The Classical Masters could DEFINITELY hear the music of the pure trot as well as the disunity of DAP! According to the Highlights of the Clinic with Dr. Mikael Holmström article, DAP can be caught on ordinary videotape. Normal video in European format (PAL) is 25 frames per second. Normal video format in the US (NTSC) is about 30 frames per second. If the footfalls are on two adjacent frames, then they are 40 milliseconds apart in the PAL format or about 33 milliseconds apart in the NTSC format Sometimes the DAP strides of the Olympic horses span two frames, which would make the footfalls 66 to 80 milliseconds apart. But even at 33 milliseconds apart, DAP is still CLEARLY audible.

As a cellist I can hear it clearly but the good news is that you don’t have to be a trained musician to hear it! Thanks to Mike, my fantastic, wonderful, stupendous videographer/computer expert husband, below are links to an audio track of clicks that are about 33 milliseconds apart (exactly one US video frame), clicks that are 66 milliseconds apart (exactly two US video frames) and a pure two beat click. I think you will find that the human ear is a lot sharper than many had realized!

First Sound: Beats 33 milliseconds apart. The timing of these beats are mechanically perfect. The sound is not of an actual horse. Although the measurement of the tempo and DAP timing were taken from an actual Olympic video. This is simply an audio sample to demonstrate that individual beats that are 33 milliseconds apart (equivalent to one US video frame) are most definitely audible. (Click Here for 1 Frame MP3)

Second Sound: Beats 66 milliseconds apart. About half of the actual Olympic video DAP strides covered two frames, so we included a link of beats spaced about 66 milliseconds apart (equivalent to two US video frames). (Click Here for 2 Frames MP3)

Third Sound: Pure two beat clicks. (Click Here for 0 Frames MP3)