A mechanical trigger for the trot-gallop transition in horses

摘要: It is widely thought that animals switch gaits at speeds minimize energetic cost. Horses naturally switched from a trot to gallop speed where galloping required more energy than trotting, and thus, the gait transition actually increased cost of running. However, by this speed, peak forces on muscles, tendons, bones, presumably chance injury, are reduced. When horses carried weights, they lower but same critical level force. These findings suggest trot-gallop triggered when musculoskeletal reach level.