Downhill

[Tivers@aol.com]

<< Yes and no, Tom. There is no change in the total vertical weight or the
 percentage weight on fore and hind. There is an increase of force parallel
 to the ground - a braking or decelerating force going downhill and an
 accelerating force going uphill. Stress means force per unit area, and you
 are really talking about total force and not unit force.
 So going up and down hill does increase horizontal but not vertical force.
 Same thing applies to the standing horse on an incline. As the angle of the
 incline increases there must be more horizontally directed force to
 maintain its position. Okay? Jim
 
 At 08:32 PM 01/11/2000 EST, you wrote:
 >Jim, does a horse trotting or galloping downhill experience more stress on 
 >the forelegs or not? For that matter, is a horse standing on an incline,
 head 
 >down, carrying more weight on the front legs than on the flat or not? Why?
 >
 >Tom Ivers >>

Thanks, Jim,

Ok, my error is in the words "carrying more weight"?  Weight being vertical 
force. What the incline does is change the direction of force vectors--going 
downhill throws more force at the forelegs, but not more "weight". Is that 
correct?

ti


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.    
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp   
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=