Re: Newbie query: why required weight?

[Teddy Lancaster <Teddy@runningbear.com>]

And, remeber our motto: "To FINISH is to win"...'nough said.

teddy


BMcCrary27@aol.com wrote:

> In a message dated 9/3/98 11:53:40 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
> suendavid@worldnet.att.net writes:
>
> << it has NOT been shown in any
>  research project that weight makes a difference, especially over a long
>  distance.  There's only been ONE empirical research study that ever
>  looked at weight-carrying ability in endurance horses and that was
>  mine.  I've looked at over 600 endurance horses now and the statistics
>  are crystal-clear that weight makes NO difference to completion rate,
>  finishing time, or in pulled horses, how far they went before they were
>  pulled.  If the study weren't published, it would still be just my
>  opinion---but it's been dragged over the coals by a whole lot of
>  extremely nit-picking researchers that dearly love to find mistakes and
>  they all agreed with the conclusions.  WEIGHT IS NOT A FACTOR AT
>  SUB-ANAEROBIC SPEEDS. >>
>
> This ongoing discussion delights me.  Although I have no scientific knowledge
> to support my opinions, I have always felt that a rider of any weight should
> just acquire a horse that can carry that weight successfully.  My husband once
> rode my (barely) 14.2, 750# gelding to a second place on a 50 miler.  Husband
> is a heavyweight rider, he and horse were really serious competitors.  They
> were in first place just a few miles from the finish, but a stretch of deep
> dry sand slowed them down and a stronger horse just barely nosed them out at
> the finish.  We all try so hard to make everything "fair" to all competitors,
> when I'm sure that can be done in this sport.  For YEARS we've dodged the
> issue of choosing our national champions based on a head to head competition
> in one final race.  Everyone was aghast -- "What if my horse is having a bad
> day?" they cried.  Well, what if Grinkov and Gored were having a "bad" day, or
> Tara Lipinski?  That's the way it goes.  You win some, you lose some.  It's
> not the end of the world.  Fortunately, we have now decided to initiate the
> one ride, end of the season event, to determine our national champions.  Since
> few of us remember who our national champions are any more (except for the
> ones who won), at least since the series championship program was started,
> this may be an improvement.  Maybe an even better improvement would be to drop
> all weight divisions.  Then maybe we would actually remember who won the
> national championship.  I still believe that it's the GOOD horses and riders
> who win, regardless of rider weight.  If your horse can't support your weight,
> find a horse that can!  (Now I suppose I've stirred up a hornets' nest!)
>
> Eliminating weight divisions would surely save AERC a lot of money on awards,
> and the one and only national champion would be a noteworthy individual.
> Think about it.
>
> Barbara McCrary
> West region director