Are these riders too big?? *Pics*

Bone size, horses body weight, conformation and breed all come into weight carrying. A short backed horse can carry more weight than you think. An overweight horse wont find it easy to carry itself plus an unbalanced rider. You wouldn't put a 15 stone balanced rider on an 11.2 welsh would you? (they'd be able to run the pony along though if they were tall :D)

Like other posts I also agree with the balanced rider aspect. Out of all of the pictures the only one I think is bad is picture 4, he has awful posture and if you look at his legs they aren't overly skinny nor all muscle. :) Just my opinion!
 
walkingman said:
Is that the same as an 'old dear' 'cos my grannie probably only weighs 3 stone.

Ontopic - I'd say 4, 11, 12. But only because I hate seeing a fat person on a horse.

Flame away.
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No flaming here, we are all entitled to our opinions.

But as a "fat person" as you so eloquently put it, im very interested to know why you feel we should not be able to ride horses? Surely if the horse is happy and capable of carrying a person then everyone should be able to enjoy riding and it should not be something that is only for a certain percentage of the population.

How do you stand on people with disabilities riding? Do you hate seeing that too?
 
lochpearl said:
ok so how would you feel if a six foot lady model was to ride a horse - TB type? yes they look skinny but could be at least 15 stone but thin - compare that to a 5ft5 person of same weight and you would say they were too fat.
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A 6ft catwalk/high end fashion model is never, ever going to be 15stone. Ever. Let alone "at least" 15stone. They will average 8-10stone at the very, very maximum and pray they have heavy bones.

Even a plus size model will rarely tip that end of the scale, as they average 12-14stone.

At 5'8'' at my lightest I was 7.5st, and nowhere near as underweight as models.
 
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I find this topic of conversation very interesting.... how much weight do we think a 15.1hh Conemmara should carry - decent rider, not complete novice and not very tall.
 
BrambleandMonty said:
A 6ft catwalk/high end fashion model is never, ever going to be 15stone. Ever. Let alone "at least" 15stone. They will average 8-10stone at the very, very maximum and pray they have heavy bones.

Even a plus size model will rarely tip that end of the scale, as they average 12-14stone.

At 5'8'' at my lightest I was 7.5st, and nowhere near as underweight as models.
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Firstly I said model... secondly I like your ideas but to say that a plus size model will only be 12-14 stone is absolute tosh! Oh and I have 2 size 6/8 girls working for me that are 5ft 8 and both are over 12 stone. They don't have an inch of fat between them.

Anyway I am not going to get into an argument about this, what I was trying to say is that weight can be deceptive on someone that is tall but thin could actually be the same weight as someone who is shorter and more rotund!
 
chestnuttymare said:
I have never really understood this. Surely 15 stone is 15 stone (not meaning that you are of course) I get that someone can be balanced and a good rider and more comfortable for a horse than someone who can't ride and bouncing about. But surely you weigh what you weigh.
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Well it is about the horses comfort really not about the actual weight. It is the same for humans too, try carrying two stone of wriggling toddler, then two stone of bricks in a suitcase and then two stone of bricks well packed into a well made and balanced rucksack and tell me whether two stone is two stone......

Hikers, climbers and the forces appreciate this and design their rucksacks accordingly. It is all based in physics. Centre of gravity, leverage etc.

Lift a box pulled in close to your stomach and then try the same lift with your arms straight out in front. The former will be much easier.

It is just the same for horses, it is how the weight has to be carried that makes the difference. The balance and riding style of the rider will be crucial but so will their own weight distribution. In fact in some respects the short fat rider should be easier to carry than the taller but the same weight rider (due to centre of gravity) turning our predjudices on their heads......
 
I didnt read all the replys but my opinion is that a rider can look out of propotion to the horse but wont necessarily be too heavy.

Personally I Know I need to be a set weight to look my best on my own horse, I'm not overly experianced with showing but the last thing I would want is the judge to be thinking is that I'm too big for my horse. Even though she's capable of carrying heavier than me.

You do see people at lower levels on tinny TB's that really should be on cob's. Yet if your experianced with a good position and ballance you can get away with a lot more.
 
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SueEllen said:
You do see people at lower levels on tinny TB's that really should be on cob's.
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I don't think people give tbs enough credit.....I mean look at racehorses. They carry 12stone over miles of massive jumps!

Also polo ponies. I do sometimes worry that I am too big for Zoom. She is a 14.3hh argentine tb and very slight. I am 6 foot and weigh 12 stone........:eek: shocker!

However, she carries me absolutely fine sponsored rides fine and barely breaks a sweat out hunting. Her old owner was a pro polo player and he must have been about 13/14 stone easily!
 
I have seen a few larger inexperianced riders (by the way I'm not exactly tinny myself) on small TB types, literally bouncing around on top and using the reins for ballance, now that carnt be nice for the horse.

As stated its not always the case but I have seen this with my own eyes, wont say what my other half thinks about this. I know it seems very un PC but what about the poor horse, never mind the rider.
 
Number 4 looks terrible on a number of different levels - weight being one of them.

