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> Endurance? Weight has everything to do with the amount of work a horse
> does. If it didn't, handicappers wouldn't care who was 1 pound over
> or 2 pounds over in what race. Speed vs distance is the key. A race
> horse runs 1 mile at 38+ mph and 1 pound makes roughly 1 length
> difference... that's around 11 feet. They travel at about 5 lengths
> per second.
While this is the "rule of thumb" used by track handicappers, it has never
been in any way linked to any actual statistical data collected on any
track, let alone in a controlled experiment.
I put it up there with old wives tales. There are just WAY too many
variables in the weight carried vs. work performed by horses equation to
simplify it to the 1lb = 1 length.
To attempt to do so over the course of a 50 mile ride where riders are
allowed to get on and off, paces change, etc. LUNACY!!
The most I am willing to say is horses do more work carrying more weight.
Whether/how this links to speed performance varies depening on the horse,
how the weight is carried, the terrain, the conformation of the horse, the
condition of the horse, the style of the rider, the distance covered, the
ambient temperature,. . . .
To attempt to reduce it to a formula is doomed to failure.
kat
p.s. And don't forget, the horse has to carry his own weight too. . .and
do the work associated with carrying it, but it is useful weight...maybe,
but is it useful enough to compensate for the extra workload?
You get my drift?
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