Do you believe heavier people shouldn't ride horses?

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  • lesnwhisper
    lesnwhisper Posts: 20
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    I don't believe ANYONE should ride horses. Horses are so intelligent. Would you ride a dog?

    Sorry?

    worlds_biggest_dog.jpg
    win!
  • nefbaker
    nefbaker Posts: 79
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    I ride Percherons, and I have a bumper sticker "Ride a Draft...it makes your butt look smaller." I weigh around 190, but have been riding since I was at 240 or so. Marisol is 17 hands and weighs over a ton. My other riding horse is a Saddlebred/Perch cross that loves going for rides...when I take the halter out to get Mari, he'll follow me and try to stick his head in the halter so he can come instead.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    I don't believe ANYONE should ride horses. Horses are so intelligent. Would you ride a dog?

    If it could carry me. :laugh:
  • summertime_girl
    summertime_girl Posts: 3,945 Member
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    If you cant ride a bike, you should not ride a horse.

    That makes me laugh. My seven year old will W/T/C on my 16 hand horse, no problem. Put her on a 20" bike with training wheels, and she's TERRIFIED.
  • 777Gemma888
    777Gemma888 Posts: 9,578 Member
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    Would you ride a dog?

    Poodles were used as a sled team sometime back at the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. And using a sled does qualify as a form of riding. Would I? A resounding yes, most especially if I was stuck in the Alaskan Wilderness and my only avenue to get out was a pack of Poodles .Hitch them babies up!
  • 777Gemma888
    777Gemma888 Posts: 9,578 Member
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    I don't believe ANYONE should ride horses. Horses are so intelligent. Would you ride a dog?

    Sorry?

    worlds_biggest_dog.jpg
    win!

    OMG! What breed?
  • meredifish
    meredifish Posts: 9
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    There's many factors besides weight of the rider or the size of the horse, like terrain/duration of your ride, and your equipment. A saddle isn't just to cushion the rider's butt, it helps evenly distribute the "load" evenly.

    That being said, I don't think someone over 300 pounds has any business riding a horse! It's bad for their back, and, in all practicality, the rider needs a walk a whole lot more than the horse!

    Consequentially, I can't wait to get on my gelding after my weightloss... it may not be a difference of 100 pounds but "posting" (standing up and sitting down in the saddle in tandem with a trotting/running horse) is a lot of ab and glute work. Once my muscles are stronger, I wonder how fast and far we'll be able to go when I can keep up with him!
  • sizzle92
    sizzle92 Posts: 1,015 Member
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    I loved being flamed and told my posts are stupid because of how I feel about it. :laugh:

    I have ridden horses, and I am only 6 pounds "over weight" and I still feel bad about riding on them. I'd much rather see them in their own groups and doing whatever the hell it is that they want to do.

    But hey, for thinking outside the box you're bound to be bashed and flamed. I'm very opinionated so I should have expected to get flamed for thinking against the norm.

    Do you want to knit some hats for them and start a club?


    Sure I'd love to, if I knew how to knit they'd all have sweaters for the winter. Why don't you pull up a chair and help? Let's see, knitting for an animal that large would take hours, so I'd imagine the calorie burn on that would be great.

    I always love to see people refer to calorie burning by doing things like breathing. :tongue:

    I swam with a horse once. True story.
  • horseperation
    horseperation Posts: 1 Member
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    Just because it's been done doesn't mean we should keep doing it. I ride. I love my horses. I ride a horse strong enough to bear my weight, but I don't ride more than a couple hours, usually much less.

    I'm looking at 300lbs with tack, I have a serious saddle.

    What worries me at least as much as asking a horse to carry too much is the deep dip you can see in every horse with some hours under the saddle just behind the shoulder. Look at horses that have never been ridden, and no matter the age, that dip is not there. look at horse that are ridden, even occasionally over its lifetime, that depression is there. This means that the saddle is grinding into the horses back and blocking shoulder movement. The rider's weight is irrelevant to this issue. The hors's back is breaking down from the saddle.

    I just think we have a lot to rethink when is comes those magnificent creatures some of us love to partner with.
  • salembambi
    salembambi Posts: 5,585 Member
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    I believe all people should not ride horses
  • Princess71117
    Princess71117 Posts: 91 Member
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    Oh man-I went to the Dominican Republic a few years ago, and we ended up getting credit for activities at the resort as they screwed up something. My cousin and I really wanted to go horseback riding so that's what we did. The horses were of a good height, however, they were so skinny you could see their ribcages. I felt like SUCH a terrible person, because we were getting pleasure out of them when they were clearly too skinny to be dragging inexperienced tourists over uneven/sandy terrain in like 40+ degrees.
  • redversustheblue
    redversustheblue Posts: 1,216 Member
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    To ride the horses onto the battlefield at Gettysburg, you must be under 250 lbs. To ride a horse in Hyde Park London, you must be less than 175 lbs. These are businesses, so you know they don't make the rules lightly. They want to have as many people ride as they can get to pay. But they also want to protect their investment in the horses. But as someone upthread stated, draft horses, such as Percherons, can be trained as saddle horses and ridden by heavier people. And some of the larger warmblood breeds used for dressage are descendants of breeds that were used as war horses at times when armored warriors weighed quite a lot. They can be ridden by larger riders, as well.

    wait, you can do this? That's awesome! I really want to do this!
  • kdeaux1959
    kdeaux1959 Posts: 2,675 Member
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    Depends on the horse and how obese the individual is.
  • dsm1991
    dsm1991 Posts: 156
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    i dont mind as long the horse is okay with it
  • Smirnoff65
    Smirnoff65 Posts: 1,060 Member
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    I always said that I would like to have went horse riding but always felt that I was too heavy and wouldn't have put a horse through that, now I think I am getting a lot lighter this is definitely on my to do list.
  • Princess71117
    Princess71117 Posts: 91 Member
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    I always said that I would like to have went horse riding but always felt that I was too heavy and wouldn't have put a horse through that, now I think I am getting a lot lighter this is definitely on my to do list.

    It's the best feeling in the world!! You'll be pretty sore if you do it often, but honestly, it's amazing! :)
  • LadyRN76
    LadyRN76 Posts: 4,275 Member
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    It is all dependent on the size, age and health of the horse; with that being said - you have to add on the weight of the tack as well as the weight of the person. If you already weigh 300+ and you add 40-50 pounds of tack - that is A LOT of weight. I love my horses - and would never let them be ridden by someone that overweight - and they are young, sound and in the best shape possible. Percherons and clydesdales? Maybe - but again, it would be dpeendent on the size, health and age of the horse.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,087 Member
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    2012 thread resurrection!! :laugh:
  • LadyRN76
    LadyRN76 Posts: 4,275 Member
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    Passionate subject for quite a few people no matter the year.. :smile:

    2012 thread resurrection!! :laugh:
  • splashtree2
    splashtree2 Posts: 277
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    It would probably depend on the size and age of the horse. Most people don't realize it, but horses are very sensitive, and get thrown out of whack quite easily. That being said, a relatively large adult horse shouldn't have any problem with it.

    I agree with that...and anyway i'm a horse back rider and i've found very damaging sport for my lower back unless you really like horses!!!

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