Does too little weight matter?

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cheeryplatypus

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Took my horse (15.2hh IDx) out today with his bug mask on (which has seemed to help his head shaking.) However he now has decided to go back to his old nonsense again...leaning on hands, when I push him on he tucks his chin to his knees and there's no horse in front of me! That's between trying to set his neck and p*** off with me, refusing to yield and generally messing about. Push him on and you get a trot at a rate of knots that can't be slowed at all with my seat, basically its really unenjoyable and threatening :(
Now I've had him 5 years now and he has come on a lot. I can do anything on the ground with him he's no longer bargy/scared etc, though he can be a bit arrogant.

So just wondering is it possible that I'm just not heavy enough (just under 8st) to ride him effectively? Does weight make a horse have more respect for you and go better?
 
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I think in a way yes it does ! My friend is like a feather on her horse and she's now had to get spurs on her because she's just not interested and knows she isn't strong enough to ride her !
My mum also is very lightweight on her horse and he does tend to mess around more with her than he does with me.
I think it's more the fact though in both these cases the riders aren't particularly strong and sometimes tend to let the horses take the lead.
I do think weight has something to do with how the horse behaves though unless you are a particularly strong rider
 
I wouldn't have thought so! It's not like he's a great big 18hh thing :-) he probably just has that sort of personality. Perhaps if he had been owned by a big burly man and then come to you he might find it hard to adjust and feel your weight aids, but even then he would get used to it.
 
No. My cob is a big 15.1 chunky girl, I'm 8st and I can ride her through telepathy. It's the schooling, not the size of the rider that makes a good horse or not.
 
No I dont think it makes any difference its definately all about the schooling. I was only 13 and probably weighed less than 8 stone when I got my big 16.3 IDXTB and we did everything together and he was very green when I got him and ridden by a grown man. It took a while to get used to him but once I got it right everything was great
 
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