Am I too heavy for him?

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Castlecourtdaisy

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Long story ahead... my horse has been having problems undersaddle - slight lameness, cold-backed, difficulty coming into an outline (hollowing) etc. Our saddler and vet think he has a back problem - his back was out over his pelvis and withers. Vet fixed it apparently, and it came out again, so our saddler fixed it, and we're having both of them check him again soon but I'm quite worried it's happening because I'm too much weight for him. I'm going to ask my vet when he comes again but could do with your opinions too. My horse is a 15.2-15.3hh 5yr TBxID, big boned, massive feet etc so he's fairly stocky for his type, but green and at the moment unfit due to bad weather conditions over winter preventing me from exercising him, plus the fact he was "off" now and then (not all the time, and he didn't have a problem at all for the first few months I had him - I've had him for a year now) when I did ride, so I avoided it.

I'm 5'11, so yes, slightly tall for him but apparently I don't look it (according to my instructor and vet, so professional opinion!) but my weight varies from 11-12 stone. No-one's ever suggested I might be too heavy, even though my vet was there when I tried him out, and I had regular lessons up until I moved yards at the beginning of winter. The thing is though, I'm very slim so I must have heavy bones, and people are often surprised when they find out how much I weigh because of how I look, so in that case my vet and instructor WOULDN'T have seen a problem because I look more like I'm about 10 stone.

I weighed him a few months ago and from what I can remember he was between 400 and 500 pounds (not a brilliantly accurate memory I know). Using the 20% rule he should be more than capable of carrying me, and using the 1/6 rule he should be capable if he's over 450 pounds, but with not a lot of room to expand. But then I may not be the original cause of his problems, but if he had an injury in the field or put his back out, then now he'd be considerably weaker, so could I be making him worse? I'm pretty experienced and balanced in my riding, and I know this makes it easier for them to carry you, but even so....thoughts? I don't want to hurt him!

Pictures of him that might help in terms of his conformation etc (by the way, please ignore the messy yard floor, it was winter and we had put straw down because it was icing up):

http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphoto...440592910219_565635219_10790164_2433555_n.jpg

http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphoto...440592915219_565635219_10790165_7192906_n.jpg
 
Im 5ft 11 too and 11 1/2 stone and have a 16.1 TB who weighs just short of 500 kilo and we are fine, i dont think you are too heavy at all. Plus you could ride light I know I do so my horse is fine with my weight
 
In a word.................NO! This is a common topic on this forum but I really wouldn't think you are too heavy for him. I weight between 11-12 stone and am 6 foot (although 12 stone 2 at the moment :() Zoom is a 14.3 fine boned argentinean tb.

Your boy looks pretty stocky, I'm sure he carries you no problem at all.
 
I wouldnt say so ...... though I would ask if you ride straight or have any problems.

I only say this because both me and the pone have issues and we do seem to rather set eachother off.
 
I wouldnt have thought so. I too weigh in heavy....i am 10 stone and 5 ft 3 but only a size 10/12 so i too must be heavy boned ;-) but my horse is a 14.2 irish sports horse x cob (although not stocky like a cob) he has no problems carrying me!.....if he did the swine wouldnt have had the power to buck me off three times like he did last week lol!!! :-D
 
I would say you are not too heavy for him. Hoewver it is just not the actual weight or the rider but also how they carry themselves on the horse that is important. A heavier but well balanced rider who can help the horse to find his own balance if much kinder to the horse than a lighter rider who has a poor position/balance on the horse or who uses the reins to keep their own balance.

As a comment on the pictures, your boy looks slightly immature - and I am speaking as someone who has a rising 5 year old who although 17.2 does look rather similar. As he still has a lot of growing into himself to do he is only in very light work.
 
No you are not too heavy. Over the last 30 years the trend has been towards bigger horses and people have forgotten what the smaller horses can really do. Frankly, some of our native breeds are far more capable of carrying weight than the bigger horses. My 15.3 hh Anglo,was quite capable of carrying me over 3 miles point to pointing,at 12st 7.He wasnt quite fast enough to be competetive,but was safe and tough as nails.
 
I would say he should be easily able to carry you HOWEVER... he does look quite weak across his topline and would probably benefit from a little lunging work over poles, with fairly loose sidereins and two lungelines to encourage him to work over his back without the weight of a rider on his back before you get on board on a regular basis again. This is no reflection on you at all BTW!

Also is his hay fed off the floor? if not do so... you'll be amazed at the difference this makes to topline...
 
Thanks so much for posting this...I go through stages of wondering if I'm too heavy for Av as she is only 15.2 and a TB but you are completely right...the trend for ever increasing horses means that we forget what their capabilities actually are. Especially how much native types are happy carrying and how much TB's carry when racing :-)
 
'All things equal' as they say then no you are not, and most horses of his build would be more than fine. However I too agree he looks weak on his top line and as he is having back issues it maybe that he would benefit from work on his top line from the ground for a couple of weeks or so. Like humans not all people of the same size and weight have the same strength and it maybe that your lad is just not very strong at the moment

Hope this doesn't offend at all as I am no skinny myself so would not mean to upset anyone, its just a thought
 
Thanks so much for all your responses! I really appreciate everything you've all said, and thank you for the ideas about lunging, I don't know why I didn't think about this...We do a lot of groundwork already (semi-parelli!) but I think the side reins and poles would be a great idea. I'll definitely get started on that. I did a bit of hill work with him, lunging, the other day as our field has a mini hill, but should probably do that more. I agree his topline's very weak.

To answer another question, I ride quite straight usually but with him I've often used a lighter seat on him as he was very unbalanced when I got him (and even weaker if you can imagine that!) I guess I overestimated how much he should be able to managed after a certain amount of time, and probably didn't think enough about how much time he'd had off in between. Thanks so much all of you, again! Keep the ideas coming if you have anymore, they're very useful!
 
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