Christmas, ambling horses, and medieval art

Here's a post about Christmas, ambling horses, and medieval art--what could be better except a real pony under the Christmas tree. The Three Wise Men rode gaited horses for some part of their journey.
In addition to--or as a replacement to--a trot, gaited horses exhibit an intermediate gait between a walk and canter, now known as rack, amble, single foot, tolt, running walk, fino fino depending on the horse breed. This 4-beat gait can be as smooth as silk to ride at speed as opposed to the up-down motion of the 2-beat trot. In medieval art (and the art of many other cultures) you can tell whether the horse is trotting or ambling by the position of the legs. If the diagonal legs are moving, then the horse is trotting. If the lateral legs on the same side are moving (observe to see if that back hock is cocked), then horse is ambling. Ambling horses or palfreys were especially prized in the Middle Ages since this smooth gait was very comfortable to ride for long distances.

The first image is the three wise kings depicted on the Catalan Atlas, drawn by Cresques Abraham, around 1375. Abraham created a series of maps showing the universe and the world as known at that time. This particular map showed the known world with Jerusalem at its center. The translation of the map inset explains "This province is called Tarshish, from which came the Three Wise Kings, and they came to Bethlehem in Judaea with their gifts and worshipped Jesus Christ, and they are entombed in the city of Cologne two days journey from Bruges." Tarshish was supposedly located in Spain. And I love the dappling of these palfreys.

The second image is a Limoges box reliquary dating from around 1200 AD. It depicts the story of the

Three Wise Men. The side displays the Adoration of the Magi and the top shows their journey to find Baby Jesus. If you enlarge the magnification, you will see that the two left riders are on amblers whereas the rider to the far right is just breaking into the canter perhaps because he first caught sight of the star over the stable in Bethlehem--which is a lovely way to indicate motion in a static medium.
Both images and their explanation are from Wikipedia.