Another "Too Heavy?" question.....

Coblover63

Coblover63

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How does a horse or pony show that you are too heavy? Or perhaps I should be asking - what is your perception of how it would behave? As a human we would huff and puff, stagger and make faces, but how would .... or does/did your horse behave if it found it's load too much to bear? I have my own ideas but I'd be interested to hear everyone elses'.....
 
Many horses just get on with it. There are plenty of overloaded horses that you see. The problems often won't show themselves until the horse is in pain. Even then, if someone is too ignorant to know when they are too large for their horse, then they are probably too ignorant to recognise when it is in pain.

But how can you tell? Even if they appear to be performing what is asked of them, you WILL see it in their eyes, and the way they set their ears.
 
I don't know if seeing it in their eyes and ears can be true. When I ride my 13.1 she is so utterly happy and forward, ears practically touching in the middle. When the other two folk ride her one of which must weigh about half what I weigh as she is absolutely tiny she plods along with her ears back being miserable. I'm not saying I am too heavy for her by the way, but you would think a much lighter rider would be preferable to her but for whatever reason, she likes me the best. The other riders are not being hard on her or anything either.
 
That is because she is a sensitive soul who doesn't automatically 'take' to diffferent people. You have built up a bond with her. Weight is not the only thing that could cause unhappiness or apprehension to a horse.
 
I don't think they always do. When its extreme, or its a horse willing to express displeasure easily, they show obvious signs, but horses generally put up with a lot before they make their discomfort obvious. A while back my friend & I were messing round with her mini, & being tall I was stood with my feet on the floor either side (not sat on it, my full weight was on my feet). We were taking pics & decided it would be hilarious if I stood on one leg, & held the leg nearest the camera up as though I was actually sat on it. Again, all my weight on my leg, there was a gap between my bum & the ponys back disguised by my long top. Whilst doing so, pony suddenly shot off & unbalanced me so I was actually on its back for a few strides till I overcame my suprise & launched off. I'm 9stone, which is over double the 4 stone max that pony should carry. Yet we had it on camera & it was cantering with me on without expressing any sign of discomfort. Maybe if I'd stayed on it would have, assuming my legs didn't trip it up. But for me it just emphasises how willing horses are to put up with stuff they shouldn't.
 
Ha-ha.... not! :rolleyes:

IMHO a rider that is too heavy may cause the horse to trip more, be unwilling to move forward and then move sluggishly, may stand with legs splayed, spine will be very dipped when person is in the saddle, ears back, generally unhappy demeanour. If the rider leans to one side, perhaps the horse would stumble to that side as well.....

The original question is TOO heavy, not just heavy.
 
I have never really seen a horse "react" as such when somebody too big climbs on board but you can definitely tell if somebody is too big.
My horse on the other hand wont let bigger people on her :o she plays about like nobodies business hoping they get the hint! If they do eventually get on she will just get on with it though, with a very grumpy look on her face!
 
Just to add, my horse has her on preference on "too heavy". If somebody any heavier than 11st (lets say) goes to get on she just decides that is in fact too heavy!
She is weird though to be fair :) ...
 
When horses are vetted for endurance rides they are checked to see how long their heartbeat and respiration take to get back to base rate. If a horse is ridden that can easily be checked at home to see whether the horse is coping well enough with what it is being asked to carry and how much difference there is between when it carries a larger or smaller rider.
 
My cob has allways made a funny grunting noise in his throat if he displeased about something to heavy to much rain dinner late its very strange noise since a three year old hes allways done it
 
Having watched someone who looked pretty hefty getting on a pony who was perhaps not up to the weight - as the person sat in the saddle the pony dipped its back (probably thinking 'cripes, I wasn't expecting that'!) then took a few strides forward, as if to re- balance itself, then carried on as normal. It was not someone I knew, but I looked at the rider and then at the pony and thought 'poor beast'.
 
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