TRANSITION OF PACES. 



175 



has given us the whole series .of notations, which, in our 

 synoptical table, separate No. 2 from No. 8. When urging 

 on the animal and forcing him to trot, he first broke his amble 

 in an exaggerated manner, then he began to walk, and after- 

 wards commenced an irregular trot, which soon became a free 

 trot. We have just seen that the paces of the horse are formed 

 in the same order when the animal passes from the walk to 

 the trot. 



When a horse begins to move more slowly, the change of 

 pace is effected in an inverse manner ; the paces succeed each 

 other by running up the series represented in the plate. 



The greater or less anticipation of the action of the hinder 

 limbs is represented in the plate by a sliding backward of the 

 notation towards the left of the figure. This fictitious sliding 

 may become real by using a little instrument, which enables 

 us to understand and explain very simply the formation of the 

 different paces. It consists of a little rule, somewhat analo- 

 gous to the sliding rule used in calculation, and which carries 

 the notations of the four limbs on four little slips, which can 

 glide side by side, and be arranged in various positions. 



Fig. 68. — Notation rule, to represent the different paces. 



Figs. 68 and 69 show the arrangement of this little instru- 

 ment. Let us imagine a rule made of black wood, having 

 four narrow grooves, in which slip sliding portions, alternately 

 black and white, or grey and black, in order to represent the 

 notation of the amble, as in No. 1 of the plate. If we push 

 towards the left the two lowest slides simultaneously (fig. 68), 

 we shall form, according to the amount of displacement, one 



