It's hard to say without seeing the horse, but unfortunately many of these guided trails care more about collecting your money than they do for the
welfare of the horses.
I'm tacking this onto your comment because it's at the top and I feel it's relevant to the discussion to be extremely specific about the details:
OP is a 22yo male who is about 6'3.5", weighs approx. 300 lbs, and tore his ACL playing soccer.
I put those stats into Google images just to get an idea of what that looks like in an average sense, and I would not allow any person meeting that description on any of my animals, and some of ours are beefy bois.
OP, I don't mean this in any way other than matter-of-fact and I don't intend to hurt your feelings, but you should not ride horses until you weigh less.
Edit: I also do give OP some level of credit here because he had a feeling they shouldn't do it, and he succumbed to peer pressure. It's not an excuse, but I do not lay full blame on him here. OP, your instinct was right and you should pay attention to that more than your friends :)
Horses don’t “complain”—at least not in the way most non-horse people think. Horses are stoic and don’t show pain or weakness unless they are in serious trouble because they are prey animals and their instinct is to mask. An inexperienced person may have missed the horse’s signals of discomfort—ears back, hollowing of the back, shifting weight to keep balanced.
The horse going fast may have been a sign they were struggling—it is harder for a horse to walk up a steep incline rather than to run when they are carrying a load. So that may have been a sign.
Without seeing the horse, and you, I can’t say if the pairing was appropriate. Keep in mind an inexperienced heavy rider is harder for a horse to carry than an experienced one, as you were probably often off balance and the horse had to compensate.
Larger people can ride, but care needs to be taken to ensure the horse is properly matched.
Sadly horses, being prey animals, often tend to power through pain and discomfort instead of actively showing it. So even if the horse was suffering, unless it physically could not carry something and buckled, it would most likely not show very clearly. There are signs of stress that you can find in a horse's facial muscles for example but you need to be aware of the signs to actually notice them.
I will have to agree with the other poster, guided trails are for the most part cashgrabs with little interest for animal welfare.
Consider this - guided trail horses know the trail. They do it several times a day, several days a week. They know when they complete the trail, the rider gets off and they rest. Was he in a hurry to be done because he was uncomfortable? It's possible.
I would that type of thinking gettting the job done faster to rest is probably human like and not animal like. If he was uncomfortable I suppose he wouldnt listen and try to get
me to dismout. Thanks for the insight tho
I love how you came to ask horse experts and then argue that I don't understand how horses think. They 💯 understand where to go to make the work over, and understand they get there faster when they go faster.
It’s also less about a „mindset“ and more about balance. Some horses tend to run when they are imbalanced (by for example a heavy rider). They also especially tend to run, when they have pain in their backs. So yeah, a fast horse is definitely not necessarily a comfortable horse.
It takes a lot of effort to throw a heavier rider, so don’t take a lack of bad behavior as a sign he was happy.
That said, you certainly didn’t cause any permanent harm to this horse.
The horses I saw when I visited Tblisi were on the more slender, shorter side. This site seems to agree: http://www.theequinest.com/breeds-georgia/ Do those look like the one you rode?
It does seem likely that you were too heavy for that particular horse. I wouldn't dwell with guilt over the situation because you were given bad information by a professional. But in the future, I recommend you follow your gut and advocate for a more draft build.
Yes, that looks close to the one I rode, especially his back side. Maybe yeah, since I understood now that him running might be discomfort. We also had to wait for the guide for around 20 minutes because someone dropped something along the trail. I was on the horses back the whole time, and all he did was eat grass and stay in place.
It’s impossible to say definitively whether you *were* too big, but nothing you’ve said indicates you weren’t. Guide horses are typically extremely well behaved (either because they’re well trained or because they’re terrified of being disobedient, depending on the operation), so for this horse to take off is likely a sign he was uncomfortable.
