Re: RC: weighting saddles

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

In a message dated 5/27/00 9:54:23 AM Pacific Daylight Time, Onefarmgirl 
writes:

<< Have to admit I think this is a worthy topic of discussion for the sport.  
 Carrying more weight over distance just had to be a HUGE disadvantage.   If 
'handicapping' a flat racer with 5 -10 # makes a difference over a mile, what 
would happen to a strong running endurance horse carrying a HW, if he were 
ridden by someone 40 lbs lighter?   Our current system seems to acknowledge 
that in the points, but not in the "wins"   I wonder if we should be taking 
it into consideration more?  Has this been beat to death on RC previously? >>

It's been pretty well beat to death, but in general, weight carried in an 
anaerobic situation is far more detrimental than that carried in an aerobic 
situation, by a factor of about 1 to 20.  20# extra carried by an endurance 
horse should be a similar handicap to 1# extra carried by a sprinting race 
horse.  While it is difficult to deal with the extreme ends of either the 
featherweight or the heavyweight division, our weight divisions seem to work 
out pretty equitably.  However, this is also the reason why events such as 
those run by FEI (where the win is the thing) have set a minimum weight 
limit.  This keeps "jockeys" from taking over the sport from folks whose 
weights are more average.  There isn't much one can do for the extremely 
heavy end, but at least with the minimum limit, the middleweights and the 
light heavyweights are not that far out of the ballpark and can generally be 
competitive by riding smart and using good strategy.  It is impossible to 
make the playing field absolutely level, as all circumstances are different, 
but the weight divisions on one hand and the FEI minimum on the other are 
attempts to at least make the playing field more equitable.

Heidi