ridecamp@endurance.net: [endurance] Rider weight

[endurance] Rider weight

Susan Flagg (bzdgulch@ecis.com)
Tue, 26 Mar 1996 17:19:29 -0800

My ex-husband at one point weighed close to 300 pounds (pushing 350 pounds
with his McPherson roping saddle) and rode a 14.3 Morgan mare. She always
packed him around without any complaints, and for a heavy guy he rode pretty
"lightly." But if he didn't have a rock to help him mount, she would
stagger sideways when he got on.

When I started riding her, she perceived me as some sort of minor annoyance
(I totalled about 165 pounds including tack), and we had to do lots of arena
work for me to gain any sort of "respect" from her.

When we divorced he got the mare, but had to sell her, so I bought her from
him and promised her she'd never have to carry that much weight ever again!
Now my daughter and I ride her and the mare's enjoying life!

I, too, have read that one pound equals one length in TB horse racing.

Sue

At 01:34 PM 3/26/96 -0500, you wrote:
>Hi- I have read that the maximum comfortable weight that a horse can carry is
>20% of it's body weight. That's just a rule-of-thumb because it really depends
>more on how the horse is built- broad back vs narrow etc. But I still think
>that a horse would notice a 40 pound difference. My horses certainly seemed
>to notice when someone alot heavier than I got on them. -Amy
>
>