Ridecamp: Re: [RC] Mad Science

> I've been told by several ride vets that it's the ratio of body mass to
> surface area. The determining factor tends not to be the amount of energy
> produced by the animal but, it's ability to keep the body cool. A horse
being
> 15 hands tall and weighing 1200 pounds will probably have the same surface
> area of a horse 14.2 at 850 pounds.

Nope.  The 1200 lb horse has a body surface area of 6.817 square meters, or
.00568 square meters of cooling area per pound of body mass.  The 850 pound
horse has a body surface area of 5.411 square meters, or .00636 square
meters per pound of body mass.   All other things being equal, the smaller
horse is 12% more efficient at cooling himself, and in all likelihood, has
less heat to dissipate to begin with.

 Another factor in the equation is the
> type of muscle that predominately composes the horses anatomy.

True, but if you're referring to the Tevis data, 95% of the horses had 50%
or more Arabian blood, generally of very similar muscle fiber type
populations, so that was effectively cancelled out as a variability.

Susan G



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