95 



position and movement of the limbs at every in- 

 stant in motion, and the actual action of the trot- 

 ting: and runnino^-horses, heretofore a matter of much 

 speculation and supposition, was with exactness and 

 certainty reduced to one of scientific truth. The pub- 

 lication of the ekiborate work detailing these experi- 

 ments — "The Horse in Motion" — caused surprise, and 

 one might say created, too, an almost painful impres- 

 sion, showing as it did that the supposed graceful mo- 

 tions of the trotter and runner were chiefly an optical 

 delusion, and that every stride or "revolution" of a 

 horse in rapid motion is an almost unbroken succession 

 of ungraceful and angular positions. 



In this short chapter I have sought to outline Palo 

 Alto as it was and as it is, and though I may have 

 mentioned what may appear some unimportant mat- 

 ters, they will all, I think, assist the reader to follow 

 understandingly the chapters that follow on the cam- 

 paigns of the great horses, which will end our histori- 

 cal work and launch us into the closer discussion of 

 the art of training trotters as pursued at Palo Alto. 



