How does Martin Black think about the horse's footfall and movement?

Martin Black's attention to the horse's footfall and movement reflects both the influence of Bill Dorrance's teaching on this subject and his own developed understanding from decades of working horses in the demanding conditions of real ranch work, where a horse's ability to move correctly and efficiently under a rider while managing cattle determined its practical value. Black teaches that awareness of where the horse's feet are at any given moment is foundational to effective horsemanship because every cue given to the horse is either working with or against the physical reality of the horse's weight distribution and footfall. Asking a horse to yield a foot that is currently bearing weight requires the horse to first shift its weight — a step the trainer who is unaware of the horse's footfall is consistently skipping, producing resistance or sluggishness that reflects the biomechanical impossibility of what is being asked rather than any unwillingness in the horse. Developing awareness of the horse's footfall allows the trainer to time requests to moments when the relevant foot is free to move, which produces dramatically lighter and more willing responses to the same cues than a trainer who applies cues without this timing awareness. Black's attention to movement also extends to the horse's overall way of going — the quality of the horse's gaits, its balance and self-carriage, and its ability to maintain correct movement while working cattle or navigating varied terrain. The working ranch context makes these qualities practically important in ways that arena-focused horsemanship sometimes does not — a horse that cannot maintain its balance and foot placement on rough terrain or while working a cow is not a useful ranch horse regardless of how well it performs specific exercises in flat arena conditions.