By crouching forward, jockeys allow their limbs to act as pistons and take stress off the horses.
Jockeys are changing the way they ride. A research team in the U.K. put motion sensors on riders and their mounts, and discovered that modern jockeys remain steadier through the natural jostling of a race. That helps the horses run faster. The team's findings appear in study published this week in the journal Science.
Alan Wilson, a professor of locomotor biomechanics at the Royal Veterinary College, tells NPR's Jon Hamilton on today's All Things Considered that jockeys are using their arms and legs like shock absorbers. The horses still have to carry the riders, Wilson explains, but they don't also have to move them up and down with each stride. He compares the motion to that of a skier moving down a mogul field:
"Their feet are going up and down, but their body is following a smooth path," he says.
It's hard work for the jockeys, whose hearts sometimes hit 180 beats per minute.
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