Metabolic economy may contribute more to triggering the trot-gallop transition than peak forces, as horses tend to travel at the minimum energetic cost of transport within their various gaits (Wickler 2000). More importantly, the energetically optimal speed never exists above the upper bound (minimum galloping speed) of the transition range, evidence that horses do not transition at non-energetically optimal speeds (Wickler 2003). The sum of this data points to energetic cost’s ruling the locomotion of the horse, whether in transition or at a steady gait.

This website was created as a part of a class project in the Animal Physiology Class at Davidson College.

E-mail me at emmccracken@davidson.edu