# Riding and Isaac Newtons Laws of Physics



## equineeventer3390 (Mar 27, 2009)

Oh I did entire physics project just on riding. It was great. I'll have to go finde it.


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## iridehorses (Oct 22, 2007)

While the laws are accurate, I need to dispute some of your conclusions, Barry.


*“A moving horse will stay in motion until either the horse slows itself down” - or “it falls or it hits an an immoveable object.” It is important for the rider to understand that all the rider can do to avoid the inevitable outcome of going too fast is that only the horse can slow itself down. The rider is fully dependent upon the horse obeying the command to stop.*

While the horse' motion may be effected by an immovable object, the rider is independent of the horse. If the horse suddenly stops short (either by accident or on purpose) the rider may not.

*“What goes up, must come down“ If a horse climbs a hill then eventually it must come down that hill. Remember: riding a horse downhill is more tricky than riding it uphill.

*A horse may spend the rest of it's life up on top of that hill but a rider who was thrown from said horse, will eventually find the ground.

I do agree with the balance of the post!


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## jamesqf (Oct 5, 2009)

Barry Godden said:


> Even a medium sized horse weighs half a ton - about the same weight as a small car.


Just a quibble, but even the lightest cars on the road (unless you're talking about a Lotus or something similarly exotic) are going to weigh about twice what a horse does. I drive a Honda Insight - aluminium body, 1000 CC engine, with a lot of attention given to reducing weight - and it still weighs 1840 lbs. (The US spec Lotus Elise is 1930 lbs.) That's about the weight of a draft horse. 

Those are some of the lightest cars on the road. Average car is maybe twice a typical horse weight. And of course for American SUVs, you'd have to forget horses, and start talking elephants :-(


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