How much weight can my horse's hold

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Leeana

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Okay guys. Mom is wanting to learn to ride. I've been riding since i was about 5 or 6 and am use to doing barrells and pole bending, so im pretty expirenced (dont do the hunter stuff, i think that is stupid ..and also i know so many ppl who are stuck up so i have not interest in it! I know you guys are all great but around here they take that so seriously.) I do western pleasure, barrels and pole bending! Well Mom weights a good 250-275 pounds. Here is the thing.

We have my barrel horses which are about 16HH ...and there for expirenced only. Me and dad are the only ones who can ride them w/out getting killed.

We have Sammy: Registered arabian. He is only 1.5 years old ..but build really strong and whole. He is going to be a big arabian boy! We are planning on breaking him when he is around 2.5 yrs old and then barrell racing/pole bending him some when he is 3yrs old. He is going to be about 15.5hh, 1,000 Pounds probaly. 900-1,000 pounds i would say.

Lorado: 3 yr old, broke really well Quarter horse. 14.5HH. This horse is all muscle and built like a rock. I ride him daily almost and might try some western pleasure next year w/ him. Im thinking mom would do better starting w/ this guy bc well sammy isnt broke, and my barrel horses and speed machines and this guy is more laid back. But i dont know if mom is to heavy for him. Is is built so well, but i dont wanna put him in danger. He is laid back, but is ready to run for miles and has the energy.

So do you think she can ride him? I mean im going to be leading him for a week or two before i let her go by herself. I dont want any danger to go to mom or Lorado. She is pretty tall so its not like she cant 'lean off him'. So do you think she will be fine now on Lorado and then in 2 years on Sammy?
 
Well, Sammy wont be ready for at least 3 years, so he is out. Your 14.5 may be ok, but he is still way young. I would first have the Vet xray his knees and make sure everything is closed and he is ok to hold weight.

What about having her ride your Fresian? He would be the best bet since he is dressage trained and is assumably very quiet and attentive from that training.
 
We dont have our fresion anymore ...i really dont want to talk about that bc i get really worked up over it. I dont really want to explaine that agian. But we dont have him anymore ..so you think that Lorado will be fine? He is going on 4 actually ..the guy we got him from said he was born december 2001 so he is going on 4 pretty soon. She wants to start learning bc she never learned or had interest in horses but i guess she is getting interested. She wanted me to give her lessons last yr but then i was way to involved in barrell racing so i pushed it aside but now i got time to teach!
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I'd say that she would be fine riding Lorado. My brother and I team rope alot and although I only weigh about 125 my brother is on the long side of 250. He's a big boy about 6'6" and sometimes he rides my 14.2 hh, 1,000# 4 year old gelding. He is holding up very well for him, no leg issues, and this little guy is carrying my brother at a run, plus of course the weight of a 500# steer on the end of the rope. I'm sure your guy would be just fine as I'm sure you won't be getting off a walk for some time. I'm sure some here will disagree with what I said, but hey that's just my opinion.
 
Thanks Voodoo!

I'm not looking for flaiming, im looking for support. I know that Lorado is healthy as a horse (excuse the punt) but i wanna keep it that way. I think we might try some lessons sometime next week. I want mom to hang out w/ him some plus im stuck down at the stable all week after school lunging some of dads horses since he only has 1 helper since they all decided to go back to college and all.

..no flaiming yet. I know there is someone out there who is going to say something mean to me about this, but i think were going to do fine w/ lorado.
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No Flames but I surely would have him x-rayed, just to be safe. Some horses mature at a young age, some it may be 4 or later and since you are wanting to put more weight on than normal, its just better to be safe.
 
General rule of thumb: a horse can safely carry 25% of its body weight. So, weigh your tack, and add that to your mother's body weight. Then, get a GOOD idea of the horse's weight - this should be ideal weight, so if the horse is really fat, keep that in mind!
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I know all of ours are a little "over conditioned".

It sounds to me as though your mother would ideally ride a 1200 lb. horse. This would allow for the top of her weight you quoted (250 - 275 lbs.) plus at least 25 lbs. for tack. Letting your mom know about these figures, might even encourage her to lose even just a few pounds to make her a safer load for the horse. It seems as though your QH is about the best candidate....... but don't dismiss the idea of her going to learn on someone else's horse, from a professional. She may well have a fabulous time!! I can tell you from experience it can be hard to teach a family member, so it might save on everyone's nerves. You might also be able to have another person come in and teach. That is always fun, everyone learns, and it makes it easier for the beginner to not feel so embarrassed.

Good luck and have a lot of fun! I know I was thrilled when my husband finally decided he would learn to ride, and we have had a blast ever since.
 
