Smooth horse gait

Chris Kirtley

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Join Date: Jan 2011

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#1

Smooth horse gait

August 9, 2016, 07:19 PM

Fascinating article in Cell this week about how horses were bred in medieval England to have a smooth gait, apparently due to the "gait keeper" gene mutation:

Peculiar gait of smooth-moving horses pinned on medieval genetic mutation

http://newatlas.com/gait-horses-medieval-england/44803

Long before plush leather seats and soundproof limousine cabins came along, the back of an ambling horse was considered the most comfortable ride in town. Scientists have now traced the origins of these smooth-moving creatures all the way back to medieval England, where the knights' penchant for…
Tags: biomechanics, gait, gene, horse
Edmund Cramp

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Join Date: Jan 2011

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Edmund Cramp
Motion Lab Systems, Inc.
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#2

August 17, 2016, 01:56 PM

Re: Smooth horse gait

That is very interesting - potentially a case of "natural selection" since both horse and rider would have been much more likely to survive the medieval jousts with the smoother gait of the horse improving both their chances of survival and improving the chances of both partners continuing to reproduce.

Thank you - your posts are always interesting and thought provoking.
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