Personally at the moment I am just doing skill at arms for 30-45 minutes several times a week without harness with a few other "ordinary" disciplines thrown in. My mount is 15.2hh and of heavy weight build (cob x clyde) but I am a bit concerned that adding even partial harness may be a bit of a strain, haven't ridden fully "tooled up" before and was wondering what anybody else thinks or has experienced regarding this?

I think you are right - was maybe just trying to ease my conscience a bit! After all as you say it's not height that is the factor more build and capacity. I think there is also a modern tendancy to underestimate what weight horses can carry judged purely on the height.

How much weight can an Icelandic horse carry?

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Macha is right about Quarter Horses too. A good foundation-bred will carry a 200 lb man in a 70 lb roping saddle from dawn to dusk all week and still have plenty of go for team penning on Friday night

Furthermore, British Cavalry mounts frequently carried rider and gear in the 270 to 280 range in the 19th century. The "type" most preferred is what most of us would think of as a "heavy hunter."

The most important thing to remember with horses is that taller does not necessarily mean stronger

[ 07-05-2006: Message edited by: Angelique ]

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Weight/loadings of horses is point of discussion world wide. In all armies there has always been a habit of overloading mounts and the British Army at the turn of the C19/20th century was such a culprit. However, that overloading can almost be exused, when you think the of the serious jobs horses had to do. They were not pets or hobby horses. The argument and reason then cannot apply now. Still, whilst this - overloading- was going on, there were voices of common sense and wisdom within the armies of Europe. In the late 1890's Maj General Smith of the Royal Army Vetinary Corps said that a horse that carries more than 20% of his total body weight would not survive a campaign season(and how true his words were when we look what happened in the South African campaign a few years later). At the same time Col Gen, Rosenburg of the Prussian Cavalry was saying that a 1:5 ratio was as heavy as you should go in loading. Both of these guys knew their stuff. In modern days this ratio is very much applied for working horses at British Horse Society establishments.

If we apply the above equation to Henry VIII, we know how heavy he was as we have the armour he would have worn at Tourney in the Tower of London.He came in around 100kg. If we then add his armour, horse tack, barding, weaponary etc, the total weight would be 200kg. On the 20% rule this means his horse would have had to have weighed 1000 kg. Not a small 14:2 dragged out for the day but a bloody big war horse. Not a horse that couldn't move at any speed like a draught but something nimble enough to get down the list at a good turn of speed.

In my groups the 20% rule is strictly applied.

I hope my thoughts on this have not led me into hot waters. Such sailings were not my intention.

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