I was told I need a full bar horse saddle.?

Question

I am buying an 8 year old mare from a trail riding place. She's 14 hands, straight back, high withers. The barn manager told me I would need a full bar saddle, and my friend a full quarter horse bar saddle. What is the difference?

Also, I have ridden her many time but I am still afraid I am too heavy for her. She's 14 hands, and I weigh 190 pounds right now. I am loosing weight, but I don't want to lame her. Does anyone know what the max weight a horse that size should carry?

Answer 1

Not sure about the saddle but you want to weigh less than 20% of the horses weight. Some people argue that is is more in certain breeds but I would stick with 20%. Within that number though, conformation and work play into how much they can carry. A horse with good conformation (strong back/loin/ect) will be able to saftly carry for than a horse with poor conformation. Also, if you are jumping or doing activities that are tough on the horse anyway I would also be more worried than if it was trail riding (flat/not to difficult) or flatwork.

O and the horse section of Yahoo answer is acting up today. The questions will not load for some people so you might not get many answers