my handsome guy

[Bambi]

I just dig how this animal is totally airborne How fast would you say it was running when you froze the moment?

not so fast. it was just a regular working trot so about 12 mph. Horses have 4 basic gaits: walk, trot, canter and gallop (won't get into pacing, running walk or tolt as those are breed specific). All but walk have a certain level of suspension which means that at some point of the gait all 4 feet will be off the ground. Depending on the conformation and strength of the horse the amount of suspension will vary. It comes from power not speed and from power in the hind end. As my horse gains muscle power in his haunches this becomes more and more. Feels a bit like flying really.

here's a photo from ages ago:

In 1887, Eadweard Muybridge published pictures from a high-speed camera setup in order to answer the question whether a galloping race horse lifts all feet off the ground at any time. In these early days of high-speed studies, a few pictures per second were sufficient to investigate interesting phenomena. Today, after over a century of development, we are beginning to study the fastest known processes in nature, such as the motion of electrons inside atoms and molecules.

up until then it was a matter of debate.

[edG]

great capture - love the colour

[Bambi]

thanks Ed

[Rinkdaddy]

He is a beauty! Very nice

[Bambi]

thanks RD