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Dear KariAnn,
I had a woman come to my riding stable asking for lessons. the
problem being that she weighed over 300 lbs. I thought about it and
decided to let her try riding Gillyn, my eight year old Fjord gelding,
who is big (15.1 hands) and sturdy. I took extra care with the mounting
process, making sure she had a mounting block and someone to hold
Gillyn, and someone to hold the other stirrup, to prevent saddle slippage.
All went well, as Gillyn is very patient and is very glad to just walk, if
that's all a beginning rider is ready for. Many lessons went by uneventfully,
and the woman was having the time of her life. One day, however, it all came
to a screeching halt because she tried to mount by herself and the saddle,
which she had put on herself, was too loose. It slipped, she and Gillyn were
upset, and I made the mistake of continuing on with the riding lesson. She had
been trotting beautifully in the previous lesson, and since I had other
people in the
class, and didn't want to hold them back, I gave the command to trot. She
told
Gillyn to trot and he did, bless his heart, but she wasn't ready, or didn't
believe in her own ability enough, and she didn't lean forward with the
motion,
so sort of got back on his croup, and he got a bit scared and trotted right
out
from under her, with a buck thrown in, as I'm sure it was a relief to get out
from
under that weight. She fell with a thud, and visions of loosing my farm
flashed
through my head. Fortunately, as I'm relying on my homeowners, she is a very
sensible woman and realized that the fault was shared. I offered to pay all
her medical expenses, which she refused. The injury was a cracked pelvis, no
concussion, or other effects, and no surgery necessary, only ex-rays, rest,
and
a few follow-up visits. This discouraged her from riding, but probably not
permanently. She's gone for the summer, but wants to resume when she returns.
The mistakes I made are as follows: (Please learn from them!)
1) I didn't (and still don't have sufficient insurance to be
teaching
riding lessons, in ten years this is the only serious
accident we
have had. I work full time, and the lessons are a
sideline, so it's
hard to justify the cost of the insurance.
2) I was helping another student tack up at the time she
tried to
mount by herself. Tell beginners never to mount by
themselves,
until you okay them for that step. She was bursting
with "I wanna
do it myself!" I guess that's why they say "Pride
goeth before a fall."
3) I mixed students of different riding ability levels. This
is not a good
policy. The more advanced ones get bored with the
simple drills,
and the beginners try to hard to "keep up" with the
more experienced
students, thus trying things they are not really
ready for.
4) I mixed age groups. I asked if everybody was ready to
trot, before I
gave the command, but since adults are usually ahead
of and in
charge of children, it would have been hard for this
adult student
to admit in front of those sassy intermediate girls,
that she wasn't
ready to trot, which she wasn't.
The Fjord was perfectly capable of carrying the weight he was asked
to carry,
and he did it to the best of his ability; the problems stemmed from other
sources, as I have outlined.
You should think about the special conditions your weight may impose
before
selecting a riding instructor and a mount. As I told this heavy woman, asking
Gillyn to carry her, (300 to 1200) was like asking her to walk and jog with
75 pounds strapped on to her back. she said "That's a lot!" Yes, it's a lot
but
it is doable, under the right circumstances.
Best of luck and keep us posted how it goes. You may not be anywhere
near as heavy as the student I am talking about. Fjords are capable of
carrying large men or women, because of their heavy bone. They should
however be well shod, well conditioned and truly mature.
Alex Wind
Harmony Springs Farm
Shawsville VA 24162
