Walk, Run … and Skip
A century and more ago Silicon Valley was a place of shady orchards and sunny farms. Fast horses offered a pastime to wealthy landowners such as Palo Alto magnate Leland Stanford, who once wagered a skeptical friend that horses on the gallop often had no hoof touching the ground. The...
Legs, Feet, and Cursorial Locomotion
Structure The forelimbs and hindlimbs each consist of a series of bones, meeting the trunk of the body at the pectoral(forelimb) or pelvic (hindlimb) girdle. The pectoral girdle of most mammals consists of a shoulder blade (scapula) and in many, a clavicle. Mammalian pectoral girdles are very much simplified compared to the pectoral regions...
Lo studio del movimento
Come già detto, gli standards delle razze canine sono stati formulati quando la conoscenza di ciò che produceva una efficiente locomozione era molto poca. La maggior parte dei primi studi e relative conclusioni sulla locomozione proviene da osservazioni visive e uditive di cavalli in movimento. Chiunque abbia visto un film...
Gli standards e il movimento
L’uomo ha addomesticato il cane dal lupo e ne ha alterato la forma in varie maniere per adattarlo ai suoi scopi, ma lo schema base è rimasto quello del lupo. Un approccio interessante è quello di osservare come sono costruiti gli animali che fanno quello per cui le varie razze...
Nonlinear dynamics stability measurements of locomotion in healthy greyhounds
OBJECTIVE: To characterize normal locomotion of dogs, using nonlinear dynamic stability measurements to analyze two-dimensional kinematic data. ANIMALS: 5 healthy, orthopedically sound Greyhounds. PROCEDURE: Data were studied by sequentially constructing phase plane portraits from the angular velocity and displacement data; creating first-return (Poincare) maps from periodically sampled data; and evaluating...
A synergetic theory of quadrupedal gaits and gait transitions
We present a theoretical analysis of the patterns of interlimb co-ordination in the gaits of quadrupedal locomotion. Introducing as collective variables a set of relative phases that describe the co-ordination patterns, we classify gaits by their symmetry properties, which can be expressed as invariances under groups of transformations. We define...
Speed control in quadrupedal locomotion: principles of limb coordination in the dog
Long distance, overground locomotion in the dog was observed and analyzed using the two dimensional gait diagram method. Though the velocity of locomotion chosen by the animals over a 1,000 m course varied, a preferred speed generally emerged and was used during most of the experiment. This animal-specific preferred overground...
Evaluating Movement
I would sing a serenade to the wondrous beauty of canine locomotion. Over the years I have observed quite a number of people in the dog fancy, be they judges, breeders or other experts, go through the process of evaluating Saint Bernards in action. Some people seem to have an...
