THE 
The amble is a development of the walk into a mode 
of progress from which a higher rate of speed may be 
obtained. Practically, it is an accelerated walk; it has 
the same sequence of foot-impacts, but from their more 
rapid succession, a hind-foot and a fore-foot are alter¬ 
nately lifted from the ground in advance of its following 
foot being placed thereon. 
This procedure results in throwing the duty of sup¬ 
port alternately on one foot and on two feet. A hind- 
foot and a fore-foot successively furnish the single 
support; diagonals and laterals alternate in supplying 
the duplex support. 
Series 24 demonstrates how this movement is con¬ 
summated. 
In 1 the support devolves on # A, with—as in the 
walk—O A suspended between them. In 3 • is lifted in 
advance of O being landed, which is, however, on the 
ground in 4, where O A jointly sustain the weight of the 
body; the bent knee of A indicates that O will soon have 
to perform its labours alone, as it is doing in 5 ; A soon 
comes to its assistance, and in 6 the left laterals assume 
AMBLE. 
the responsibility which in 1 devolved on the right laterals. 
One-half of the stride is now completed, and so far all 
has gone as it should; had the remaining moiety been 
executed with similar precision, there would have been 
no fault to find. In Pennsylvania, ambling horses are 
not so abundant as they are in Kentucky, California, and 
some other countries; the only horse capable of ambling, 
and obtainable, was the one here represented, who neg¬ 
lected to use his legs in the orthodox manner during the 
second half of the stride. 
The six consecutive phases used as an illustration of 
this gait may, however, be accepted as perfectly charac¬ 
teristic of the complete movement, which may be recorded 
in the diagram as— 
A i 
k > 
k i 
k 1 
k i 
k y 
k > 
k A 
— A" 
~ O 
- O- 
- O 
T 
2 ^ 
2 
1 : 
6 
7 
8 
1 
89 n 
