Quote:
Originally Posted by Indian Charlie
I'll try to explain this to you, despite the obviousness of your trolling.
A horse, or any animal for that matter, accelerates when they push off the ground. The force that drives a horse forward comes from the legs pushing off the surface of the track.
When an animal is completely off the ground, they are no longer accelerating and in fact, are decelerating. Do you really believe that if a horse stayed in the air for five seconds on each stride, they'd be going even faster?
It's kind of like a batter in baseball trying to dive into first base to beat out the throw. They actually make it easier to be out by launching into the air and slowing down.
I can prove this to you mathematically (via simple physics) if you like, but I know you'll just reject it because Rachel Alexandra beat a sprinter.
|
So you are saying the shorter the stride the more advantageous for developing constant speed? The problem with the math here is that while they are in air they aren't spending energy and are covering more ground. IF they had gas tanks that didn't deplete this would be fine but they do. As such the longer the stride to cover the most distance, typically enhances a horses ability to run faster, because the next push is done with the potential for more force. If you aren't exhausting your energy you can use it further up the track to push harder again. This seems to be why a longer stride is more favorable.