Clydesdale x QH
- Thread starter Bodshi
- Start date
They're a crapshoot. Ad didn't pull up but any draft crosses are the thing here it seems. For every one nice one there are 235,400 really ugly, collywobbled ones out back. Yes, as trends go lean, tall, high action horses were what has been bred for. Hitch bred vs farm chunk. Hitch bred won out with few exceptions. People think draft equals a high carrying capacity. Fine if you have a shorter, short backed animal with solid bone and good feet but 18hh, long backed and weakly coupled on stilts with tiny feet says it can't do the job of carrying around 350 pounds of human and tack. Especially when the only riding done is irregular and horse sits in a pasture doing nothing for weeks at a time between those rides.
@SpooksHavinFun we were looking at a specific advert and the horse in that looked nice. What you're saying could be said about many breeds and types because there are good and bad examples of all - I live in a racing area and I see so many tbs that I wouldn't touch with someone else's bargepole due to poor conformation and temperament, but that doesn't alter the fact that there are still many good ones out there too. As I said before Shire x TB was a very popular man's heavy hunter when I was growing up, you didn't hunt our country on something that wasn't tough enough to jump large hedges out of very heavy clay but some of those horses would be out two or three times a week carrying a heavy rider for many seasons. I would question your 350lb/25 stone weight though, I wouldn't consider that acceptable for any horse.
Heavy people want to ride. They want to go out on trails (vacation rentals) or take lessons. Here seeing adults in he 250 plus range and putting them on heavy western saddles, weight adds up. Our population on average is significantly heavier starting at a very young age. Our horses aren't the solidly built cobs or crosses that refined the heavy but kept the solid. Here many just see $$$. They have poorly bred examples of both crossed that produce even more poorly bred and conformationally unsound to feed an industry for an overweight population.
Weight doesn't equal carrying capacity. 20% of 2000lbs is 400. None of the drafts I worked with would be able to carry that for the long haul and stay sound. It's a big reason why there are so many dumped. Not that they're carrying that 20% but that due to their conformation they're not capable of sustainably carrying heavy loads over long periods of time and come up lame. Then sold on before they're so lame they can't recoup the cost of care.
One could also argue that their capacity to pull a load is also diminished compared to old style drafts or those still bred and used for farming or hauling. Style is everything to some so breeding went that way. Crossed with whatever saddle horse there is in the barn because crosses must be better. They're certainly in demand.
Every now and then you see one that worked out. I didn't see the original advert. The page came up but that horse wasn't one I saw scrolling through. There are breeders out there that go into breeding with an understanding that crosses aren't a middle value and know what to.look for when breeding a cross so that the cross is what they intended and sound. Still doesn't necessarily make it suitable for a heavy rider and heavy tack.
Most of what I see here on this site I'd consider suitable for a heavier rider. Not necessarily the extreme. Here most of what is out there isn't suitable for the heavier rider.
Weight doesn't equal carrying capacity. 20% of 2000lbs is 400. None of the drafts I worked with would be able to carry that for the long haul and stay sound. It's a big reason why there are so many dumped. Not that they're carrying that 20% but that due to their conformation they're not capable of sustainably carrying heavy loads over long periods of time and come up lame. Then sold on before they're so lame they can't recoup the cost of care.
One could also argue that their capacity to pull a load is also diminished compared to old style drafts or those still bred and used for farming or hauling. Style is everything to some so breeding went that way. Crossed with whatever saddle horse there is in the barn because crosses must be better. They're certainly in demand.
Every now and then you see one that worked out. I didn't see the original advert. The page came up but that horse wasn't one I saw scrolling through. There are breeders out there that go into breeding with an understanding that crosses aren't a middle value and know what to.look for when breeding a cross so that the cross is what they intended and sound. Still doesn't necessarily make it suitable for a heavy rider and heavy tack.
Most of what I see here on this site I'd consider suitable for a heavier rider. Not necessarily the extreme. Here most of what is out there isn't suitable for the heavier rider.
Over hereI think you'd find it nigh on impossible to find a school or trekking centre that would take a 250lb rider, let alone a novice, and our saddles tend to be lighter than yours. Upper limits even for places with proper weight carriers tend to be in the region of 13 to maybe 14 stone (182 to 196lb) and many won't take that. There can be a problem that horses with good conformation to carry weight are often more short coupled which means they won't carry a saddle that will accomodate a very big rider, and when you start pushing the upper end of weight limits it's more important than ever that the saddle fits both parties.
Many draught breeds aren't bred to carry weight, they're bred to pull it, something that really should be understood. And realistically there comes a point when a person should accept they're too heavy to ride and either give up on the dream or do something to lose weight.
Many draught breeds aren't bred to carry weight, they're bred to pull it, something that really should be understood. And realistically there comes a point when a person should accept they're too heavy to ride and either give up on the dream or do something to lose weight.
Wow @SpooksHavinFun that's awful. Don't your trail riding centres and dude ranches have weight limits? I can't think of a place I've ever ridden or looked at riding here in the UK that didn't have a weight limit, usually around what @carthorse describes. Sometimes if you are an experienced rider and know that place they will let people up to 16 stone (224lb) ride but that is very rare.
It confuses when people want a weight carrier.
A horse with more bone has that so it can carry its own weight, not so that someone can add theirs to it.
On paper mine can carry 13 stone. But that person won't fit into my current saddle and she's unfit.
Most places in the uk I would have said have a 14 stone limit. I can recall my friend being too heavy for the Clydesdale experience. They are not necessarily built to carry, only to pull.
A horse with more bone has that so it can carry its own weight, not so that someone can add theirs to it.
On paper mine can carry 13 stone. But that person won't fit into my current saddle and she's unfit.
Most places in the uk I would have said have a 14 stone limit. I can recall my friend being too heavy for the Clydesdale experience. They are not necessarily built to carry, only to pull.
@newforest not always, some horses have a lot of bone for their top while others are light of bone for their build. I agree there's more to it than bone though.
@newforest cobs are meant to be compact, ie short coupled and short legged also described as a big horse on short legs. Longer legs, particularly in the canon bones, are weaker though they do make for greater speed.
My Fat Kob was the spit of your Little 'Un. They could've been twins. He would've made an excellent jousting pony for kids (or me, if I was so inclined). He also had some jump on him. Out of nowhere, boom and over! Pocket rocket with attitude.
@Frances144 if you're ever down this way you should come and meet Luka and we'll go for lunch. Now he'd pose for your camera, though I think you'd still like Little Un more!
I would love that. No idea when, though but thank you.
And thank you @newforest for the offer of the jousting saddle! Great find imho.
From memory they wouldn't allow riders of the weight that @SpooksHavinFun is talking about though, and I don't blame them.
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