In the steps of the horses

Published in the Institute of Human Ecology, 1990

The book can be purchased in the institute, by phone: 972-3-6163963 or by mail i_ecology@bezeqint.net

The book "in the steps of the horses" was created in order to show the application of movement notation in analyzing the movement of animals. The horse was chosen as a model because its limbs' movements are easy to follow and because it's behavior can be controlled and allows photographing different types of movements. The book was published as an end result of Shmuel Zaidels' work in animals' movement analyzing in the zoological institute in Tel Aviv University (1968-1987). Apart from being a summary of a long period of activity in this field, this book was used to teach movement notation to students who examined animals' movement. With all the miracles of modernization, movement notation is still an objective tool that helps understand animals' movement and body language. For any given walking distance, the following aspects may be examined and evaluated:

• Number of steps

• Uniformity of walking cycles

• Efficiency of movements

The method of study presented in this paper enables to identify and compare characteristic "forms of transport" of a variety of animals. The vision was, and still is, to qualify students and go out with them on the voyage for understanding animals' movement, seeing different characterizations of different groups and understanding the relation between different species – all through the other eyes, the eyes of movement notation.

Directions of longitudinal axes of the body

stages in analyzing horses movement