14 stone gent .. What size horse?

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Scotslad23

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Ok so more on the behalf of friend ...... what kind of horse and more importantly what size would you say suitable for a 14 stone person to ride?

I see a lot of pictures with 'heavy' people on what seem like small or slight horses/ponies.

14 stone ... riding a slightly cobby ISHX 15'3 gelding? (I must admit he is a nice horse but not my type, lol)

Your opinions please .... :)
 
I would say something above 15 hands and quite chunky. My dad is 14 stone and occasionally hacks out a 15.1 heavyweight cob
Sorry if its no use!
 
As above poster said 15 hands plus chunky, i got to 15 stone during pregnancy...(Cake craving did me no good!) I have a 15.1 ID x - she was fine dont think she noticed i had turned into a hippo....
 
I'm 14 stone (and a bit) and my 15hh cob carries me just fine. I would prefer him to be bigger though as I am tall.

He is not a heavyweight cob.
 
Experienced rider or novice? If experienced, a lot of horses would be fine. Mine is a 16.1 cob type shire x TB and I'm not too far off that weight. I'd happily let an experienced 14 stone man ride her.
 
You can use the 20% rule or...just go for something over 15hh as others have said that is a good stamp of a horse, good bone, chunky cob type.

That's not just all though. It is no just ok to be chunky when carrying heavier riders. You want the horse to be very sound and in very good overall condition.

The bompproof ex RDA horse that I am currently selling is a big chunky beautiful 14.2hh. Looks to be the perfect weight carrier, but you know what, he had a manica flexoruim injury at the end of 2011 and was rested for 5 months. He has been given the full bill of health and fitness and his leg is like new. No treatment needed and not an actual tendon injury. In fact, he could have had it removed as it is not needed, but he came perfectly sound.

Thing is, he lost the muscle and topline that he had. He is slightly dipped in the back now but only lack of muscle and so, for that reason, whilst he looks on the surface to be a perfect weight carrier, he actually needs a few more months of fitness work before he is able to carry that kind of weight again comfortably. All he has done is gentle hacking. Luckily for him, he has started schooling again recently and is showing off what a superstar he is, so it won't be long before he is back to his well muscled self and his asking price shoots up.

Just bear that in mind when choosing a horse. Look beyond the surface and make sure the horse will be capable :-)
 
I think it depend on his ridding and what he wants to do.

My bf is around that weight and his sat on a 14.2hh heavy cob and walked round the school and fields. He can't ride and has no balance and I don't let him really use the rein as I just lead him. Cob is fine.
I would not however let him ride my 16.2hh Warmblood more for my bf own safety :)
But I would let a heavier man or woman ride my Warmblood if they could ride to a good standard. His strong enough to cope.
 
Nice to see some realistic suggestions and not 'only a 17hh+ hunter could carry that weight' I am about that weight and generally 15hh+ of reasonable chunkiness has always been fine, so could be a 15hh cob (I own a haffy of this height) or a 16.2 TB (but might not be keen to ride a very fine TB).
 
_GG_ said:
You can use the 20% rule or...just go for something over 15hh as others have said that is a good stamp of a horse, good bone, chunky cob type.

That's not just all though. It is no just ok to be chunky when carrying heavier riders. You want the horse to be very sound and in very good overall condition.

The bompproof ex RDA horse that I am currently selling is a big chunky beautiful 14.2hh. Looks to be the perfect weight carrier, but you know what, he had a manica flexoruim injury at the end of 2011 and was rested for 5 months. He has been given the full bill of health and fitness and his leg is like new. No treatment needed and not an actual tendon injury. In fact, he could have had it removed as it is not needed, but he came perfectly sound.

Thing is, he lost the muscle and topline that he had. He is slightly dipped in the back now but only lack of muscle and so, for that reason, whilst he looks on the surface to be a perfect weight carrier, he actually needs a few more months of fitness work before he is able to carry that kind of weight again comfortably. All he has done is gentle hacking. Luckily for him, he has started schooling again recently and is showing off what a superstar he is, so it won't be long before he is back to his well muscled self and his asking price shoots up.

Just bear that in mind when choosing a horse. Look beyond the surface and make sure the horse will be capable :-)
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Wow really? you would consider selling him to someone 14 stone when he is 14'2? I was thinking nothing under 15'2 so that is interesting, thank you :)
 
Scotslad23 said:
Wow really? you would consider selling him to someone 14 stone when he is 14'2? I was thinking nothing under 15'2 so that is interesting, thank you :)
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Nope, I didn't say that. I just said weight carrier and heavy rider...not actual weight.

To be honest, for me, if I were selling him to a heavier person, that person would have to be a balanced and capable rider. A 14st person who can be independently balanced on a horse is going to be much easier for it to carry than a 10 stone person bouncing all over the place, leaning, sitting off centre etc.

It is all relative. Yes, he is a very heavyweight chunky cob and the rare combination of being that chunky, as safe as any horse can be, 5 years as a riding school horse, 6 years as an RDA horse, both of whom want now to buy him back, but he is also nice and forward going off the leg, jumps like it isn't even there, just pops over and carries on or stops if you take the leg off. He is as close to perfect as it gets, but still, as someone finding his next home and hopefully his lifelong home, the rider will be very important to me.

So :-

Heavy and experienced - yes, within his particular weight limits

Heavy and unbalanced - no

Light and experienced - yes

Light and unbalanced - only if that person was always riding under instruction while gaining the necessary experience as this horse is great for a novice or complete beginner to learn on.

