Re: the running horse

In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Stephen Bargdill <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>Has anyone heard of riding a horse at top speed for several days without a
>break?

Nonstop?  Impossible.
>
>What's the hardest someone could ride a horse without a)injuring it b)
>having it collapse c) needing it to stop for food and water?

I don't know, though others on this group will.  But it's
probably a matter of a couple of hours.

That's HOURS.  

Horses are sprinters.  They are designed to run very fast for
short periods, which will let them get away from the predator
(who is also a sprinter) and then stop to rest.

If you make a horse keep running beyond its capacity, it will
collapse and die.

That's how early humans were able to kill antelope and so forth,
when they switched from scavenging to predation.  Observe the
herd of ungulates.  Pick out one nice juicy one.  Start running,
not terribly fast (you're a distance runner, not a sprinter),
towards the herd.  Ignore the other ungulates scattering in all
directions.  Keep running after your target animal.  You're on
the veldt so you can see him even if he gets quite a distance
away.  Keep running after him.  After a while he'll see you and
start running again.  Keep running after him.  When he collapses,
come up to him and finish him off with your hand-axe or whatever
you've got.  There's a description of this process in _The Uplift
War._

Dorothy J. Heydt
Albany, California
[EMAIL PROTECTED]