Re: RC: Up Hill or Down

[Tivers@aol.com]

In a message dated 1/9/00 4:51:50 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
truman.prevatt@netsrq.com writes:

<< I sure hate to admit it but I have to agree with Tom here. While I rode
 the mare downhill fast and am starting to ride the current horse
 downhill fast I did it because of a lot of training in the sand which
 provides for strengthening the tendons, ligaments, etc.
 
 Both these horses are balanced and do downhill well. The "feel like"
 they are skiing on their back legs while tippy toeing on the fronts. But
 that is more of a illusion than a reality. A well balanced horse will do
 downhills better than a poorly balanced horse - but hell a well balanced
 horse will go up hill better than a poorly balanced horse.
 
 But with the front end lower than the hind end, the center of gravity is
 actually thrown forward which puts more stress on the front legs. One
 way to see this is to simply put the horse on the flat and draw the
 force vector from the "center of gravity" to the center of the earth and
 measure the distance from the front feet to where the force vector
 intersects the earth. Now put it on an incline and notice how this
 distance becomes smaller since the force still points toward the center
 of the earth.
 
 Truman
 
  >>


I hate to admit it, but you make logical sense, Truman. That "hind leg 
skiing" is what I tend to call short striding behind. I've sat behind dozens 
of trotters delivering hundreds of miles on racedtracks with hills in them, 
and have watched an equal number of TBs going on hillside tracks--under 
perfectly balanced riders. they all nose downhill, all try to get their 
forelegs out of the way and all put the brakes on from behind so as to avoid 
interference.

ti


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