Hope that clarifies :-)
 
My OH is 13 stone and 6 foot.and has a very solid 15 hand Irish cob and.because he is wide it takes up his leg far better than a 16hh he rode on our riding holiday
 
Food for thought ....

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As an idea!
 
I've posted this before on a similar thread.....I'm 5'9 and 14st plus, and plus my tack, my conne is a full up chunky lad and makes no bones at all about carrying me.....
bob2807091-1.jpg


bob2807091.jpg
 
I was advised a horse can carry bewteen 20% to 30% of its weight.

So 14 stone is under 90kg then using the below guild then a cob of 14.3hh would cope better than a 15.2hh TB.

0d280c37785ab24ce9dc651bdbbfe549.jpg


However I have a large 700kg beast and by using the 20% rule he could therefore carry 22st. I however would not let a 22st ridder on him but I doubt there are many ridders over 18st out there.
 
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My 13.2 highland carries me easily and I have been everything from 11 to 16 stone so personally I think a chunky well made pony is just as capable of carrying weight as a bigger horse. Best judge is the horse if it has trouble moving its front legs through you are too heavy if it is capable willing and balanced when you set off you are probably ok.
Only injury my pony has had was landing awkwardly over a jump a that was when she was ridden by a 6 stone child. She was bred to carry a dead deer from a hill I would guess that is well over a hundred kilos of dead weight probably nearer a couple of hundred kilos
 
My dad used to ride my 14.3hh Standardbred mare and she was on the fine side. He is roughly around the 14st mark. He bought himself a 15hh chunkier SB mare in the end though as mine was too much for him to handle.

Neither had any problems carrying him and he used them for shepherding on a mountain and gathering the sheep up and down to the farm (approx. four miles roadwork).
 
Around a 16h middle-weight? By which I mean something like a chunky sports horse, ID type perhaps.

A little shorter (as a minimum) for something chunky and solid throughout (cf the earlier comment about the ex RDA horse)

Just because something smaller *could* carry him doesn't mean it *should* or that there is anything wrong with getting something a little more in proportion.
 
Grumbles, when I first moved here had to convert pounds to stones to make sense of life, 7 years later I have to convert these silly stones to pounds, ahh, around 200 pounds....

Lots of good advice, and very sensible advice, I haven't seen many people mentioning the riders height. My 14.2hh Haflinger was quite happy to carry 18st son, but at 6' 4" he felt to tall for her, and was much happier on my 16hh Appy. There is more than just pure weight that goes into the equation, same as any horse and rider pairing, it is looking at physical build and capability of both horse and rider.
 
DosyMare said:
However I have a large 700kg beast and by using the 20% rule he could therefore carry 22st. I however would not let a 22st ridder on him but I doubt there are many ridders over 18st out there.
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18 stone = 252 pounds, on this side of the Atlantic there are many riders of that weight, and not all of them fat couch potatoes. A lot of working cowboys, and also trainers out here are 6' or more and solid guys, lots of muscle and brawn.
 
14st really isn't heavy for a guy. A stick thin 6ft man could easily weight that.

A 14.2hh brick out house of a native or cob would carry that easily although the riders height will affect the balance. And a 16.2hh TB would also carry that easily (both assuming the rider is fairly balanced)

However 'could' and 'should' are not the same thing. As responsible caring horse owners its our duty to ensure the horse finds the weight easy to carry and therefore just because a 14.2 cob CAN carry 18st+ doesn't mean its fair. Therefore if in doubt, get something a bit bigger
 
My OH is tall and of a healthy BMI people always underestimate his weight because he isn't "fat". He rides our WBx without difficulty and she isn't a weight carrying type. We were looking for the sort if horse that would look at home in a hunter class originally so it would be in proportion for him but we fell in love with a more lightweight type.

I honestly don't think 14st needs much special consideration, it should be within the capabilities of most horses, other than very fine types.

I've seen my husband on all sorts of horses and his lanky legs cause difficulty before his weight does.
 
There are good replies in here, and as someone mentioned above,
It's probably better for someone of 14stone+ to ride a 15hh, well muscled cob, that a 16.2hh Id with no muscle across its back. I think you need to fit the person to the horses workload, height wise I'd go for a bigger horse, but there are plenty of tall riders who ride natives with no problem at all. It's about balancing yourself in the saddle, and being in balance and in sync with the horse.
Can I just point out, that in the 2012 grand national, there were a few jockeys that weighed 14stone, but their body proportion of muscle to fat is a lot different than say myself, where I'm nowhere near as muscly as they are. Plus, they are riding very fine horses at fast speeds. This is because the horses are up to the job, with the appropriate muscle to carry these men, and the men are fit enough to hold themselves correctly and work in sync with the horse.
 
DosyMare said:
However I have a large 700kg beast and by using the 20% rule he could therefore carry 22st. I however would not let a 22st ridder on him but I doubt there are many ridders over 18st out there.
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My boy (cob) is 680kg at 4 years old and still growing, he's currently 16HH - don't know what that is in cm! However, I am 10.5 stone and I wouldn't let anyone double my weight ride him... well in honesty nobody except me and one other ride him!

I'd be more concerned over their capabilities/balance/experience and would put them on something 15HH+ with plenty of bone and not a young horse, in my humble and not-that-experienced opinion ;)
 
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