
Man vs. Horse – Racing Ultradistances (2018) - ZeljkoS
http://ultrarunninghistory.com/man-vs-horse/
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maweki
This page provides an atrocious autotranslate into my language without asking.
I guess the original article is in english and one can switch that, but please
don't do this.

This is especially bad since I'm sending "Accept-Language: de,en-
US;q=0.7,en;q=0.3".

Do not automatically provide bad autotranslation as default, especially if the
user does accept the original language. You can prominently hint at that
feature, but do not force it.

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theon144
Joining this motion; what I got was basically gibberish, I felt like I was
having a stroke.

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mikhailfranco
Another interesting comparison is bike _v._ horse.

It is very close for anything up to, say, 2.5 miles (4 km) with record times
of 4:02 - 4:05:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world_records_in_track...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world_records_in_track_cycling)

[https://www.simhorseracing.com/recordtimes.php](https://www.simhorseracing.com/recordtimes.php)

The bike will win over very long distances.

For example, the 100 mile record for a horse is 5:45:44, but for a bike it is
3:11:11

[https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/world-endurance-
record-...](https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/world-endurance-record-
broken)

[http://www.rra.org.uk/index.html?ifrm_1=recordsdistance.html](http://www.rra.org.uk/index.html?ifrm_1=recordsdistance.html)

Anyone want to see horses in the TdF :)

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GuB-42
Bikes are cheating.

Bikes need roads. In fact wheels in general are terrible without roads, that's
why such a simple concept is rarely seen in nature and appeared relatively
late in human history. Bike vs horse on road is unfair, it is like asking a
horse to outswim a fish.

Man vs horse on foot is more fair, it is actually representative a natural
advantage humans have over other animals. If the human wins, it means it could
hunt the horse to exhaustion.

~~~
animal531
A man can run a horse down even if the horse can outrun him (by some amount,
say 50%).

Firstly he could ambush the horse, injuring it; but let's ignore that and say
it starts off fairly. He surprises the horse, it spooks and starts running. It
won't run at a measured pace, it will tend to run either too fast or too slow.
Psychologically it is going to be in a panicked state for an extended period
of time, it's not going to operate close to peak performance as it would with
a rider.

After that the man can also both use his brain to drive the horse towards a
desired location as well as his determination and knowledge of previous hunts
to win the race.

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runnr_az
I've run AZ's Man Against Horse... it's possible that I've beaten a few
horses, but honestly, not sure. It's a pretty fun event....

There was a really great RadioLab episode about it the other day:
[https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/man-a...](https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/man-
against-horse)

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newnewpdro
Thanks for linking the radiolab episode, that was much better than the
featured link.

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kelnage
It so happens that I’m doing the man vs horse race in Wales mentioned at the
bottom of the article this year - and although I’ll be giving it my best, I’m
not exactly optimistic of my chances. Only two runners have ever won since the
race started in 1980, the first did the 24 mile course in 2 hours and 5
minutes, which is a amazing time given the terrain.

I think, over that shorter distance, the only reason men have won before is
because the horses go through a vet check halfway - but that seems entirely
reasonable given the risks.

~~~
meigwilym
I've done the relay twice, and hope to do the full race this year (I didn't
get a place, but I'm holding out for a drop out).

We beat quite a few horses, many of them see it as a day out rather than a
race. What I found was that horses win uphill and on the flat, but humans are
vastly better going downhill. I managed to keep up with a group of horses as I
could always catch up on the downhill, where the horse is at a big
disadvantage.

Good luck this year! It's an awesome event.

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mikorym
With the rise in popularity of ultramarathons, couldn't you take the best time
of the 100+ mile races and compare that to times for horses on similar
distances and terrain?

When I saw the heading, I was convinced at the end it would say that on
distances of 200 miles and longer that those few humans who do actually run
these distances have better times than the best horse times...

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mikhailfranco
The annual Man _v._ Horse event in Wales:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_versus_Horse_Marathon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_versus_Horse_Marathon)

[https://www.green-events.co.uk/?mvh_main](https://www.green-
events.co.uk/?mvh_main)

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cafard
Long ago, I went a couple of times to serve as "handler" for a friend who was
attempting the Old Dominion 100, a race for which humans may go afoot 100
miles, and horses may compete over 50 or 100 miles. I was interested to see
that at intervals the horse had to be checked by a veterinarian, who as I
recall checked the horse's heart rate at arrival, then after a few minutes of
rest. The humans were checked for health problems the day before the race, not
thereafter.

(A handler drives about with dry clothing, spare shoes, snacks etc. At the Old
Dominion 100, a handler may also accompany the runner over some portion of the
end of the course--33 miles the second year. This I think is chiefly to
provide a second source of judgment for the exhausted runners.)

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adapteva
Let’s not forget the legendary Mensen Ernst. He raced against horses (and
won?) in the 1700’s

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mensen_Ernst](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mensen_Ernst)

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bartkappenburg
Reminds me of endurance hunting:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=826HMLoiE_o](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=826HMLoiE_o)

~~~
foxyv
I've always wondered how meat from endurance hunting tastes. I imagine it's
pretty gamey considering what stress does to deer and rabbit meat.

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idnefju
Yea honestly a jockey'd horse is hard to beat, since the human can pace them.
Wonder how wild horses would fare a human chasing them to exhaustion.

~~~
elfexec
Probably not too well.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistence_hunting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistence_hunting)

There are documentaries of wolves and wild dogs hunting large prey by chasing
them until the large prey is so exhausted and overheated that it collapses.

~~~
tomerico
Of note - the most important reason why a human would win the horse (and other
animals), is because a human would carry water with them.

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ajuc
The water is useful mostly because we sweat.

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teshier-A
Do you think horses don't sweat ?

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ajuc
> (and other animals)

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RickJWagner
I suppose by this way of thinking I've been soundly trouncing cars for years
now. They wear out after a few decades, but I can keep going on and on and on.

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AnimalMuppet
I've got a car that just passed 200,000 miles. I suspect that on foot, I have
not surpassed that in my lifetime. Let's see: Five miles a day might be a
reasonable average of just walking around (not hiking, etc). I'm at about
19,000 days, so my "just everyday walking" might be in the neighborhood of
100,000 miles. That would leave hiking, jogging, playing games, etc, as
needing to make up another 100,000 miles. I'm pretty sure I haven't done that.
(I might average more than five miles a day of just everyday walking. Probably
not 10, though.)

So I think my car might still be winning.

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yesenadam
Uh.. that sounds _really_ cruel. And the writing makes it sound like the
horses were running voluntarily, like the humans.

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TheGallopedHigh
What is cruel about it?

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pjc50
Running a horse to exhaustion to the detriment of its health?

