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[RC] The Gauntlet is Thrown - Bruce WearyI have a better idea. Bring the big Anglo, and eat enough between now and then to get your body weight up to 205, like me. You can do it. There are plenty of people who are shorter than you, Kat, and weigh twice as much. Just look around at the airport sometime. Then the horse won't have to deal with dead weight. But condition yourself so you can hike the 1600-feet-in-2 1/2-miles climb on that course.(Just that little bit more work we heavyweights have to do to be competitive) Add a saddle and gear up to 235, which isn't hard to do. Now, my horse is a foxtrotter, and while she's tough, she's not really a speed horse, so she will undoubtedly give something away in genetic advantage over a hot blood. It will be a warm ride, at 5000-7500 feet, but temperature and altitude probably don't matter. :> Oh, and my mare did top ten this ride last year, even dragging Angie McGhee along with me, as dead weight. (You know I love you, Anj!)To broaden our results, and stimulate speculation, we can add my lightweight wife on her 750 lb Arab in the mix, along with Brent Johnson, who weighs in at 265 on his Arab gelding and won and got BC two years ago. It would be fun, but no matter what the outcome, there would be lots of uncontrolled variables. Experiments are done to test a theory, not to set out to prove an idea that we are already convinced of in advance. A more fair test might be for Kat to ride her horse to the utmost performance she and the horse can muster over the course. Then, let the horse rest adequately and put me in the saddle and ride it in the exact same finish time. Monitor working heart rate and recovery levels, and compare vet scores at the end. These are the kind of tests we could do to learn more about what factors really do affect our horses' performance, and how we could more effectively intervene. Theory, discussion and debate always come first, but they aren't validated without experiments with neutral minded people. I have to go kiss my wife good-bye, as she is hauling our two horses to northern California for a little 100 mile trail ride this weekend. Wish her luck. Dr Q, (whistling the theme to "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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