Timing Animals ’ Movements Horse

Ever been confused by animal walking ...?

Timing for animation by harold whitaker.

The order in which the feet of a horse touch the ground is: back left, front left,back right, front right, back left, front left, back right, front right, etc If 24 frames are taken as the length of a walk cycle, i.e. back left hits the ground on frame 1, ‘ back right ’ hits the ground on frame 13, and ‘ front left ’ and ‘ front right ’ hit the ground on frames 7 and 19 respectively.

In the step position on the back legs, on frames 1 and 13, the back legs form two sides of a triangle. The rump is lower than it is on frames 7 and 19, where one leg is vertical as the other one passes it. The shoulders are lower on frames 7 and 19 than they are on frames 1 and 13 for the same reason. This causes a slight rocking movement to the line of the horse’s back. Also on

the front step positions, as the shoulders go down, the head is pulled into a slightly more horizontal slant than it is on frames 1 and 13.

Great advice.