Ridecamp: Re: [RC] Tripping horses (thoughts while loading hay on a trailer)

Yep you are transferring energy you are generating through muscle 
movement to move back and forth to the rocking horse or swing which 
causes you and the object to move. You are doing work. The rocking horse 
is in a unstable equilibrium and any slight shift of your center of 
gravity will move the equilibrium point on the rocker. If the rocker was 
flat instead of bowed, the equilibrium would be stable and it would be 
very difficult to move. Now the lever, when horses front feet are off 
the ground the fulcrum of the lever is his hind feet. Think of another 
play ground item here, the seesaw.  Here you are sitting between the 
pivot point (fulcrum) and the end.  Here the front end of the horse is 
the end of the seesaw nearest you and the pivot point is the fulcrum 
(the hind legs of the horse. Now have some one lift you up, and let the 
end go. There is no way other than putting your feet on the ground that 
you can keep the seesaw from hitting the ground.

Since all object falls at the same speed ( a 1000 pound weight and a 1 
pound weight dropped at the same time from the same height will hit the 
ground at the same time), the only thing sitting  back will do is reduce 
the weight the horse has to lift when he gets his feet back under him 
(and maybe keep you from going over onto your head).

Truman

Ed and Wendy Hauser wrote:

> The difference is that in both cases center of gravity of you and the 
> object
> is right under you. By leaning back you move your center of gravity (an
> engineers term for the point where your weight acts) behind the center of
> gravity of the rocking horse.  Since you and the rocking horse are 
> about the
> same weight, the total center of gravity is now behind the vertical 
> and the
> rocking horse moves.  On a tripping horse, the front legs are no longer
> supporting his weight.  His support point is somewhere near the back 
> leggs.
> His center of gravity is quite a bit forward, so he starts to fall.  When
> you lean back (note that the pulling on the head does nothing) you do 
> move
> your center of gravity back, but it will still be forward of the rear 
> legs.
> The net effect is a small reduction in the force pulling him towards the
> ground.  Since you weigh at most 20% of your horses weight, the help 
> you can
> possibly give by leaning way back is small.
>
> Ed.
> Ed and Wendy Hauser
> 1140 37th Street
> Hudson, WI 54016
> 715.386.0465
> sisufarm@xxxxxxxxxx





=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=