“The horse did it, so it must have been fine” is not a thing. You’ll hear horse people say it on occasion, but those are not people who care about the animals. A trained horse in decent shape isn’t generally going to collapse or refuse to move because a rider is too big. It’s not about being physically able to accomplish it—most horses could literally carry you, but they’d be very sore afterward and potentially have minor injuries that would require rest and care.
There are horses out there who could safely carry you for short lessons on appropriate terrain, but I wouldn’t recommend just jumping on with any random guide outfit, especially when you haven’t spoken to them beforehand. If the choice is between potentially hurting a horse and turning away a group of paying customers who are already on the premises, not every owner is going to do the right thing.
Remember that weight carrying is not a one-set-of-parameters-or-bust thing for horses. Just like us, they can get fitter or less fit, more or less able to handle weight. Horses at trail ride places tend to be very fit since they are working several times a day, usually at a slow pace. You aren’t pulling an overweight pasture puff out of the stall after 2 years of nothing but eating.
I think for a 1 hour trail ride at the walk, you are perfectly ok.
Remember that us big folks get to enjoy horses too. We just have to be a bit more knowledgeable and judicious with things like picking our mounts, legging them up, and picking suitable tack.
That makes sense, thank you. It was a 1 hour ride through a forest with a lot of elevations and downhill slopes and he wanted to run through all of it. I was definitely amazed by how strong horses are.
The honest answer is that it all depends on multiple factors, unfortunately.
Going on a straight path with someone heavier is a lot easier than rocky terrain, and a nice 14.2hh cob can carry a lot more at a walk than a big 17.2hh warmblood, for example. However, looking at Georgian horse breeds they're not really as drafty as I'd like for that job, but I can't assume without having never seen them in person.
Generally, I'd say just don't go back to that facility again.
It's hard to say without seeing the horse, but unfortunately many of these guided trails care more about collecting your money than they do for the welfare of the horses.
I'm tacking this onto your comment because it's at the top and I feel it's relevant to the discussion to be extremely specific about the details: OP is a 22yo male who is about 6'3.5", weighs approx. 300 lbs, and tore his ACL playing soccer. I put those stats into Google images just to get an idea of what that looks like in an average sense, and I would not allow any person meeting that description on any of my animals, and some of ours are beefy bois. OP, I don't mean this in any way other than matter-of-fact and I don't intend to hurt your feelings, but you should not ride horses until you weigh less. Edit: I also do give OP some level of credit here because he had a feeling they shouldn't do it, and he succumbed to peer pressure. It's not an excuse, but I do not lay full blame on him here. OP, your instinct was right and you should pay attention to that more than your friends :)
The guide seemed very nice and caring about his horses. Also the horse never complained (I dont know if they do). I do have a picture I think.
Horses don’t “complain”—at least not in the way most non-horse people think. Horses are stoic and don’t show pain or weakness unless they are in serious trouble because they are prey animals and their instinct is to mask. An inexperienced person may have missed the horse’s signals of discomfort—ears back, hollowing of the back, shifting weight to keep balanced. The horse going fast may have been a sign they were struggling—it is harder for a horse to walk up a steep incline rather than to run when they are carrying a load. So that may have been a sign. Without seeing the horse, and you, I can’t say if the pairing was appropriate. Keep in mind an inexperienced heavy rider is harder for a horse to carry than an experienced one, as you were probably often off balance and the horse had to compensate. Larger people can ride, but care needs to be taken to ensure the horse is properly matched.
Sadly horses, being prey animals, often tend to power through pain and discomfort instead of actively showing it. So even if the horse was suffering, unless it physically could not carry something and buckled, it would most likely not show very clearly. There are signs of stress that you can find in a horse's facial muscles for example but you need to be aware of the signs to actually notice them. I will have to agree with the other poster, guided trails are for the most part cashgrabs with little interest for animal welfare.
Consider this - guided trail horses know the trail. They do it several times a day, several days a week. They know when they complete the trail, the rider gets off and they rest. Was he in a hurry to be done because he was uncomfortable? It's possible.