Jacquee said:
It seems as though your QH is about the best candidate....... but don't dismiss the idea of her going to learn on someone else's horse, from a professional. She may well have a fabulous time!! I can tell you from experience it can be hard to teach a family member, so it might save on everyone's nerves.
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Learning on an experienced lesson horse - and not a 3 or 4 year old would be the best idea... remember - green + green = black & blue. An experienced rider of that weight is easier for a horse to handle than a beginner - as it is how the weight is balanced and used... and a novice rider tends to get tense and not be balanced or move with the horse.

Frankly - I have worked at a variety of show barns for years - and if one wanted to label any riders "stuck up" it would have been the Western Pleasure or Stock Seat Eq. girls... with their fancy clothes and chaps and expensive trainers & horses. Labelling all hunter riders as "stuck up" is just as wrong as me labelling all Western Pleasure riders "stuck up." It is not accurate - or fair.

Some of the worst riders - and poorest horsemanship skills - I have ever seen belonged to two Can Chasers (barrel racers) I had the misfortune to know...
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... so there is not just one discipline that contains all the less than desireable types... they are well spread out throughout the equine world.... in different disciplines...
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ETA:
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Minor point... there is no such thing as 14.5 HH...
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as that would be 15.1 HH... Hands are 4 " to one hand.... thus 14 HH... 14.1 HH... 14.2 HH... 14.3 HH... 15 HH etc.

Now 14 1/2 HH - that works just fine!!
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IMO the three year old is too young to be carrying such a weight. A green rider sits heavier in the saddle than an experienced one. I also know, from long and painful first hand experience that the easiest way to ruin a horse is to have a parent ride it!! I finally bought horses form the meat man for my Father on the basis that whatever happened was going to be better for them than what would have happened
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He did learn to ride in the end- Boy did he ever have some rough rides though!! You ideally need something like a Haflinger or a Fjord for someone of this weight with no experience, something slow and gentle- something that is already sitting in a barn near you right now, along with a proper teacher.
 
ETA:  Minor point... there is no such thing as 14.5 HH...  as that would be 15.1 HH... Hands are 4 " to one hand.... thus 14 HH... 14.1 HH... 14.2 HH... 14.3 HH... 15 HH etc.
Now 14 1/2 HH - that works just fine!!


LOL I had assumed she meant 14.2 ( .2 being .5 of .4 confused? LOL)
 
lol, yeah sorry about the 14.5hh thing. I measure in inches and then convert over and i got 14.53 so i rounded it down to 14.5. Sorry about that.

I taught my aunt to ride and then my sister's kid to ride, he is now 11 yrs old and a pretty good rider. Thursday night we are taking him over to the vets and get some x-rays. He said when we called him that he assumed he would be fine (he's seen him about 2 times already due to 1) worming, shots ext. 2) he stopped out and took a look at him a couple times. I have been wanting a halfinger horriably so im thinking about trying that out next month when they have this sale in Columbus.

So after the x-rays were going to go from there. This friday though were heading down to Kentucky (leaving thursday night) and taking my dad's Paint down there to sell him to one of his brother's friends. So sometime next week we will probaly start teaching.

Anyone else got any idea's. I feel kinda stupid asking this ..but do you think that when she gets up on him that he can stand w/out falling over? i feel stupid acting that but i want this to go swiftly.
 
She should be fine on the 3 yr old as long as its not heavy work. I know people will flame me for this but i have a 3 yr old filly that I already have almost prepped for rodeos.

Just keep in mind the horse is young and take it slow.

As far as a dicipline thing, it isnt fair to say any one dicipline is more stuck up or 'stupid' than another. I have been a die hard can chaser for 10 years, and believe it or not i also ride hunters!!

I have met some snobs and some great people in both worlds!!

but contradicting myself a bit....if i had to say one dicipline was more stuck up it would definately be the western pleasure ppl...dont get me started on how the horses are treated either...
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Totally edited cause I'm a fluffy girl too and sometimes it just ain't no fun trying to find the perfect mount for us big gals.
 
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Sorry ..i didnt mean it as 'all people who show this and this are snobby'. Its just when i was younger my dad tried to get me into Hunter, but the people i was with were always just being snobby to me bc we raced horses and i was not the 'perfect hunter kid'. Then when i got the fresian (who is gone now
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) i attended a dressage compitition and was asking some questions because it really looked kind of interesting and he was already green trained for it so i was like 'hmm maybe'. But they were just as horriable as the kids who's hunter class i was in. So i pretty much had this whole mind-set. I know around here its all about horses and people get way to obsesed w/ the hunter stuff. I'm sure there nice people when there not in a barn or on a horse ...but when some young girl walks up to me out of the blue and says 'if you want your jumps to be more verticle you could loose a pound or two, just drink water for a couple days and ear 1 small meal' ..i get the wrong idea about it. I know everyone here at this site is great people so im sorry of that came out the wrong way in the first post, should have been more clear.

Vet x-rays tommarow at 2pm. Im praying!!!
 
