Page 41 - The Pocket Guide to Equine Knots

saddle maker fix the problem. I like saddle strings to be around two feet long and made of
good, stout leather thongs.

What Weight Can Your Horse Safely Bear?
When travelling horseback with gear, there comes a time when you have to question
whether it’s practical and humane to ask your saddle horse to carry you and perhaps an

entire complement of even the lightest camping equipment. Yes, it’s possible to assemble a
bare-bones set of overnight necessities and get it all on your saddle horse along with your
saddle and your own body, packing it neatly with proper knots. But unless you weigh little
more than a jockey and you’re tough enough to get along with extremely Spartan gear, it’s

probably time to add a pack animal. We’ll help with that in the next chapter. Meanwhile, a
word about your saddle animal’s weight-carrying ability is in order.
How much weight can your horse safely carry? There’s no easy answer. The formula
used by some riding stables—20 percent of the animal’s weight—is useless if not downright

damaging. There are simply too many variables. Can an overweight fourteen-hundred-
pound horse really carry more weight than the same horse, slimmed and conditioned to
twelve hundred pounds?
Indeed, as horses (and other four-legged animals) grow larger, their efficiency tends to

diminish. A Percheron is able to carry more than a Welsh pony, true, but he can probably
carry a smaller percentage of his body weight, because he must support his own very
heavy body.
Further, the conformation of a horse has much to do with weight-carrying ability. Smallish

Icelandic horses routinely carry large people and do so at a fast clip. Among their other
assets are very broad loins. You can feel a horse’s loin muscle by pressing firmly on his
back behind the rib cage and dragging your hand down one side of his torso or the other. At

some point, you’ll feel a drop-off—that’s the end of the muscle. For weight carrying, the
further the loin muscle extends down to the side, the better.
Good bone is also an asset for carrying heavy weight, as is a short back. Dr. Deb
Bennett, an expert on horse skeletal structure at the Equine Studies Institute, believes that
the circumference of the front cannon bone on a saddle horse should measure a minimum

of seven inches per thousand pounds of weight. Maturity, which doesn’t come until age six,
is a necessity for carrying heavy weights over a sustained period of time. Placement of
weight on the horse, as we’ve discussed, is important, and so is the ability of the rider. The

person who sits like a sack of potatoes, who moves little with the horse, makes it tough for
the animal, while the good rider unconsciously helps the horse.
One conformational asset in horses, which helps with mounting and balancing gear on
both saddle and pack horses, is prominent withers (the high point, just in front of the
saddle). A horse with good withers holds the saddle better than one with a sausage-shaped

back. But that’s not an excuse to tie gear on in a sloppy or unbalanced fashion. If your
saddle continues to list in one direction, and you believe you’re riding in a balanced, square
fashion, move a piece of gear from the listing side to the other side. Sometimes it doesn’t

take much: something no heavier than a water bottle can do the trick.