 |
|
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
| Trotters and Pacers THE TROTTER Trotters move with a diagonal gait; the left front and right rear legs move in unison, as do the right front and left rear. It requires much skill by the trainer to get a trotter to move perfectly at high speeds, even though the trotting gait is a natural one in the animal world.
THE PACER Pacers move the legs on one side of their body in tandem: left front and rear and right front and rear. This action shows why pacers are often called "side-wheelers". Pacers, which account for about 80 percent of the performers in harness racing and are the faster of the two gaits, are aided in maintaining their gait by plastic loops called hobbles, which keep their legs moving in synchronization
*Breaking Stride - Any trotter or pacer who "breaks" into a canter or gallop during a race must be pulled back to its correct gait and lose ground to its competitors or be disqualified from the race.
|
