Horse weight quandary

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wes

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My wife has had a cross Irish Sport Horse/TB standing at just over 16h for a year now, he is now 7 years.
We originally bought him horse to share, and I have ridden him quite a bit, and love his forward nature and we seem to suit each others temperament.

We have recently bought a 5 yr old Irish cross drought for me also around 16h so much bigger boned, so we can enjoy riding together.

The issue is my wife is intimidated by her gelding, as he can get head strong and run away with her at a cantor, and just being on his toes sometimes. So much that we are considering swapping him out for a smaller/calmer ride for her. I don't think a stronger bit is the option, as I think she just wants a calmer more reliable ride, which I can understand and as both of us are 50+ we're not teen-ages, though I do enjoy a good blast around the woods!

The problem is I enjoy riding her boy so much....I was willing to see him go for the happiness of my wife, as he is just too much horse for her. I thought we had no option, but chatting to an instructor last night after a group lesson where I had ridden him, she thought that it would be an option for me to keep her ISH/TB as we get on so well, and my riding has improved too over the last year, and also TB have denser bone than other breeds.

I am just under 14st and reasonably fit, and normally ride 1-2 times a week, maybe a bit more in the summer. Normal rides would consist of school riding, hacks and maybe a few local shows with some small jumping, and charity ride outs.

I can imagine this is a can of worms, but what are the thoughts of 14st on a 16 hands ISH/TB?
 
Oh for goodness sake, you'll be absolutely fine! Horses (especially Irish ones) can carry an awful lot more than people suppose unless they are completely weedy, narrow little things. You should see what goes out hunting 3 times a week with some great lump of a lad on board around here! And stays sound and perfectly happy, I should hastily add.
 
Hi, I'm Wes's wife and the one who's the scaredy cat :D

My boy Syd is lovely in most ways, great to handle, in the trailer etc. But at times he has what I call his 'yee hah' moments, gets all excited when cantering out hacking and just gets faster and won't stop. ( well he does more for Wes as he is stronger and not as scared, I think I just hang on !) he doesn't do it all the time.

So a good solution is that we swap horses but we had initially been told that he was a little too fine boned for my husband to ride all the time. The last thing we want is for him to sustain any type of injury or problem due to having too heavy a rider. He is not a weedy spindly legged thing but obviously is finer bone structure than our other boy who is built like a tank !

I had a bad fall from Syd a few months ago and who knows maybe my confidence will return, but at the moment I just don't feel safe and the more tense I get so does he and we wind each other up.( I posted about it a few months ago)

So as long as it won't do him any harm then we have a good solution to our problem.

Thanks for your views/thoughts on this :)
 
i would suggest yo take it in turns as to who rides who, then you get a win win situation. no saying that if you replace the flighty model you would get one any better unless prepared to invest £SSSSS. maybe some lessons to boost confidence and improve horses compliance to aids??
 
A 16hh ISH should be more than capable of carrying 14 stone, although of course without seeing the horse or the rider it is not possible to say definitively.
A horse swap sounds like the perfect solution to me.
 
Go for it im around that weight range and my grey ISH carries me hinting all day no probs and she isnt the chunkyest mare around to be honest i think a lighter person would struggle a take her out in a double and still had some hairy moments breaks wise
 
You've obviously never heard the saying "an ounce of blood is worth an inch of bone". A breedy horse can carry weight if it's well made. It's more to do with how you feel than what the horse can carry
 
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