Re: why required weight?

[Susan Evans Garlinghouse <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>]

Teddy Lancaster wrote:
> 
> If you are talking about completion ONLY...MAYBE............but, if you are
> "running for the roses", logically, I cannot see how it is NOT a factor.
> Studies or no studies.  Increased weight is increased work-load for the horse.
> 
> Teddy


Teddy, there was no statistical difference in weights between pulled
horses, completers, top ten or winners.  Some of the horses carrying the
heaviest weights (and "weight" was analyzed in a number of different
ways) were top ten or winners, with histories of consistently being top
ten in other races.  Yes, a horse moving a heavier mass is going to use
more energy to move that mass---BUT, at sub-anaerobic speeds, the
metabolic fuel for moving that mass is almost entirely fats and any
horse in good body condition and having the muscular fitness is going to
have an ample supply of fatty acids to supply the demand.  So, so what
if the heavier horse is using more?  Both the heavier horse and the
lighter horse have ENOUGH to get the job done and that's all that
counts.

Yes, in a "run for the roses", head-to-head in a flat out sprint, weight
will make a difference because the metabolic fuel has switched to
sugars, which are in shorter supply and are being used more quickly by
the heavier horse.  I've been saying this from the beginning.  But all a
Hwt rider has to do (and HAS done many, many times in the past) is be
crafty enough over the length of the 100-mile trail to wangle himself a
50-yard or 100-yard head start and the head-to-head race will never
happen.  If you're saying there are no opportunities for that kind of
strategy along a 100-mile trail, well, I bet Bob Morris, Earl Baxter,
Boyd Zontelli, and every other heavyweight who's ever won will disagree.

You're welcome to blow it off as "studies or no studies", Teddy---you
wouldn't be the first member of the Flat Earth Society.  Innovation that
goes against the old beliefs is scarey, and ignoring it is always more
comfortable.  Just my opinion, but if someone were interested in finding
out from the study how to get better performance with fewer metabolic
failures from their horse (heavyweight rider or not), they should read
the study firsthand (which I'm happy to mail out to anyone who wants
one) and see how it does in fact make sense.  But like it or not, the
data is still there, and it's still real, and the conclusions are still
iron-clad.

I'm off to Norco Riverdance.  See y'all Sunday.