How long was Man o' War's stride?

Question

How long was Man o' War's stride?

Answer 1

I don't think anyone ever measured Man O' War's stride directly when he was racing.  This would be done by looking to see where a specific foot hit the ground, and measuring the distance between that foot-strike and the next one.  

The calculations of Man O' War's stride were done using film footage of him.  In doing this calculation, the person doing the measuring measures the stride length on the screen where the film footage is being projected, then uses the measurement of the stride against a marker of known size to calculate the stride.

The problem with this approach is that the camera angle can distort the distance, making measurement of the stride on screen inaccurate;  and the measurement of any marker of "known" size shown in the footage would be at best an educated guess, because it's unlikely that any marker in the films of Man O' War galloping would be able to be measured with great precision.

Also true:  those who have studied the biomechanics of stride will have it that length is just one variable in what makes a great racehorse.  Dr. George Pratt of MIT has spent decades studying the biomechanics of stride, and has found that there are other factors besides stride length that characterize the motion of champion Thoroughbreds.  In one of his papers, he divided the stride into phases--landing phase, propulsion or pushing-off phase, and "swing time" or airborne time where the feet are all off the ground.  He found that the gait of the best Thoroughbreds was characterized by greater efficiency in gait phase, although I don't remember exactly what the characterization was.

Length of stride is just one factor of what makes a horse a champion.  I don't know if Man O' War had an exceptionally long stride, or exceptionally efficient stride, or just created magic when he ran.  But I agree with the assessment of his groom, Will Harbut:  he was the "mostest hoss that ever lived."

Answer 2

28 feet

Answer 3

They say 28 feet, but I don't think it's even possiable.

Even though I did love Man O' War, I just don't believe his stride was that long.