The All-Around Horse and Rider
Chapter One
The All-Around Horse,
an American Heritage
The history of the horse seems to holds a tenacious influence on
man's future. Doubters may want to consider the case of the solid rocket
booster fuel tanks, a part of the propulsion system for NASA's Space
Shuttle, which is arguably, the most advanced form of transportation of
the age. Made by Thiokol in Utah, their size is influenced by horses who
lived and served their owners in Imperial Rome! Deeply imbedded ruts
made by the Roman war chariots dominated wheeled design specifications
for centuries, influencing the prototype for the British railroad
gauge (the width between the rails on railroad tracks is 4 feet, 8.5
inches, derived from the specification for an Imperial Roman war chariot),
and Englishmen helped design and build the American rail system.
The shuttle's booster tanks, which must be shipped by rail from their
manufacturing site to their final destination at the launch pad, could not,
therefore, exceed the width of a pair of horse's haunches-or so the story
goes.
It seems no coincidence, then, that the history of our country is bound
up with that of the horse; the very a ... read full excerpt from The All-Around Horse and Rider ebook
