I PERSONALLY don't ride or train horses and have never seen the stuff up close, therefore my opinion on the stuff is pretty much useless and invalid.
The reason I ask people who do train or ride on the stuff about it is because I think its fascinating to find out what they think about it because their opinion is very valid, far moreso than mine.
I had never really considered the riders point of view on it before to be honest with you. I guess I found that alarming. If the jocks(or a jock) say he cant tell if he has horse underneath him or not, that means that perhaps thats why the races on the stuff seem so strange. I mean, riders ride tactically based upon what they feel they have beneath them. A guy won't start asking his horse on the turn if he fells he has a handful of horse beneath him. I guess it never occurred to me that the jocks might find it confusing as well!!!! Seems obvious but having only been on a horse once in the third grade I'm not of the mindset to consider such things. I guess I thought others mind find that part interesting as I certainly did because I had never really even thought about that part of the puzzle. I mean I had read like you all did that the jocks didnt like the kickback, but I never had read that they couldnt tell what they had beneath them to judge pace and riding strategy.