>>>> Why if the gait is the same foot fall as the walk, but just faster, and sounds perfectly even - is it not a square gait? I am asking this because it doesn't make sense when you look at the footfall pattern - there is a lateral phase but also diagonal as the weight is shifted??? I know that there is huge variation between horses and timing and most Icelandics do something that is not totally square but I don't know what it is such a flat NO that Tolt/Rack couldn't be in the middle of the gait chart? Are the drawings of the footfall incorrect that make it look that way?
It took a while for that light bulb to come on for me! The part you hear is when the horse's feet touch down...and that IS the same in running walk and with the rack. Both are an even four-beat in set-down. But there is another element that isn't as easily seen and you can't hear it at all - that's when the pair of feet pick up. With the running walk, each foot picks up at an independent, even interval AND it sets down at the same, even interval - each foot keeps an independent timing throughout the stride. What's different in the rack (tolt) is that the feet do not pick up independently. They pick up as a lateral pair, or VERY close to the same time. But, with the rack, the front feet have more of an arched motion, while the rear feet sort of almost slide along...so even though the lateral pair starts out together, by the end of the stride they have separated and set down independently. I can see the lateral pickup of the rack with my unaided eye, but I had more trouble initially seeing the independent pickup of the running walk. I was able to see it the first time in the oddest way - I was standing behind a horse that my friend was riding a running walk, and from behind, I could clearly watch the bottom of each hoof pick up independently. I could only see one frog at a time! Karen Thomas [EMAIL PROTECTED]
