From: Bev
Dear Jessica,
Although quite new to your emails and site I do have a question which has been stopping me from riding lessons for many years. I am hoping you can help me to understand better about Riders & Horses and Weights.
I will start by saying I have a 12 yr old paint mare who weighs about 1,200 - 1,300 lbs. She is trained Western and English. I have been on a horse only 2 times in my life. I wish to ride, as this is my heart's desire since I was a young girl. My problem is, I am a large woman weighing 260 lbs. My father always told me I would kill a horse if I tried to ride one as I was a large child as well, thus my fear of getting on a horse. I am brought to tears worrying I might hurt my horse with my weight and inexperience. I really and truly wish to ride but do not know how to tell what size horse would be good for me to ride. I have probably not worded this question properly but am hoping you might be able to direct me on what I need to look for before getting up on a horse's back and doing harm( which I will avoid until I know what I am doing) But I really really Need to ride.. It is a lifelong dream which I am now finding money wise is finally attainable. Can you help ?
Hugs, Bev
That said, I suggest that you not try to ride your own horse, not yet at any rate - wait until you have an instructor to advise you. If your mare is very fit and strong, and suitable for a beginner, your instructor may choose to use her in your lessons - or may prefer to use a school horse until you have mastered the basics of riding, and then begin giving you lessons on your own mare.
Don't worry about hurting horses because of your weight and inexperience. The fact that you ARE worrying about this shows your good heart, and also makes it clear that you will be the kind of rider who is always attentive to her mount's comfort. This is GOOD!
It IS possible for inexperienced riders to hurt horses, but this is unlikely to happen in a good riding program, because the instructor will carefully match horses and riders, select appropriate tack, and not encourage or permit any behaviours (human or equine) that would put horses (or their riders) at unnecessary risk. It is also possible for a too-heavy rider to hurt a horse, but again, this is not at all likely to happen in a good riding program, because a good instructor will, again, select the horse and tack carefully, and choose exercises that provide maximum benefit to the rider whilst imposing minimum impact on the horse.
And speaking of exercises... There's so much more to riding than the rider's weight. Balance, coordination, flexibility, strength, and overall fitness are all-important. A good, competent, balanced rider who controls her OWN body easily and well is going to make the ride easier and more pleasant for the horse, regardless of her weight. A lightweight rider who is weak and unbalanced will make the horse's job much harder. From the horse's point of view, the worst of both worlds would be the very heavy rider who is weak and unbalanced, because such a rider is hazardous to the horse's soundness and safety - and to her own!
So - on to the REAL question. How is your fitness level?
If you want to learn to ride, it's most important that you achieve as much fitness and coordination as possible. For the sake of the horse's comfort, your own safety, and your ability to make meaningful progress, you'll want to be reasonably fit and strong before you arrive at the stables for that first lesson. If you're already fit and strong, good for you - start calling instructors! If you are unfit, then before you begin riding, you'll want to build your strength and your flexibility and your endurance, and the process may or may not involve losing weight. Fitness and coordination should be your primary goals. The fitter you are and the more strong and flexible and coordinated you are, the better off your horse will be. So for your horse's sake AND your own, work on your fitness and flexibility BEFORE you begin riding. This is especially important for heavier, bulkier riders, but truly, ALL horses would be grateful if ALL riders (of any size) would do this!
You'll do best if you begin to think of yourself in terms of your fitness level - not your weight. With the right horse and a good instructor, many heavy riders learn to ride - and not just to ride adequately, but to ride WELL. Weight in itself is usually not a severe handicap - the problem comes when a rider is both very heavy AND very unfit. Given the choice between a fit, heavy rider and an unfit rider of normal weight, many instructors would prefer the heavier rider, because what matters most is your control over your body, not the precise weight of the body itself. Instructors can work with fit riders of any weight - it's much more difficult to work with completely UNFIT riders, because they can't achieve very much, and they are so much harder on the horses.
If you're not yet fit, give yourself time to become fit, and start doing something that will help you reach your goal. There are a lot of different ways to achieve a better level of fitness, and one of the easiest and best ones is also one of the most inexpensive: walking. All you need is a pair of good walking shoes and somewhere to walk - and, I strongly suggest, a notebook in which you'll track your daily activities and your progress! If, on your first day, you manage to walk to the end of the driveway and then need to rest before turning back, that's fine - do it, and record it in your journal. It may be several weeks before you leave your own driveway, but as long as you're making progress, that doesn't matter. That's where the journal comes in. In three months you'll look back and marvel at how far you've come; in six months you'll look back and marvel even more. If it takes six months before you're fit enough to begin riding lessons, no problem - you've waited this long for other reasons, and this time you'll be waiting for a very constructive reason, and DOING things to help yourself whilst you're waiting. Think of the time as "riding prep" - which, truly, it IS.
