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[RC] Weight - Bruce WearySo why is everyone wearing tights instead of chaps? Tennis shoes instead of boots? Twelve pound saddles instead of roping saddles? Nylon saddle bags instead of leather saddle bags? One of the first riders of the Tevis carried farrier tools with him and was told he'd have to leave them behind due to the weight. Why 16 oz water bottles instead of a metal gallon canteen?Clearly there is an ongoing movement to make our equipment lighter. And I have yet to have a light weight rider throw down and agree to carry what my horse carries so they can legitimately say at the end of the day: "See? I told you added weight makes no significant difference." I think many would be very reluctant to toss an extra 80 lb bag of feed on the back of their horse to even the weights carried and chase me down the trail. What about the effect of lugging it uphill? Up a Tevis canyon? Aren't there formulas bandied around that a horse really shouldn't carry more than 20-25% of his body weight? Why? What would more weight than that do? I think the burden of proof lies on those who ride at lighter weights to show that weight makes no appreciable difference, before they can lay claim that it's already a level playing field. I'll rest my case with good ol' physics. And, Joe, the fact that some heavyweights have done well is anecdotal at best, and may only prove that heavyweights have to pay more attention to their horsemanship skills to not only overcome their disadvantage, but to excel in spite of it. It's not logical to conclude when a heavyweight does well that it was because he had just as good of a chance against the factors working against his horse as a rider that is 75 pounds lighter. Maybe I can make my point another way. Now that we can clone horses, let's say we have two equally talented clones, conditioned and fed identically. Traveling over the same given course but with a 75 lb weight difference between the riders, who wants to step up and bet a week's pay on the heavier rider? Dr Q, who is on the lighter side of heavy =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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 Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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