# Horse weight to pull cart



## appylover31803

I was wondering if a horse has to be a specific weight to pull a cart, or a person. Like, I see mini's pulling a person, and then you see like a draft pulling a cart. Can all breeds essentially be able to pull a cart?


----------



## crackrider

Hmm . . . .I don't know for sure the answer to your question although i'd think that most horses could pull a cart. It just depends on the weight of the cart and the person it pulls.
But I'm not sure so anyone that does let us know!


----------



## englishcowgrl

any horse can pull a cart, i see full grown men, almost to big for the cart driving minis, and they have little problems. it all has to do with the size of your cart to the size of your horse. make sure the cart is proberly fitted to your horse.


----------



## my2geldings

I think at the end of the day any horse can be trained to pull a horse. The question is really what kind and size of cart you are going to be asking the horse in question to pull. It all depends on the breed of the horse. Most arent build for carts.


----------



## PoptartShop

Yeah, it depends on the size.  I'm not really sure, though. I think the horse should be in good shape.


----------



## appylover31803

I was *thinking* about doing that with Gem, but have been just thinking of letting him relax forever. He's 8 turning 9 (he could be 9.. have to look at his papers) and he has mild arthritis (it's gotten a lot better). If he were to pull a cart, it would be small and light. But i'm sure pulling something can't be good for arthritis.

It was just a thought. Thanks for answering my questions!


----------



## PaintHorseMares

I have been told a horse can pull 4x their weight, but I have no idea if that is true or not.


----------



## PoptartShop

Well if it's really light then I don't think it'd be too much of a problem...so yeah, do what you feel he's ready for.


----------



## appylover31803

well i'm hoping he'll get 1000x better once he is able to move and stretch his legs and not be confined to such small living quarters.

Once when i start seeing an improvement, i'll slowly introduce him back to work. I'm sure he'll make a full recovery, but i'm willing to take as long as possible for that to happen.


----------



## Nine

*When I worked for a carriage company, giving tours, I had to pull the carriage out of the barn and put it back in the barn each night. It had ball bearings and that made if very easy for me to move. These carriages were Vis-A-Vis, that seat 6 plus the driver. We used standarbreds and warm bloods - mostly quarter horse/draft crosses.*


----------



## ponyup04

You are very correct in the fact that every breed has been trained to drive. Althought I do have to admit I think the minis are the cutest. Are you planning to drive? It is a great sport and great training aid for any horse at any age. You can also start them younger than you can if you were just going to ride. Ground driving is a perfect way to start a yearling.


----------



## appylover31803

Gem is 9 and some joint problems. I am thinking that if we don't want to ride him, we could drive him.. or ground drive him so he'll still get his exercise and won't have to be lunged.

I have yet to start anything with him yet, but i do plan to.


----------



## Lil Bits

If your cart is well balanced there's not much weight for the horse to pull. An unbalanced cart can be very hard on a horse, at least I'm talking mini horse here.

Amanda


----------



## minihorse927

If you have a well balanced cart there is actually very little weight put onto the horses back.. Depending on the weight of the driver, 10-20 pounds is the usual numbers you will see. Horses that drive are suppose to drive with their hind legs being where all their power comes from. They should "drive" or "propel" themselves with their back legs, They should really tuck themselves up in behind to get the power to pull. They should not pull with their front legs, for some horses it is hard to teach this to because it is in their nature to get power from the front because they are used to being ridden. It is actually less work for them to drive than it is to be ridden once the horse is use to driving and is trained correctly. 

The next time you have access to a cart, have someone sit in it and then pick up the shafts, that is all the weight that is applied to the horses back when pulling. I used to have conversion charts for different weights but now I can not find them anywhere for some reason, if I do I will post them here.


----------



## appylover31803

I have not gotten around to start teaching Gem to ground drive yet.
But i still do plan on it.

But the good news is, is that he's making a fantastic recovery


----------



## xilikeggs0

PaintHorseMares said:


> I have been told a horse can pull 4x their weight, but I have no idea if that is true or not.


They can pull more than that. I'm a 135 pound, 19 year old girl, and I can push and pull a limosine carriage that weighs over 1200 pounds. I can only imagine what a 1000+ pound horse can do.


----------



## orchid park

I can pull around our horse vehicles too, but it would be stopping them that is the issue. We attend shows with our horses in harness, and getting the vehicles off the back of the trailer - there is no way we could stop them without the use of a whinch, but we can load them up easily enough without a whinch.


----------

