Aussie Saddles on Draft Horses

A thousand years late, draft and draft crosses are gaining in popularity around the world as regular riding mounts. More are being ridden today than are pulling. In the age of Chivalry --- 1,000 to 1,600  --Dr. Brian Gwartz of Los Angeles would have been clad in armor and  riding a cold-blooded charger in France or England , galloping off to kill somebody. Today he breeds Irish Drafts in training for the Olympics. He is looking to plunder gold. Dr. Gwartz is not surprised that draft horses, and their many crosses, are finding a new and wonderful place in the modern world of recreational riding. As he explains: I like the cross that results when you can mix the athletic ability of a thoroughbred with the placid power of a draft. Such a horse is easy to train. It has a calm nature and wants to please. Dr. Gwartz foundation stallion is a 2,500-lb Shire , a mount he has used for many duties, including foxhunting. He attributes some of the new demand for bigger horses to the basic fact that people are getting bigger. Dr. Gwartz is no lightweight himself. He once rode as the worlds heaviest steeplechase jockey, weighing in at some 250 lbs. I saw him race, and can report he never lost for lack of courage. There is no question, bigger people feel more comfortable on bigger horses, he adds. Scott Sackett, of Krum, Texas,  is using his 17.2hh , 2,000 lb. Percheron stallion, Black The Great,  to cover thoroughbred and Arabian mares to build sport horses. They can jump, and they can gallop. In my world, that's what counts, he adds.