Is there (or should there be) a ceiling weight to horse riding

[SEL]

No idea if this is of interest to people but I previously typed up some data from five weight carrying endurance tests that were done in the USA in 1919 - 1923.

https://forums.horseandhound.co.uk/...d-weight-carrying-tests.670461/#post-12528496

ETA the photo of Mesaoud has gone but he is on the wiki page about the Crabbet stud.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crabbet_Arabian_Stud

I rode an arab mare on a trip to Tunisia many years ago - 5 days of fast desert riding. She did endurance with her owner who was probably about 16 stone. I weighed in at just under 9 stone at the time and I'm not sure she even knew I was on board. Somewhere I have a photo and she is solid muscle.

Her owner swapped with me on the last day and she galloped just as fast with 16 stone on top after 4 days of hard riding as she did on day 1. Doesn't surprise me that they top the list of toughies!

 

[Goldenstar]

YES, my opinion is that there definitely should be a ceiling of 15 % of the horses weight. For a pretty substantial heavy weight draft type horse that would be ~650 kg that would mean a rider would have a max of about 82 kg....now I realise that there will be a few people in denial here who don't want to here a horrible truth. Horses are horses and our newly fat world only creates problems with sore backs and injuries. If it's motivation that you need then surely if you profess to love your horse then make that effort and shed a few kg's....(not easy I fully appreciate, but perfectly possible for most of us I reckon).

I think your estimates of large horses weights is a bit off .
Sky is a lighter type of ID a he’s 16.3 perhaps a bit bigger he’s fit carries a lot of muscle and is in no way shape or form fat at the minute he is 685 kilos my other weight carriers are heavier than him because they are heavier types .

 

[[142807]]

Depends on the breed of horse, Quarter horses carry a lot of weight with western saddles and rider and they seem more than capable whereas a fine TB might not be able to. I would rather have a competent heavy rider riding one of my horses than a skinny novice bouncing around on the saddle. I think horses can carry a lot more than some of the riding schools allow. A certain equestrian centre puts a 11.7 stone limit on their huge dressage horses which is ridiculous especially as the owner is far heavier than that.