. 



An observer finds great difficulty in ascertaining how one 

 kind of pace passes into another. The graphic method fur- 

 nishes a very easy means of following these transitions ; this 

 will perhaps be not one of the least advantages of the employ- 

 ment of this method of studying the paces of the horse. 



In order thoroughly to understand what takes place in these 

 transitions, we must refer again to the comparison made by 

 Duges, and represent to ourselves two persons walking, and 

 following each other's footsteps, both in the trot and the 

 gallop. In these continued paces, these two persons present 

 a constant rhythm in the relation of their movements ; while, 

 in the transitions, the foremost or hindermost person, as the 

 case may be, quickens or moderates his movements so as to 

 change the rhythm of the footfalls. Some examples will 

 render this more evident. 



The principal transitions are represented in page 174. 



Fig. 64 is the notation of the transition from the walking 

 pace to the trot. The dominant character of this change, inde- 

 pendently of the increase of rapidity, consists in the hinder 

 impacts gaining upon those of the fore-limbs ; so that the 

 impact of the left hind-foot, P G, for instance, which, during 

 the walking pace, took place exactly in the middle of the 

 duration of the pressure of the right fore-foot, A D, gradually 

 advances till it coincides with the commencement of the 

 pressure A D, and with the impact also, at which time the 

 trot is established. 



Fig. 65 indicates, on the contrary, the transition from the 

 trot to the walk. We see here, in an inverse manner, the 

 diagonal impacts, synchronous at first, become more and more 

 separated. A dotted line, which unites the left diagonal 

 impacts, is vertical at the commencement of the figure in the 

 part which corresponds with the pace of the trot ; by degrees 