The general rule of thumb is that a horse can carry 20% of it's weight. I've never heard the 25% rule it's always been 20% and preferablly no more. Height has very little to do with how much a horse can carry. It's more about it's build, level or fitness, it's weight and the competance of the rider-->you wouldnt want a 180lb person on a 600lb horse flapping around not being balanced causing pain to the horses back. So for example a 900lb horse can carry up to 180lbs give or take some.
 
My dad took him in for the X-rays today during school. We were gunna wait untill after school so i could go but the vet was expecting to deliver a nice little Haflinger Colt sometime this afternoon and wanted to see him this morning. He took x-rays (which i didnt get to see) and got his weight. The horse weights ...1,050 Pounds (dang ...but boy). He said that he Knee's look there best which he said probaly was bc he was never drove or worked Really hard. Just lunged allot which helped more then hurt. So i guess we are safe. I know the 20-25% thing already. Thats how we get our jockeys exept we got was below 20% We usually go w/ about 12-14% for Jockeys and recently learned about the 20% thing a year or two ago.

Everything is fine i guess and since no Kentucky this weekend since The guy we were selling Puffy to decided to come pick him up since i have way to much FFA stuff to do this weekend to leave, mom is getting her first lesson saturday night. She is gunna watch me for a while and watch how i sit, rein, lean ext.
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Your mother is way over the weight limit for this baby- you will ruin him. As usual, I guess this is your business, although I am beginning to wonder why you ask these questions when you have obviously already made up your mind what you are going to do. This little gelding is still a baby, his growth plates are hardly closed, and you are going to put a 19 stone woman who cannot ride on him?? Unbelievable!!
 
"When in doubt do without" if it's something that I can control personally. If there are so many questions and doubts I'd opt for another way. I've seen many times where a green horse and rider =disaster and a bad taste left in the rider's mouth afterwards. Why not start your mom off on the right foot? A nice quiet schoolhorse to help get her started will build her confidence in my opinion would be a great start. Just because the horse is small does not mean that it's the best thing for a beginner to ride....it can be quite the opposite....true it may be a shorter trip to the ground, but the ground will be just as hard.

If it were me, I'd find a nice lesson barn with reliable horses, and take lessons WITH my mom....that would be alot of fun!!
 
You know I might get flamed for this, but I'm going to stand right beside LoveCoco on this one. She knows her mother and her horse and if she thinks that the horse is gentle enough for her mother to get along with then she should go for it. I have seen many young horses who were as good or better for a beginner rider than some older horses. It all depends on the horse and since we don't know this horse and LoveCoco does it is really up to her to know if it will work. As for the weight thing, well, just don't get me started. I'm sure many people on here will call me cruel and tell me that I'm going to ruin my horses, but I'm going to tell it like I see it. I have a 4 year old gelding that I have been team roping on for over a year. He is barely 1000 lbs and stands 14.2. I have been heading and heeling on him for over a year so he carries my 125 lbs as well as having a 500+ lbs steer tied to the end of the rope. My brother who is on the long side of 250 lbs rides him as well, and team ropes on him. He has no bumps, splints, lameness, sores etc anywhere on him. And for the long term effects of somthing like this. I have a mare that is 14.1 about 950 lbs. She was a gift to me when she was three and I was five. I rode her when I was a kid, barrel raing teamroping every rodeo event possible, starting when she was three and still going now when she is twenty. My dad who is 170 teamropes on her as well. My brother rode her (of course he was smaller then, but is still riding her now) and my mom who is also on the long side of 250 teamropes on her all the time. At 20 years old she is still sound as can be, has been x-rayed, looked at checked out etc.... and she is perfectly sound and healthy. I have seen it many times in the rodeo world as well as other fields. If all she want's to do is trail ride I just can't see it hurting the horse. Of course this is only my opinion and should be taken as just that, but that is how I see it.

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Rabitzz is right, the rider would be too heavy for the horse. Now if the horse was a bit older, maybe it would work. But at that age things just arent quite done. And like he ( maybe she sorry) said, LoveCoco has her mind made up anyhow, so I just hope everything works out fine.

This is going to sound harsh, not tryng to make it so, just stating how I feel. Any horse under 5 or 6 shouldnt be rodeoed on, nor raced ( whole nother story), Cut, or even reined on. But those horses arent expected to live out healthy fruitfull and ridable lives, they are discarded as tools. Nothing more. I live in Central TX and it breaks my heart the amount of damaged horses that people use and use up. My farrier always has a few for sale that were ropers etc that are broke down and are just trail or pasture buddies. Some do stay sound, but the odds are vastly against that.

Putting a green rider on a green horse is an invitation to disaster. I belong to a few training lists and the amount of times that people do this, have huge problems and then come on looking for an easy 'fix' is amazing, usually weekly.

I would find a good trainer that you feel good with and that has the know how to give lessons and go from there. Bet it would work out even better for all those involved.
 

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