>>>> "The trot is the gait that is the least vulnerable to impurities of the >>>> rhythm. There are two main impurities that occur. The connection >>>> between the diagonal pairs can be broken, e.g. if the hind leg touches >>>> down before the diagonal front leg. This is traditionally called >>>> "rushing hindquarters" and typically shows short strides as well, i.e. >>>> the hind leg does not reach toward the center of gravity enough. The >>>> opposite case is the "rushing forehand", in which the front leg is >>>> retracted in the air and has to touch down before the diagonal hind >>>> leg. <<<<
Also called Diagonal Advanced Placement: http://iceryder.net/dap.html Susanne Meisner says: "In pictures of extended trot you can see very well that the diagonal is broken. This is only possible if the horse has a tight back and a tight neck. You can only make a horse move like this when you have enough pressure in front, enough pressure in the back. Through the stiffness in the top line, the horse is able to do this spectacular but artificial trot." Check out the pictures of the WC trots. What do you see? >>>This incidentally also leads to the TOE-FLICK. The underlying cause for >>>the TOE FLICK is tension in the horse's back. The front leg is thrown up >>>in the air, but instead of following through and landing where the toe >>>points, the horse pulls his front leg down and the stride is cut short. >>>The downward acceleration of the front leg in combination with the mass >>>inertia of the foot then provokes the toe flick."<<< At one time, Warmbloods were bred to have loose pasterns so that they WOULD flick their front feet for "show" purposes... but then they found that those horses were having more lameness issues. Judy http://icehorses.net http://clickryder.com
