Why "Fat" is also an Issue for Horse Riders

At my other Horse Work Blog (http://horsework.wordpress.com/), I've drawn attention to an item on MSN news today which highlights the dangers of fat horses. Here I want to touch upon the problems of riders who are too heavy for the type of horse they ride, or ride too heavily.

We humans all have a healthy weight-range. To put it bluntly, if your usual weight is more than 10.5 stone you are probably unsuitable for riding the majority of thoroughbred horses. Skilled riders may be a little heavier and some thoroughbreds can carry more weight. However, some lighter people ride heavily because they are novices and/or have weak seats/legs. Even people who describe themselves as "experienced" not infrequently ride more on the hand than through their seats (a style, incidentally, better suited to the Continental Warm Blood type of horse).

This is not to say that that the medium-heavy rider cannot be successful, as demonstrated by a number of international show jumpers, providing they have the right kind of horse, and acquire the skills of riding -and, as importantly, falling off - their horse lightly (which not everyone can !).