Since you have your own horse, you have a wonderful opportunity. You can take your horse for walks on a lead rope! This will benefit your horse, it will benefit you, and it will build a stronger bond between you. The time you spend together will help you become more fit - AND it will develop the communication and trust between you and your horse. By the time you can walk briskly next to a fit horse that is striding out at the walk (as opposed to just ambling slowly), you'll be well on your way to being fit enough to ride. Since your ultimate goal is not just to learn to ride, but to ride your own horse, the best thing you can do for HER fitness is to see that she gets as much turnout as possible. Turnout 24/7 is ideal, but even half a day would help. Horses will improve their own fitness when turned out, and they do it by... walking. ;-) A normal horse turned out full-time will typically walk 20 miles in a 24-hour period.
Your mare's fitness and conformation are going to matter much more than her height and weight. If she is built like an old-style, "bulldog" Quarter Horse, solid and chunky and low to the ground, with a short, strong back and a lot of bone, then she should be able to carry you very easily when she is fit. If you get yourself fit as well, and you find a good instructor to help you, you should certainly be able to learn to ride and enjoy your mare. If you are primarily interested in riding as a way to enjoy the scenery and your mare's company, you may be very surprised to discover how quickly you will learn to enjoy spending casual time on horseback. If you have more ambitious plans for your riding, and want to become more seriously involved in one or more equestrian activities, the process of learning will be a much longer one, and your weight may make it necessary for you to work a little bit harder to acquire the skills, but you CAN acquire those skills. ;-)
Once you've begun taking lessons, don't give up your fitness program! You may need to change it a little, however, There will probably come a point at which you'll find that walking, even several miles each day, is no longer enough, and you'll want to begin doing other sorts of exercise that will help your balance and coordination. Your instructor should be able to advise you on which exercises will be best for your particular body type. In general, though, anything that helps you develop strength in your abdominals, your back, and your legs will do wonders for your riding.
One warning: Not all riding instructors are equipped to teach heavy riders. Some don't have suitable horses; some don't have the necessary experience that would let them understand the specific problems involved. There are even some whose attitudes, sad to say, are rather like that of your father. Talk to instructors before you visit them, and explain your situation. When you've made a short list of "possibles", visit them and watch them teach a lesson or two before you sign up to become a student. Somewhere out there, you'll find the right instructor - someone who has appropriate school horses, experience, a sympathetic attitude, and a strong desire to help you become a good rider. You deserve a GOOD instructor - don't settle for anything less.
When you begin riding your own mare and you're looking for a saddle for her, make saddle FIT, not saddle WEIGHT, your focus. When a rider is preoccupied with her own weight, she is likely to think in terms of finding the lightest possible tack in order to compensate. Don't do this. What you'll want is a saddle that fits both of you well and allows your horse to move well. It really won't matter whether the saddle weighs 17 pounds or 35 pounds, provided that it distributes the rider's weight effectively and allows the horse to move comfortably. Your instructor should be able to help you with saddle selection and fitting.
Now, a few thoughts on horses and their weight-carrying abilities. You may want to print this and put it on the wall, so that you can read it whenever your father's discouraging words come back to haunt you.
When the US government was breeding horses for the cavalry, they tested the horses - Morgans for the most part - on rides that covered 300 miles in 5 days. Each horse carried a rider and tack for a total of 280 pounds. Many of today's horses carry similar amounts of weight, and some carry considerably more. Most of today's horses are not as fit as cavalry horses, of course - but it's unlikely that a casual rider today would ask a horse to cover 300 miles in 5 days.
Have you ever seen an Icelandic horse? They are small, extremely sturdy animals. If you were to tour Iceland and wanted to ride an Icelandic horse, you would be able to do it - the horse-tour facility I've heard about has a rider weight limit of 280 pounds.
If you're ever at a big horse event in San Antonio, Texas, and you have the chance to watch the Palomino Patrol in action, here's something to keep in mind whilst you're admiring the riders' uniforms and the horses' tack: Each one of those horses is carrying "rigging" (that's the saddle plus the tapaderos, bridle, breastcollar, serapes, and hip drops) that weighs - are you ready? - just about 200 pounds.
Let me repeat: each horse in the Palomino Patrol is carrying 200 pounds - WITHOUT a rider in the saddle! And since the riders are normal, mature adult humans, not tiny, skinny children, you can safely assume that each rider weighs at least 100 pounds... and probably considerably more. Many of those horses must be carrying upwards of 350 pounds. This doesn't mean that just any rider, using a saddle that fits any old way, could ask just any horse to carry that kind of weight, but it DOES show you that a fit, conditioned, sturdily-built, mature horse, carrying a well-fitting saddle and a competent rider, can pack quite a lot of weight for a short time without becoming injured or breaking down.
If you want to learn to ride, you should learn to ride. If you're not yet fit enough to ride, get fit first - but don't regard your fitness program as some sort of punishment! See it for what it is: preparatory work that will enable you to learn to ride - and that will make your riding lessons easier on the horse and more fun for you.
Good luck, and I hope you'll keep me posted about your progress!
Jessica
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