Re: Newbie query: why required weight?

[K S Swigart <katswig@deltanet.com>]

On Fri, 4 Sep 1998, Jerald Thiessen wrote:

> see it a something to me to overcome. I agree that we cannot equalize it
> by adding weight, but that does not justify the "denial" that carrying
> extra weight over great distances does cost the horse to expend more
> energy. 

I nvere denied that horses carrying more weight expnd more energy.  What I
stated was that there is no correlation between weight carried and OUTCOME
of the race. (I am eager to see the study published in Europe).

Since what the FEI is trying to do with the minimum weight requirement is
to make the outcome reflect the champion, doing so by making riders stand
on scales and making lighter riders manage an extra variable is just plain
old wrong.

"We know that more work has to be done to accelerate more weight (f=ma),
so we are going to make all riders carry a minimum of 165 lbs to make the
competition more fair." 

How do you get from the first statement to the second?  Voodoo magic.

If you tried to make that fly in your physics class, you'd get an "F."

Until it is understood how weight carried effects the outcome of the
event, you can't make things fairer by adding weight to lighter riders.

kat
Orange County, Calif.