RACING TECHNOLOGY
As a car guy, especially one with a long-running interest in motorsport, the need to reduce weight wherever possible is taken for granted. Old racers from the turn of the last century stripped out everything that wasn't necessary, and then started drilling holes in strategic places in the chassis frames to save a few grammes without a loss of strength. Lightweight materials followed, with aluminium alloys, then magnesium alloys, and now things like carbonfibre. It's all about improving the power-to-weight ratio in the grand scheme of things, and improving response in the details.

It's much the same in horse racing, which is why jockeys are all little fellas or petite ladies. Pick up a Dressage saddle a few times, and it saves going to the gym - these things are seriously heavy, while a modern professional race saddle such as the Selleria Ferro Piuma Evo, with a carbonfibre tree and synthetic covering, can weigh as little as 120g! Granted, the norm is about a kilo without stirrups and straps, but it's next to nothing compared to six kilos for an average Dressage saddle. Add to that the fact that the stirrups are completely different (around 130g each against about four times that weight for a regular stirrup), and the gap widens still further; the straps holding the stirrups are also lighter.

As for improving response, think of lightweight pistons and rods in an engine. In simple terms, the lighter components are, the quicker they can change direction. Watch a horse's leg action and the thought of racing one with traditional iron shoes makes one wince - the extra weight at the extremities of the horse's leg would doubtless blunt performance and add unnecessary stress on the frame. As such, rather than iron horseshoes (400g per shoe), beautifully-crafted 80g alloy versions are employed for racing, allowing the hooves to react faster and more precisely to input, as nature intended.

The lightweight theme is continued wherever you look - felt saddle blankets, flimsy goggles, a rider's silks and boots, and so on - for someone that has been studying weight reduction in racing cars for decades, the similarity between basic race principles and their reasoning, despite the two sports being poles apart, is an interesting aside.

The picture shows a Sprenger aluminium alloy race stirrup and a steel version that has seen service at Funabashi. The steel one is so delicate, it actually weighs 20g less than the alloy model. Also shown is a racing horseshoe, although they're not normally painted gold!