diff --git a/mkdocs/docs/configuration.md b/mkdocs/docs/configuration.md
index 1e364a11fe..dc51f81434 100644
--- a/mkdocs/docs/configuration.md
+++ b/mkdocs/docs/configuration.md
@@ -332,6 +332,7 @@ catalog:
 | rest.signing-region | us-east-1                        | The region to use when SigV4 signing a request                                                     |
 | rest.signing-name   | execute-api                      | The service signing name to use when SigV4 signing a request                                       |
 | oauth2-server-uri   | <https://auth-service/cc>          | Authentication URL to use for client credentials authentication (default: uri + 'v1/oauth/tokens') |
+| snapshot-loading-mode | refs                             | The snapshots to return in the body of the metadata. Setting the value to `all` would return the full set of snapshots currently valid for the table. Setting the value to `refs` would load all snapshots referenced by branches or tags. |
 
 <!-- markdown-link-check-enable-->
 
diff --git a/poetry.lock b/poetry.lock
index 849485ffbb..c8e3d6b4dd 100644
--- a/poetry.lock
+++ b/poetry.lock
@@ -4352,14 +4352,14 @@ pytest = ">=3.2.5"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "pytest-mock"
-version = "3.14.0"
+version = "3.14.1"
 description = "Thin-wrapper around the mock package for easier use with pytest"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.8"
 groups = ["dev"]
 files = [
-    {file = "pytest-mock-3.14.0.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:2719255a1efeceadbc056d6bf3df3d1c5015530fb40cf347c0f9afac88410bd0"},
-    {file = "pytest_mock-3.14.0-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:0b72c38033392a5f4621342fe11e9219ac11ec9d375f8e2a0c164539e0d70f6f"},
+    {file = "pytest_mock-3.14.1-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:178aefcd11307d874b4cd3100344e7e2d888d9791a6a1d9bfe90fbc1b74fd1d0"},
+    {file = "pytest_mock-3.14.1.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:159e9edac4c451ce77a5cdb9fc5d1100708d2dd4ba3c3df572f14097351af80e"},
 ]
 
 [package.dependencies]
@@ -5992,4 +5992,4 @@ zstandard = ["zstandard"]
 [metadata]
 lock-version = "2.1"
 python-versions = "^3.9.2, !=3.9.7"
-content-hash = "f3d2267ce4f380399dc767a6483a1f198127856883e394d8befbd8a871bbeab9"
+content-hash = "b4caa24bc825d9894fa897e91358700a1f7d7769555f638ce92e770af9a60c5c"
diff --git a/pyiceberg/catalog/rest/__init__.py b/pyiceberg/catalog/rest/__init__.py
index 18d875ea65..633ef6498b 100644
--- a/pyiceberg/catalog/rest/__init__.py
+++ b/pyiceberg/catalog/rest/__init__.py
@@ -138,6 +138,7 @@ class IdentifierKind(Enum):
 SIGV4_REGION = "rest.signing-region"
 SIGV4_SERVICE = "rest.signing-name"
 OAUTH2_SERVER_URI = "oauth2-server-uri"
+SNAPSHOT_LOADING_MODE = "snapshot-loading-mode"
 
 NAMESPACE_SEPARATOR = b"\x1f".decode(UTF8)
 
@@ -678,7 +679,16 @@ def list_tables(self, namespace: Union[str, Identifier]) -> List[Identifier]:
 
     @retry(**_RETRY_ARGS)
     def load_table(self, identifier: Union[str, Identifier]) -> Table:
-        response = self._session.get(self.url(Endpoints.load_table, prefixed=True, **self._split_identifier_for_path(identifier)))
+        params = {}
+        if mode := self.properties.get(SNAPSHOT_LOADING_MODE):
+            if mode in {"all", "refs"}:
+                params["snapshots"] = mode
+            else:
+                raise ValueError("Invalid snapshot-loading-mode: {}")
+
+        response = self._session.get(
+            self.url(Endpoints.load_table, prefixed=True, **self._split_identifier_for_path(identifier)), params=params
+        )
         try:
             response.raise_for_status()
         except HTTPError as exc:
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 3116214f71..71420aca5d 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ coverage = { version = "^7.4.2", extras = ["toml"] }
 requests-mock = "1.12.1"
 moto = { version = "^5.0.2", extras = ["server"] }
 typing-extensions = "4.13.2"
-pytest-mock = "3.14.0"
+pytest-mock = "3.14.1"
 pyspark = "3.5.5"
 cython = "3.0.12"
 deptry = ">=0.14,<0.24"
diff --git a/tests/catalog/test_rest.py b/tests/catalog/test_rest.py
index b9c88d2fc4..dfc6a0e2fb 100644
--- a/tests/catalog/test_rest.py
+++ b/tests/catalog/test_rest.py
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
 
 import pyiceberg
 from pyiceberg.catalog import PropertiesUpdateSummary, load_catalog
-from pyiceberg.catalog.rest import OAUTH2_SERVER_URI, RestCatalog
+from pyiceberg.catalog.rest import OAUTH2_SERVER_URI, SNAPSHOT_LOADING_MODE, RestCatalog
 from pyiceberg.exceptions import (
     AuthorizationExpiredError,
     NamespaceAlreadyExistsError,
@@ -853,6 +853,29 @@ def test_load_table_200(rest_mock: Mocker, example_table_metadata_with_snapshot_
     assert actual == expected
 
 
+def test_load_table_200_loading_mode(
+    rest_mock: Mocker, example_table_metadata_with_snapshot_v1_rest_json: Dict[str, Any]
+) -> None:
+    rest_mock.get(
+        f"{TEST_URI}v1/namespaces/fokko/tables/table?snapshots=refs",
+        json=example_table_metadata_with_snapshot_v1_rest_json,
+        status_code=200,
+        request_headers=TEST_HEADERS,
+    )
+    catalog = RestCatalog("rest", uri=TEST_URI, token=TEST_TOKEN, **{SNAPSHOT_LOADING_MODE: "refs"})
+    actual = catalog.load_table(("fokko", "table"))
+    expected = Table(
+        identifier=("fokko", "table"),
+        metadata_location=example_table_metadata_with_snapshot_v1_rest_json["metadata-location"],
+        metadata=TableMetadataV1(**example_table_metadata_with_snapshot_v1_rest_json["metadata"]),
+        io=load_file_io(),
+        catalog=catalog,
+    )
+    # First compare the dicts
+    assert actual.metadata.model_dump() == expected.metadata.model_dump()
+    assert actual == expected
+
+
 def test_load_table_honor_access_delegation(
     rest_mock: Mocker, example_table_metadata_with_snapshot_v1_rest_json: Dict[str, Any]
 ) -> None: