| A collaboration between an English-born | | | | airborne during the canter. The unaided human |
| eccentric Eadweard Muybridge and the founder | | | | eye could not resolve that question.Eadweard |
| of one of our great universities resulted in | | | | MuybridgeEnter Muybridge. With a tempestuous |
| a series of events which spelled the end of | | | | personality, sporting a Walt Whitman beard, |
| the "hobby-horse" posture in horse art and | | | | and carrying on in the grand tradition of the |
| paintings.Towards the end of the 19th | | | | English eccentric, it was said of Eadweard |
| century, an event occurred which | | | | Muybridge that had he never been born a |
| significantly changed the world of horse art, | | | | novelist would have created him. Coming to |
| in particular paintings but for sculpture as | | | | America from England at an early age, |
| well. Until that time period, most paintings | | | | Muybridge established a reputation as one of |
| of horses at full gallop showed the front | | | | San Francisco's great 19th century landscape |
| legs extended forward and the hind legs | | | | photographers. Over time, his interests |
| extended to the rear. Unless a horse's motion | | | | narrowed and became focused upon |
| was to be similar to that of a rabbits's, | | | | photographing and studying the motion of |
| this position would be anatomically | | | | animals and people.Muybridge and Stanford met |
| impossible. This posture by the way, is often | | | | in 1873 at which time Muybridge began to |
| referred to as the rocking horse or | | | | photograph Stanford's horses in motion. It |
| hobby-horse posture. Can you image trying to | | | | should be noted that at that time |
| stay in the saddle if a horse's motion was | | | | photographers often built their own equipment |
| the same as a rabbit's? It would be an | | | | and mixed their own chemicals. Exposure time |
| adventure to say the least.Pleasure riding | | | | was usually measured in seconds rather than |
| would be restricted to the walk, perhaps the | | | | in tenths, much less one-hundredths of a |
| slow trot. Canter? Forget it! Driving? One | | | | second. Up to that time no photographer had |
| horse or a team. Picture the effect if horses | | | | been able to capture events too rapid to be |
| ran like rabbits. It would likely shake the | | | | seen by the naked eye.The two worked together |
| buggy apart in a short distance. Yet this was | | | | for nearly ten years. During that time |
| how horses at full gallop were generally | | | | Muybridge continually improved and refined |
| portrayed.If you've ever tried to figure out | | | | his photographic processes. By 1877, |
| the motion (or gait) of a horse, or a dog or | | | | Muybridge, in collaboration with Leland |
| cat for that matter at a walk, with a little | | | | Stanford's engineering staff was able to |
| concentration you'll soon figure out the | | | | photograph movement with a shutter speed of 1 |
| order in which the legs moved and when a hoof | | | | 2000th of a second. It was here that he |
| (or paw) leaves or touches the ground with | | | | provided conclusive proof that the horse did |
| respect to the position of the other legs. | | | | have all four hooves off the ground during |
| At a trot - more difficult but possible. But | | | | the gallop.What was key to the world of horse |
| at a gallop or run - forget it (I've tried | | | | art was found in the photographs which |
| this walking behind our beagle) - the legs | | | | showed every aspect of the horses' gait. The |
| move faster than our eyes are capable of | | | | photos showed that, at full gallop, all four |
| tracking. It's little wonder that until the | | | | hooves were for an instant under the horse |
| advent of photography there was a great deal | | | | and off the ground.In The Art of the Horse |
| of guesswork as to how a horse actually moved | | | | by John Fairley there is a reproduction of a |
| at a canter or gallop.One artist who had a | | | | wonderful painting depicting the chariot |
| clue was the Englishman whose meticulous | | | | races at the Circus Maximus. It is an |
| studies of the horse's anatomy gave him an | | | | immensely realistic and powerful painting. |
| understanding as to what motion was possible | | | | However, every horse under full gallop has |
| and what was not.The "Farm"Leland Stanford | | | | both front legs extended forward and both |
| (1824-1893) - railroad executive, governer, | | | | hind legs extended to the rear. If that were |
| senator, pioneer in California's wine | | | | the case it would be amazing if the |
| industry and founder of Stanford | | | | charioteer could stay aboard for even one |
| University, was also a breeder and trainer of | | | | lap!When Muybridge's results became generally |
| horses. His farm (the Palo Alto Stock Farm) | | | | known (largely through publication in |
| was one of the finest for trotting horses in | | | | Scientific American in 1878) they were |
| the United States and in the 1880's and | | | | readily accepted by artists such as Degas, |
| 1890's home to 600 horses and 150 trainers | | | | Eakins, George Stubbs and Remington. Others, |
| and staff. The "Farm" eventually became the | | | | like Rodin had to go through a period of |
| site of Stanford University.The farm ( and | | | | "furious denial" before finally abandoning |
| later the city) was named after one of | | | | the "rocking horse" style. Muybridge |
| Stanford's great trotting horses, Palo Alto. | | | | continued his work up until his death in |
| The horse was in turn named after the first | | | | 1904. Like English painter John Stubbs' |
| major battlefield victory of the Mexican War. | | | | studies of the anatomy of the horse, |
| Stanford's trotters won numerous trophies and | | | | Muybridge's work had a profound influence on |
| ribbons and several were credited with world | | | | equine art. The artist could now study |
| record times. In his quest to breed the | | | | detail that the human eye could not see.His |
| fastest possible trotters Stanford had a | | | | work with Stanford attracted the attention of |
| great interest in learning more and more | | | | Thomas Edison and, together with George |
| about them, including details of the gait. | | | | Eastmans ongoing work in the development of |
| One of the controversies at the time was | | | | film, set the stage for motion pictures. |
| whether or not a horse ever was completely | | | | |