When I started riding her, she perceived me as some sort of minor annoyance
(I totalled about 165 pounds including tack), and we had to do lots of arena
work for me to gain any sort of "respect" from her.
When we divorced he got the mare, but had to sell her, so I bought her from
him and promised her she'd never have to carry that much weight ever again!
Now my daughter and I ride her and the mare's enjoying life!
I, too, have read that one pound equals one length in TB horse racing.
Sue
At 01:34 PM 3/26/96 -0500, you wrote:
>Hi- I have read that the maximum comfortable weight that a horse can carry is
>20% of it's body weight. That's just a rule-of-thumb because it really depends
>more on how the horse is built- broad back vs narrow etc. But I still think
>that a horse would notice a 40 pound difference. My horses certainly seemed
>to notice when someone alot heavier than I got on them. -Amy
>
>