Re: Re:overweight an issue?

["Celeste Murray" <celestem@badgermining.co.za>]

Hi Wolfgang

Firstly Dr Loukie Viljoen is no longer our president, our current president
is Prof. Naas Raubenheimer. I have no idea of how to get hold of Dr Viljoen.
Secondly my Dad now keeps the database so I am going to print your email for
him and see if he can come up with anything more.

Celeste (South Africa)
Shadixx + Snowy
I'D RATHER BE RIDING !
----- Original Message -----
From: Wolfgang Schwingenheuer <wsabg@t-online.de>
To: Susan Garlinghouse <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>
Cc: <Tivers@aol.com>; <ridecamp@endurance.net>
Sent: Thursday, July 27, 2000 2:55 PM
Subject: RC: Re:overweight an issue?


> Susan Garlinghouse wrote:
>
> > Wolfgang, all I can do is report my own findings, which had much better
> > control and methodology.
> >
> > And I'm not going to argue *again* that my study says "weight makes no
> > difference".  My head hurts from banging it against the wall.
> >
> > Susan G
>
> Hi,
>
> sorry for stepping in late, but I had to read all the previous post. Then
I have
> to understand - a fact which is difficult enough for native english
speaking
> Ridecampers, as some pointed out. So for me as a "have to learn that
> language"-people it is even more difficult. I have to use my dictionary as
well
> as the nice Babylon-online-translator. Ok, please forgive me for any
> misunderstandings or misinterpretation because of that ;-)
>
> Is "head banging" still popular in the US??? We stopped it some decades
ago, no
> more walls left (pig-headed German...).
>
> Susan, you say that you "report your own findings, which had much better
control
> and methodology". How do you know? You referred to a study of about 600
horses,
> being ridden over the same track (Tevis) in two(?) years. Sorry, but don't
you
> confess that a study, tracked over 15 years,with a total of more than
12.000
> entries, of horses being ridden under all conditions, with every detail of
the
> rider and the horse plus all veterinary details is more significant than
your
> study??? Ok, this study is published in 1990, with entries from1975 to
1989. But
> I am sure that the database has grown since then, with now even more
relevant
> data. Maybe one of our South African Ridecamper can tell us about this
(does
> anybody have an email-adress of Dr. Loukie Viljoen???).
> What is said in this study is that under all the conditions they have
tracked, a
> rider with more than 105 kg has virtually no chance of winning. The
overall
> performance, shown by the average speed, decreases with an increasing
weight.
> For the field of 6408 entries in the range of 73 - 125 kg, there was a
drop of 1
> km/h for every 17.33 kg. The same for the average speed of the winner, but
here
> a drop of 1 km/h for every 13.68 kg.
> So let's take two horses, both equally fit and prepared for a major event
(100
> miles/160 km). One horse is ridden by a girl, barely 75 kg (with some
additional
> weight to meet this FEI criterium), one ridden by a young man, having 87
kg
> including his tack (this would be a rider of about 75 kg plus saddle,
bridle
> etc.). Both riders go for a win, trying to perform best. The girl won that
race
> with an average speed of 15 km/h (9.3 miles/h). From looking at the
mentioned
> statistics, the young man would finish with 14 km/h (8.7 miles/h). This is
a
> recalculated difference in the finishing time of more than 30 minutes!
This is
> what I noticed at those major events (FEI rides or equal national rides).
The
> riders in front are very, very often those thin "jockey-types". The
WEC-preride
> was won by Hassan bin Ali - I would assume him to have 65 kg without
equipment.
> At a CEI last weekend here in Germany, the winner was a young girl with a
total
> of 78 kg (riding in a heavy western-sytle saddle), followed by another
girl of
> exact 75 kg, followed by three junior rider from Belgium (all the senior
rider -
> heavier!!! - were eliminated due to lameness or metabolic probs). The last
> finisher was a man from Portugal, huge and heavy, with about 4 hours
difference
> to the winner. Now take a look at all the previous World Champions. All
were
> female US-rider - Becky Hart and the Kanavys have to add a lot of kilos to
their
> equipment, for sure. Lucky chance??? Or simply better "confirmation"???
The
> European Champion of 1991 was a heavyweight, but he compensated this by
running
> alongside the horse for long stretches of the course.
> What one can see in the lineup at a price-giving is an increase of total
rider
> weight, quite often having the lightest in front and the heavier behind
him/her.
>
> There may be variations from this, agreed. There may be one special ride
having
> a great variation from this - even in the SA-statistic there is one winner
with
> a weight of 113 kg (but is not documented if he was the only finisher in
that
> special ride). A newer study from SA would also be appreciated, as the
riding
> speeds have increased in the last years.
>
> Ok, this are my simple thoughts, having read the statistics and seen many
rides.
> The discussion can go on...
>
> Wolfgang
> Germany
>
>
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