Oh, that's a good point about the horse trotting. I was imagining it walking, and it looked all wrong. But I think you're right -- if it's not exactly a configuration of a trotting horse, then it's very close.
The problem I see with the aardwolf is that it looks like he's just lifted his left front paw, so he ought to have his rear left paw positioned under his body to balance and hold his weight. Instead, it's extended behind him. I think when the left/right reversal occurs as the article shows in the "error" examples, it implies biomechanically that the animal would have to rock side to side to balance its weight twice as often (instead of balance left: rear, front; balance right rear, front -- animals would have to balance left, right, left, right with each foot). The balance isn't as difficult to maintain at speed, but would be inefficient at a walk (it's hard to balance a bicycle at a slow speed, but the inertia gained by your forward momentum makes it easier to balance at higher speeds).
So... that's my understanding of it, which may be full of holes. I'm curious to hear feedback from the artspots community. The biggest problem I had with the museum display critique is that as a viewer, I don't often assume that the animal was frozen mid-stride. Sometimes I think of them as stopped, turning, listening, etc. It makes sense that the toys did better than the anatomy books; a three-dimensional toy has to be balanced right to stand on its own (usually), while the anatomy books are generally focused on making the diagrams neat and easy to understand.
~Dani
