Using math in Equine Sports?

Hmmm... the only thing that came to my head would be if you were going to be building your own round pen or arena and needed to figure the circumference, diameter, length and size of materials needed, cost of all supplies, etc. I am not mathmatical in ANY way, but I do know some things about building a round pen, and will share them with you, in case you're interested. You could find more info online, and also visit building supply stores for current prices and information:

BUILDING ROUND PENS AND ARENAS

Size Options:

Round Pens--most common round pen size is 60 feet in diameter, but could be 40-120 feet.

Here's how to calculate how many panels of what size you'll need to purchase:

Multiply the diameter you desire by 3.14 to determine the pen's circumference.

Divide the circumference by the length of the panels you wish to use [Example: If you plan to use 10 foot panels to construct a 60 foot pen, multiply 60 by 3.14 to get a circumference of 188.4, then divide 188.4 by 10 (panel length) to get 18.84. You'll need 19 panels for a slightly larger than 60-foot pen].

If you'll be adding a separate gate piece, consider it's length when calculating the overall diameter of the pen.

Arenas--arena sizes depend on what you need them for and can run from standard size (100 X 200 feet), to driving arena size (130 X 330 feet), to competition jumping size (660 X 660 feet)

Material Options:

--manufactured metal pipe panels

--wood posts and rails

--wood posts and vinyl rails

Expenses:

Manufactured Round Pens:

50 to 60 foot—approximately $700 to $1000 for panels and gate

panels come in 8’, 10’, 12’, and 16’ sizes, 48 to 72 inches high, and different gauges of steel; you can choose from a variety of gate styles, too.

Tractor Supply Company 10 panels and gate = $900 www.tmytscstore.com

Baird Gate Company 10 panels and gate = $914 www.bairdgatecompany.com

Applegate Panels 10 panels and gate = $1085 www.beavervalleysupply.com

Sioux City Steel Gates and Panels 10 panels and gate = $1580 www.barnworld.com

For a 50’ 3 or 4 Rail Vinyl Pen:

--posts approximately $70

--roll of vinyl rail (650’) $300

--other tools and accessories $80

--gate $50

Total Cost : $500.00

Footing

--sand for footing: $100-$200 a truckload

Safety:

--metal panels do not “give” if you or your horse falls into them. Most metal panel manufacturers have changed the corner design of the corral panel from rounded to square in order to prevent the possibility of a horse catching a hoof, neck, or halter in the gap. If you have the older, round cornered panels, you can buy poly caps that will make your pen safer for horses.

--wood rails are more flexible, but will break under extreme pressure

--vinyl rails absorb shock well, and most likely the post will break but not the rail

Building Options:

--a horse sized gate for easy access

--a smaller “people only” gate

--enclosed walls made of plywood or closer-fitting wood planks

Footing Options:

--dirt: if you can’t afford other options, use a garden tiller to loosen the soil at least 4 inches deep. You may have to till again often, as dirt compacts with use and can create a hard top layer that may injure your horse’s legs. In rainy climates, dirt will turn to mud and you won’t be able to use your round pen.

--sand: provides good drainage and soft footing, in wet climates it is a good option.

--wood shavings: wood shavings or mulch make good footing because it creates a cushion over the ground, but if it gets too much moisture it can be slick. Also, it tends to break down easily and turn to dirt.

--shredded rubber: this is a good choice, it helps absorb water and provides good footing.

A combination of the above may be best. Start with a coarse layer (crushed rock) to help with drainage. Then add a finer layer (wood, shredded rubber, or fine rock) to help fill in and prevent the top layer from washing away. Then add a cushioning layer (sand) on the top.

Maintenance:

--metal panels: literally no maintenance necessary, unless they rust or get dirty.

--wood: use pressurized lumber or treated posts, they will hold up better. Prime, stain, or paint your wood posts and rails.

--vinyl: hose it off when it gets dirty. You can buy white, brown, or black vinyl fencing, but could also paint it any color you choose.

Ohh man math is everywhere in the equine world!! (my coach once joked saying to us "so, you thought you were out of math class?? THINK AGAIN!). Anyways, here are some of my suggestions:

-dressage (in a large dressage ring, a 20m. circle isn't exactly a 20 m. circle!)

-striding between jumps

-angles of jumps...determining the straightest line in a bending line, etc.

-angles in the riders body (closed hip angle for jumping vs. an open hip angle for dressage)

-if you want to get REALLY mathematical, you could use calculus to determine the approximate stride length to use on a cross country course to determine the best possible time to finish the course (if you could follow that lol - in other words, use physics with the all-so-wonderful velocity, etc.....yeah sorry I didn't do too well in grade 10 academic science and grade 12 university calculus lol - I'm not THAT sort of mathy person but it's an idea)

You would need to live in an area that has many race horses and a track that is open year round. You would also need to get on the good side of the influential veternarians. Very, very few owners of the horses who get massage will trust their prize animals to just anyone. Horses don't line up at a massage table like cruise ship passengers so doing 6 horses per day is unrealistic. The better Equine Massage Therapist will charge up to $300 per session but may only do one or two horses per day and only 5 - 6 per week depending on the area and situation of the animal.

You got some great posts here. I want to add to Daisy's about the round pen or arena: you have to configure the base with math. For example: the cubic yards of your material for the size of your arena. So if you put it 4" deep by the area, how much yardage do you need? Then how much per ton? What does a yard weigh and how much does the truck hold? Takes several computations.

We also pace our fence posts at a certain footage and then have to figure the fencing material for the whole pasture circumference.

I'd say you have plenty here to do a 10 minute visual and the variety of good posts should be applauded!

Math has a lot to do with hunter riding or maybe known to u as english it goes into the height of the jumps the lenght of the strides for a line and for the size of an arena math is used to see how big the horse is and wat divison it should go in the length of teeth determine the age of a horse a horse's shoe is always so much big or smaller than the horses hoof depending on if u want to make the hoof smaller or larger when jumping the angle that u jump at is very important and the angle of your body matters to when making a pasture how many horses to how many acres matters to umm... thats all i can think of but i hope i helped!! Hope u get a good grade

well, every horse has confomation, which is a math (proportions) thing,

barrel racing has speed (or velocity if you wanna be specific) and distance between barrels.

Rations of daily feed (pounds per horse per day = x lbs per month which is y bags of feed, which costs this much...)

Pintabians are 92% arabian, so you can do stuff with how many generations (i think it's eight) it takes to go from the first breeding (pure arab with pure paint) to a horse that is pintabian), each generation the % paint is divided by 2.

How about the changing feed requirements of differing sizes of horses throughout a fittening programme, to competition level?

You could compare Height, Girth, Body Weight and Appetite then break it down to ratios of forage to concentrates, then further down to the Digestible Energy needed for maintenance/work. You should get the info out of any decent book!

There is a ton of maths and the different aspects could be communicated visually with Pie Charts, Graphs etc. And pictures of the types of horses you are refering to, for those who don't know.

Hmm, some ideas that came to mind would be:

Size of the arena, horse heigth, barrel patterns, roping. We use math to time events, geometry for patterns, height of jumps.

math is used in a everyday routine either u are counting how many hours u have left of school in case math (what they called in horse racing the speed) if u can out fellow racers on the speed than there u go u used math

For vets, try the judging of how the amount of food/medicine a horse needs is realted to the height/weight of the horse.