Re: Newbie query: why required weight?

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

On Mon, 7 Sep 1998, Truman Prevatt wrote:

> If we are ignore long term are we not taking the word endurance out of
> the sport.  If it is a single season wonder - "wham bam thank you mam",
> it is just a longer "flat race."

This topic came up because I said that the 165 lb weight requirement for
FEI rides (like WC etc) was inappropriate, as weight carried had never
been demonstrated to have an effect on the outcome of a single event.

I.e. to require riders to add dead weight just to qualify for a single
event adds more inequties than it mitigates and it is not a minor thing.
And rather than changing the outcome of the championship ride it merely
increases the chances of injury to horses (which is what the eventing
people said too...and they got rid of the requirement).

Many heavyweight riders have agreed that it is possible to "run with the
flyweights" for a single event, but it is over the long term that the wear
and tear shows up, and to do so continuously would risk breakdown of the
horse.

Tom Ivers has stated that this is also the case in sprint racing.  That
the big concern for heavy weight handicapping of race horses doesn't so
much change that day's race, but that it increases the chances of
breakdown and injury.  And "Skippy" despite his win in the Iselin under
131 lbs came out of the race "sore."

These are not good things, the 165lb weight requirement for FEI (and some
other) rides does not even the playing field for that event, it just
increases the risk of injury to horses. 

I have no problem with the wieght divisions in the AERC (although, I am
with Joe and think there should only be three, and the way they should
have solved the "there are too many people in the middle weight division"
would have been to lower the weight requirement for the HW division so
that some of the middle weights would be heavy weights), but mostly
because there is still the open competition at each event.

By open competition, I mean...the first horse across the finish line is
the winner, period.  ANd that in open competition participants do not ask
for concesssions of handicaps from anybody, they compete against all
comers, period.  They manage all aspects of the horse/rider team which
includes selecting a horse, training and conditioning it, managing
evrything that you take along with you on the ride...and managing (to the
extent possible) your own physical condition and failings.

And I stated that the static weight of the rider (i.e. how much s/he
weight when standing on a scale) is a variable that ranks pretty low on
the list of things that need to be managed successfully in order to be
succesful at endurance.

I realize that heavyweight riders feel that they have to do a lot to train
and condition their horses up so that they can carry the weight in rides,
but ALL riders have to do a lot to train and condition their horses so
that they can do rides.

But I don't care how much anybody weighs, what their physical stature or
body condition is.  If you want to compete in the big leagues (World
Championships, etc.) you should have to compete with the little girls
without asking them to handicap themselves.  There MAY be a physical body
type that is more conducive to success at endurance...so what, that is
true of all sports.  People who have it should not be penalized, just so
that people who don't have it think that it would be more fair.  That
isn't more fair, it is incredibly UNFAIR.

kat
Orange County, Calif.