Pear trees take well to pruning. You can prune as much as you want to get what you want. They also make good espalier. Most I see are pruned as if they're an apple tree.
You can prune them for fruit production or as a work of art, even as giant bonsai. (Niwaki?)
Mike

pruning does NOT hurt a tree ...

i never heard of the air theory ... one would suspect that a tree knows more about growing itself.. rather than some guy with a saw ... its when we start 'improving' mother nature.. that she usually proves us wrong ...

pix would sure get you more precise answers ..

and it would help to know where you are.. and what level of strong winds you are talking about ...

ken

These were taken 2 years ago. ItâÂÂs even denser now.
I canâÂÂt predict the weather, but we usually get a few 60mph blasts every spring/summer.

Those pears are delicious! Several of my friends grow them. I wish I had planted a few years ago. I still might, but my friends always have a lot of extra fruit. They say the rough skinned ones have the best flavor.
They grow very well here in western Washington and Oregon state and don't seem to be bothered by pests.
Mike

i wouldnt prune it..relying on ma nature to take care of it ..

i would work under the theory that the tree can take care of itself.. again ... its once we start thinking we can do it better than a tree.. is when we create problems ...

thx for the pic ...

ken

Yes, and when you start to prune it, you will be committed to pruning it several times a year. That's fine if you're an obsessive pruner and enjoy pruning very much. I'm with Ken, leave it alone and enjoy it as it is. I don't think the wind will blow it over unless it's growing on very thin topsoil over hardpan.
I didn't know they had such good Fall color. Nice picture!
Mike

There are plenty of good reasons to prune a tree. Pruning can significantly influence aesthetics (make the tree look good), it can keep limbs out of your way when you mow (Ken thinks he does this better than "ma nature"), it can be used to deal with structural problems that "ma nature" made, and it can be used to improve fruit production (in various ways)...among other things. The one things that pruning is not good at is thinning a tree, for any significant period of time, to make it less prone to wind damage. What happens when you thin a tree is that the tree grows to compensate for what is removed. The growth tends to be towards the extremities of the canopy. After compensating growth, wind load (and the likelihood of wind throw) actually increases. In other words, the pruning may help for a brief period, but you and your tree may pay the price in the long run.