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Test_Tickles@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

That’s pretty cool. However, no human has ever won by more than 15min, and every horse has a 15min delay built into their times. So even the biggest winning margin of nearly 11 minutes would have lost to the horse if they had started at the same time.

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WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
The horses also all had humans on their backs. To my knowledge, none of the humans had horses on their backs.

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- Doc_Crankenstein@slrpnk.net ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  For it to be scientifically accurate of a comparison, the ratio of weight:human needs to be equal to that of rider:horse.
  
  In case my phrasing is confusing, to illustrate what I mean here is an example: a 200lb horse carrying a 100lb human is equivalent to a 100lb human carrying a 50lb weight.
  
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  - wischi@programming.dev ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Things don’t scale linearly like that. Many things are proportional to either the surface (so x²) or volume (x³) or complex combinations of those.
    
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    Doc_Crankenstein@slrpnk.net ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Oh true true. I forgot about the square-cube law.
    
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exasperation@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
This study analyzes historical results of three different man versus horse races (in Wales, in Virginia, and in California). The data shows that human performance decreases with temperature, but less so than horses, so that 30°C is approximately where the best humans can start outperforming the best horses that year.

I would think that even with 15 minutes of intermittent pauses/checks, that time is still productive for cooling the animal and would add less than 15 minutes to the theoretical total if they were allowed to run the whole time.

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jboy@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
The Western States trail in the California Sierras used to be where a 100-mile horse race took place that horse and rider had to complete in 24 hours. At some point in the 1970s one of the riders decided not to take a horse, and he finished in 23 hours on foot. Now it’s an annual footrace that the winner finishes in about 14 hours.

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