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<< The April 28, 1997 issue of U.S. News and World Report has a fascinating
article on why horses can't run any faster than they did 50 years ago, but
humans continue to lower their speed records. (Taken from the THE NATURE OF
HORSES by Stephen Budiansky, published this month.) It's focus is on
thoroughbred race horses, The thrust is that the horse has reached his
anatomical peak while we two legged animals have a long way to go. By all
means get a copy. I think it is interesting when it says "a horse is able
to
maintain that level of peak performance with astonishingly little exercise".
This is something most endurance riders have learned through
experience...once your horse is fit, less is better. Julie >>
This concept has been bandied about for a decade or more, all the while
Standardbred records have been dropping faster than human records did in the
50's--70's. It's nonsense, showing no appreciation whatsoever for the
progress exercise science has made since the days of Johnny Weismuller, and
none for the entire lack of application of the science in the equine world.
You endurance folk do a reasonable job of conditioning your animals. Are you
ready to say, though, that your horses have reached the peak of their genetic
potential? Garbage, right? Even more garbage in the Thoroughbred world where
the typical animal gets 4 minutes of actual ontrack exercise four or five
days a week. This in contrast to someone like Carl Lewis, who whorks out 364
days a year for about 6 hours a day to dompete in a 9 second event--and has
for at least a decade.
To suggest that the Thoroughbred has come remotely close to its genetic
capability is absolute lunacy.
ti
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