New Here

Autumnfilly2005

Hi, I just joined this group and thought I'd introduce myself. I am a 26yo female, 5'5" and 230lbs. I have a 9yo Quarter-mix mare, she's 14:2 hands and about 800lbs. I am of course worried about being too fat to ride her, so I only go riding about once a month, and only for 20-30 minutes at a time. I only do easy trails with her, no jumping or anything, with a western saddle. We do ground work and lunging 2-3 times during the week.

I have some questions about being overweight and riding. First, the fit of the saddle is important to every horse and rider, but especially those who are overweight like me. So how did you go about getting a saddle that fit your horse? Who taught you how to make sure your saddle fit? How many different saddles did you try before finding one that works? What kind of saddle pad do you recommend? I used to think my saddle fit fine, but lately I noticed dry patches on her shoulders, which indicates that my tree is too narrow for her. I have another saddle with a wider tree, but it is a much larger saddle overall, and I think it extends too far back over her loin area. The gullet on the bigger saddle is also much narrower than the one on the small saddle.

Also, do you use a mounting block? Do you think that I shouldn't be mounting from the ground because of my weight? I use a mounting block right now, because I am unable to get on without it, but my goal is eventually to not need a block. However, I noticed that when I used to be able to mount from the ground, the saddle would always slip, no matter how tight I cinched it. It doesn't slip when I used a mounting block. I don't use a very tall block either, most of the time I just step up from the 10" sidewalk curb.

Okay, that's it for now! I hope to hear from you, and look forward to meeting everyone!

luckypony71

Hi, I just joined this group and thought I'd introduce myself. I am a 26yo female, 5'5" and 230lbs. I have a 9yo Quarter-mix mare, she's 14:2 hands and about 800lbs. I am of course worried about being too fat to ride her, so I only go riding about once a month, and only for 20-30 minutes at a time. I only do easy trails with her, no jumping or anything, with a western saddle. We do ground work and lunging 2-3 times during the week.

I have some questions about being overweight and riding. First, the fit of the saddle is important to every horse and rider, but especially those who are overweight like me. So how did you go about getting a saddle that fit your horse? Who taught you how to make sure your saddle fit? How many different saddles did you try before finding one that works? What kind of saddle pad do you recommend? I used to think my saddle fit fine, but lately I noticed dry patches on her shoulders, which indicates that my tree is too narrow for her. I have another saddle with a wider tree, but it is a much larger saddle overall, and I think it extends too far back over her loin area. The gullet on the bigger saddle is also much narrower than the one on the small saddle.

Also, do you use a mounting block? Do you think that I shouldn't be mounting from the ground because of my weight? I use a mounting block right now, because I am unable to get on without it, but my goal is eventually to not need a block. However, I noticed that when I used to be able to mount from the ground, the saddle would always slip, no matter how tight I cinched it. It doesn't slip when I used a mounting block. I don't use a very tall block either, most of the time I just step up from the 10" sidewalk curb.

Okay, that's it for now! I hope to hear from you, and look forward to meeting everyone!

Welcome to our group.
I was using a mounting block when I was around 230. Kept using it until I got under 200. Then my legs got stronger and I wasn't dragging the saddle off to the side and making the horse tip.

My Chico is also 14.2 He is over 900lbs, closer to 1000. He carried me around just fine, but like you I just rode occasionally and for short periods of time.

Find a trainer or someone that can help you with a saddle fit. My only recommendation is to buy a quality, name brand used saddle. They always fit better, last forever, and are comfortable.

epiphany29

Hi, welcome!

There are professional saddle fitters who can assess your current saddle and potentially make some suggestions about how that could be adapted for a better fit. They can also help you with finding a saddle that fits your horse well. I honestly think saddle fitting is a really difficult thing for those of us doing it once in a while. It's also a good idea to have the fit checked frequently as a horse gets more into work their shape changes. I had a sweet TB who went from a medium tree to being pinched in an extra-wide in our Wintec over the course of about 10 months.

I recently added a thinline pad. They make them in Western, English and half pads. The material is supposed to be shock absorbing and Brego seems happier with it than just the regular pad.