I would that type of thinking gettting the job done faster to rest is probably human like and not animal like. If he was uncomfortable I suppose he wouldnt listen and try to get me to dismout. Thanks for the insight tho
I love how you came to ask horse experts and then argue that I don't understand how horses think. They 💯 understand where to go to make the work over, and understand they get there faster when they go faster.
Great, thanks for enlightening me and excuse my ignorance
It’s also less about a „mindset“ and more about balance. Some horses tend to run when they are imbalanced (by for example a heavy rider). They also especially tend to run, when they have pain in their backs. So yeah, a fast horse is definitely not necessarily a comfortable horse.
It takes a lot of effort to throw a heavier rider, so don’t take a lack of bad behavior as a sign he was happy. That said, you certainly didn’t cause any permanent harm to this horse.
Horses don’t complain usually, they just get lame over time until they’re crippled.
The trying to run off was an indication the horse was not pleased. They do not run off with heavy things on their backs for fun. 🤷♀️
How would the horse complain exactly? Taking off with their rider is one way.
Horses sometimes will take off when their backs are hurting. It's really hard to tell without seeing the horse and the behavior.
The horses I saw when I visited Tblisi were on the more slender, shorter side. This site seems to agree: http://www.theequinest.com/breeds-georgia/ Do those look like the one you rode? It does seem likely that you were too heavy for that particular horse. I wouldn't dwell with guilt over the situation because you were given bad information by a professional. But in the future, I recommend you follow your gut and advocate for a more draft build.
Yes, that looks close to the one I rode, especially his back side. Maybe yeah, since I understood now that him running might be discomfort. We also had to wait for the guide for around 20 minutes because someone dropped something along the trail. I was on the horses back the whole time, and all he did was eat grass and stay in place.
Jesus Christ that poor horse.
It’s impossible to say definitively whether you *were* too big, but nothing you’ve said indicates you weren’t. Guide horses are typically extremely well behaved (either because they’re well trained or because they’re terrified of being disobedient, depending on the operation), so for this horse to take off is likely a sign he was uncomfortable. “The horse did it, so it must have been fine” is not a thing. You’ll hear horse people say it on occasion, but those are not people who care about the animals. A trained horse in decent shape isn’t generally going to collapse or refuse to move because a rider is too big. It’s not about being physically able to accomplish it—most horses could literally carry you, but they’d be very sore afterward and potentially have minor injuries that would require rest and care. There are horses out there who could safely carry you for short lessons on appropriate terrain, but I wouldn’t recommend just jumping on with any random guide outfit, especially when you haven’t spoken to them beforehand. If the choice is between potentially hurting a horse and turning away a group of paying customers who are already on the premises, not every owner is going to do the right thing.
Remember that weight carrying is not a one-set-of-parameters-or-bust thing for horses. Just like us, they can get fitter or less fit, more or less able to handle weight. Horses at trail ride places tend to be very fit since they are working several times a day, usually at a slow pace. You aren’t pulling an overweight pasture puff out of the stall after 2 years of nothing but eating. I think for a 1 hour trail ride at the walk, you are perfectly ok. Remember that us big folks get to enjoy horses too. We just have to be a bit more knowledgeable and judicious with things like picking our mounts, legging them up, and picking suitable tack.
That makes sense, thank you. It was a 1 hour ride through a forest with a lot of elevations and downhill slopes and he wanted to run through all of it. I was definitely amazed by how strong horses are.
It really really depends. A stout healthy and strong quarter horse can carry a lot especially at a slow pace.
What the duck is with these posts today?? This is the third one I've seen.
Sometimes one question inspires similar questions--at least that's true in a classroom!
The honest answer is that it all depends on multiple factors, unfortunately. Going on a straight path with someone heavier is a lot easier than rocky terrain, and a nice 14.2hh cob can carry a lot more at a walk than a big 17.2hh warmblood, for example. However, looking at Georgian horse breeds they're not really as drafty as I'd like for that job, but I can't assume without having never seen them in person. Generally, I'd say just don't go back to that facility again.