weight challenge

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

On Sun, 6 Sep 1998, Jerry Fruth wrote:

> KAT , Thanks for your note.  Guess what? No takers. Darn my bad luck.  Just
> when I thought I could suck a fly weight into a bad deal.  Hope springs
> eterna.  See ya later..... Jerry

As an aside.  Despite the fact that I ride as a featherweight, I rarely
ever "make" the weight for the division.  I will usually weight in at
somewhere between 160 and 200 lbs depending on the saddle I am using, the
stuff I think I ought to take with with (depends on the placicng of vet
checks, etc).  

I ride as a featherweight because that way I don't have to worry about
what I take with me, what I take off, what I weigh and can always be in
compliance with the division rules....and I don't think it matters.  It
just means that I am "competing" against a different set of people.  I
have also found that no matter which division I would have ridden in, I
would have placed about the same in my division...except if I had ridden
in the HW division, since in that case I would have been competing against
a virtually non-existent set of people.  If there are other rides in other
areas that have a more competitive HW division, it is because that
division is larger, not because that division has better riders in it.

I have not noticed that my horse/s notice the difference either.  In fact,
I have noticed that Windy seems to do better lugging around that 50#
saddle.  Not just becuase it fits her better than any of the other saddles
I own, but also because it has a much bigger bearing surface and
distributes the weight of her load much better, and she is such a little
thing (weighs approx 550 lbs) that distributing the weight better seems to
be FAR more important than reducing it.

But if you want to tell me what weight I have to get up to to compete with
you...and I can figure out a good way to add that weight, I'll take you up
on that challenge.  And since I have a horse that (despite the fact that
_I_ train him under lighter weights) can easily carry TWO adults (combined
weight of over 340 lbs)  over a 1,000 foot climb (approx 5 miles) at the
trot without breaking a sweat as well as carrying me and my 95# rottweiler
across his withers in my lap back from a long training ride (where I
learned not to take my Rottweiler out endurance training with me), I am
not too concerned. 

Assuming, of course, that I CAN figure out where to put it.  Carrying two
adults was not the easiest thing in the world for either of the riders
(the guy behind me was sitting in the saddle, and I was standing in the
stirrups...kinda sitting in his lap :)) because neither of us was
particluarly "with" the horse as he trotted along.  I will not add weight
by adding either another adult or a rottweiler...not because they are
heavy, but because they are awkward.

kat
Orange County, Calif.

> 
> 
> On Sat, 5 Sep 1998, K S Swigart wrote...
> >
> >
> >On Fri, 4 Sep 1998, Jerry Fruth wrote:
> >
> >> For the light and flyweights, Please bring me the deed to your ranch on the
> >> day yiou want to race.  We will of course strap 100 added pounds on your
> >> horse to get your weight up there with the big dogs.  Then we will ahve at
> >> it.   Any takers?  I think that about covers it.  Jerry
> >
> >Yes, indeed, that does cover it as it illustrates perfectly my point that
> >equalizing the weights of riders when the amount of variation is as much
> >as 100 lbs is not merely as simple as strapping 100 added pounds onto the
> >horse to get the weight up there.
> >
> >If you tried this, you would have horses breaking down left and right.
> >Strapping weight on just to get weights up there does not make for fairer
> >competition.
> >
> >kat
> >Orange County, Calif.
> >
> >
>