RE: Energy used in a 50 by LW vs HW by your formula

[Steph Teeter <step@fsr.com>]

Mike - do you feel that there is a bias towards HW riders in
the BC award? Based on my observation that if there is a HW
 rider in the top 5 - or within 30 minutes of the winning time, 
there is a very good chance he/she will  receive BC. I think many FW
and LW riders feel they have little or no chance for BC unless
they win by a wide margin. If two horses are equally fit, and
equally fast, the award will go to the heaviest rider. I know
there is some logic to this, and it's been used by AERC for
a long time, but I wonder if the formula that is used - which
awards 1/2 point for each pound of extra weight - is appropriate. 

How do other HW riders feel?
How about FW riders?

just curious,

Steph


-----Original Message-----
From:	Michael K. Maul [SMTP:mmaul@flash.net]
Sent:	Friday, March 06, 1998 7:06 AM
To:	ridecamp
Cc:	Earl James
Subject:	Energy used in a 50 by LW vs HW by your formula

Susan,

from the formula - it would seem that the difference between a 165 lb
rider and a
210 lb rider is only about  4% in energy expenditure for the same
distance/time. Your original calculation had 4 hours vs. 6 hours for the
weights
and looked much bigger.

This seems to be pretty small and not justify the differences in scoring

for BC
and also not to fit with my perception that carrying HW is much harder
for a horse.

Your thoughts?

Mike
mmaul@flash.net

>average horse to cover 50 miles---a 900 lb horse carrying a 165 lb
>rider
>and covering 50 miles in 6 hours actual riding time burns up 18.3
>Mcals.  The same horse carrying a 210 lb rider and covering the same
>fifty miles in four hours would burn 26 Mcals.