I recommend mounting from a block as much as possible. Mounting from the ground puts a lot of stress on the horse's back no matter how much you weigh. You horse and his chiropractor will thank you I know there are situations when not possible, but as a rule your horse will likely be happier that way.

dgmace1

Hi I joined recently too. I am having similar problem find correct saddle fit and weight issue on my horse as well. Difference my MFT is only 3 years old. My vet said for any horse need to figure horse weigh and 20% of horses weight is total weight horse can carry. Vet stated this has to include my weight and all tack & saddle.
My horse weighs 915 but because she only 3 vet said I should only put 145 to 150 light light riding. She about 15.1 now.
In april I should be able to ride her if I got my weight down. I figure my horse should grow little more and fill out and then she probably be 15.2 or so and weight at least 1000 or more by time she 5 or 6. Then she will have no problem carrying my normal weight.

With your horse being fully grown you at least can put more weight on him/her. Hope you can find someone help fit your saddle I have had that problem too with different horses.

good luck on your goals. Deb

epiphany29

The 20% rules is a general guideline, but doesn't take the horse's build into consideration. Meaning if the average horse is 1000 lbs then you are limited to 200 lbs of you and tack. Watch any rodeo and you see folks who far outweigh that not including their tack on some of those really stout little QHs. I found a website once that used weight and cannon bone circumference to give a better idea of what weights your horse can handle. Certainly we want to be as kind to our partners as possible, but big boned halflinger pony is going to be able to carry a heck of a lot more comfortably than a fine boned arabian of similar size.

The other thing it doesn't take into account is body condition score. A 1200 lb horse who should weigh 1000 is not going to do well carrying that 240 lbs that is 20% because they are carrying 200 lbs of fat around.

I am not disagreeing with your vet, just saying it is more complicated. The cavalry horses which tended to be smaller than today's horses (but heavier boned) carried an average of 300 lbs into battle. Ponies used as pack animals carry an extraordinary amount of weight compared to their body size on a regular basis without ill effects.

Another factor is the skill of the rider. A good rider that is quiet and soft at 200 lbs puts less stress on the horse than the 120 lb beginner who is bouncing all over the place.

Pip

dgmace1

thanks for your input. this will help me to decide when I might ride her. I have another vet coming when I move her home from training to check her out and will also get her advise.
I have so many people telling me my 3 year old too young to be ridden at all. Her joint aren't fully developed and this will cause her problems when she gets older. Vet disagreed as long as a lighter rider now 135 to 150. told vet my weight 190 at time she said I need to at least wait until she 4 and must make sure to not go over 20% with my weight & tack.

epiphany29

Grrr that joints not formed baloney!

Ok, so the big thing about this was that folks wanted growth plates to be closed before training horse. Joints are formed when the foal is in uterus. The majority of growth is length and occurs at growth plates which are near joints. Fetlocks close before 6 months of age, knees and hocks by shortly after a year, and the rest of the upper limb around 2-3 years of age.

For me, the biggest reason to wait till 3 or 4 to train your horse is mental maturity. They need so much focus and time on the ground work and that gets ignored in the rush to ride. To me, this doesn't mean they aren't "in training" it means they are doing ground work and being kept fit and allowed to develop good muscle and balance without a rider on their back.

Recent studies looking at racehorses (arguably the most difficult training and started at extremely young ages) have shown that horses that race as 2 year-olds are LESS likely to have catastrophic injuries than horses that don't race till they are 3 or older.

Back to the mental maturity...we have all met OTTBs (and I have owned them and love them) and know that they are not the steadiest most dependable steeds out there.

I think there needs to be a medium ground in there. I don't fault anyone for starting their horses as 2 year olds, but I don't fault them either for waiting till 3, or 4 or even 5.

I do think there is a deal of misinformation out there regarding their ability to handle training at different ages.

Another way to think about it is to compare it to a human athlete. There are very few human athletes who start their athletic endeavors as mature adults and rise to the top of the sport. There are sports programs for children as young as 5, and high school athletes (the equivalent of a 2 year old) and college athletes (a 3 year old) are probably in the most intensive programs of their careers. Now I also think there are a good number of human athletes of those ages who struggle with the mental maturity as well.

Hope this offers a little insight.

Pip

Autumnfilly2005

I've heard people say that for fully grown and trained horses, 25% is fine so long as they're not doing hard work or anything. And some even say up to 30% is ok for really casual rides where you basically sit on the horse and do nothing (which is most of my riding, all I want is a nice, easy trail ride every now and then).