As for the rest, OK depending on the type/level of work, I guess. Apart from no 4, none of the riders look 15 stone, to me, which I consider to be extremely heavy for a woman - my huge 6foot rugby build OH doesn't weigh 15 stone.
 
QR- No horse was designed to carry a rider,so we owe it to them to be as light as we can(for our body shape and height,not that we should all try to be 8 stone :p ) and more importantly be in balance.
I have lost 3 stone in the last few months,I dont fall over as much anymore and am much more balaned on my own feet with MUCH greator controll over where I put myself.
It is logical to assume controll of my body on a horse would also have greatly imporved(not tried it yet and wont untill another 2 stone has gone-there are plenty of horses that could carry me perfectly well but i dont feel comftable asking them to).

We know that whatever the weight,it is easier to carry weight that is in balance. My son is 3.5 stone and very easy to carry when he is awake and holding himself,feels more like 10 stone if he has dropped off and needs carrying to bed!
 
Janeyg said:
I find this topic of conversation very interesting.... how much weight do we think a 15.1hh Conemmara should carry - decent rider, not complete novice and not very tall.
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I put my Welsh cob out on loan (now sold to the same people) a few years ago. He is full up 14.2hh and a proper Welsh D, not a fine type. He originally went for the younger sister to ride who was quite tall, I'd say 5ft7 or 8, with long legs. She can't have weighed more than 8st wet through and whilst not a total novice, she wasn't particularly balanced. After a few months, she lost interest and the older sister took over riding him. This rider was about the same height but weight more, 13st I think, but pony was actually much happier with her because she is a v experienced rider. She is balanced, rides lightly and gets a fantastic tune out of him (better than I ever did.. I am 5ft4 and weighed between 8.5 and 9st when I had that particular horse). There is so much more to it than just the rider's weight and I would rather see a bigger rider who is balanced than someone skinny but bouncing all over the place.

Re. the OP, the only pic I don't like is number 4. The rider looks unbalanced and the horse miserable, however a photo is only one second in time so it's difficult to judge. The others don't bother me especially. The polo pony doesn't look great, needs more muscle I'd say, but can't imagine it would have trouble carrying the rider, who is tall, slim and likely pretty well balanced. Most of the rest are native pony types who were originally mostly bred to carry adults so just seeing them with a leggy kid on isn't an issue.
 
Speaking of polo ponies, these are what I learnt to ride on - hopefully picture will work

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They played polo twice a week carrying big men, never a back or leg problem amongst them. All stallions, unshod, hard as nails and excellent fun to ride!
 
MontyandZoom said:
I don't think people give tbs enough credit.....I mean look at racehorses. They carry 12stone over miles of massive jumps!
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Not totally disagreeing with you, you obviously get on great with yours, but for the most part NH TB's are alot different to Flat horses, bigger bonned and stronger hence why they are NH. Plus the weight they carry is that of a jockey and you dont get better ballance than that. Also there is the training what average riding horse has the amount of fittness that these horses would have.

Again not wanting to tar all by the same brush.
 
Wobblywibble said:
Speaking of polo ponies, these are what I learnt to ride on - hopefully picture will work

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They played polo twice a week carrying big men, never a back or leg problem amongst them. All stallions, unshod, hard as nails and excellent fun to ride!
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Thought I would sort your pic out!

Here is mine:

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I know she doesn't look small here.....so here is a photo just to show how big I am :D

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I suppose it depends on the horse, but my Zoomy never has any problems carrying me.
 
Monty and Zoom your clearly a slim rider, young and fit, what I'm thinking of would be alot different to you.

Looks like you have alot of fun with him :).
 
SueEllen said:
Monty and Zoom your clearly a slim rider, young and fit, what I'm thinking of would be alot different to you.

Looks like you have alot of fun with him :).
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Thanks :D Zoom is awesome! I do agree about riders bouncing around on the horses back........whatever happened to lunge lessons!
 
Wobblywibble said:
Thanks M&Z for sorting out the pic - what did you do to make it work??

Plus wanted to say, that's not me on board!!!
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That's a shame.....I was going to comment on your AMAZING tash :D I saved the pic to my computer and uploaded it onto photobucket. You can then post the image code from your photobucket account. There is a great step by step guide in the photo gallery on here.
 
I think they shouldn't be riding the horse if the rider is too heavy for it. If too tall, IMO if they are light enough then I see no problem. The man on the TB type polo pony is wrong IMO.
 
tickles in particular - are you serious!?! haha! IMO they are all fine - especially if you look at the type of horse and the last 2 in particular!!! So you dont think polo or the spanish riding school should exist?! Also that kids should ride tough native ponies? the little grey in particular - the rider isnt too big at all!! Some people really love the cotton wool approach dont they!
 
regarding weight, I read a veterinary paper ---wish I could find it to do exact quote---- but it stated that the total weight a horse should carry ,that is rider dressed to ride ,saddle and bridle should be a maximum of 20% (1/5)of the horses own weight.
For example, a 500kg horse should carry no more than 100kg .
The old cavalry book I have says rider weight should be no more than 1/6 of the horses weight. I've tried both methods and they work out almost the same, pound for pound,(or kilo for kilo if you prefer).
 
theres also a way of measuring bone on hunters to determine if they are up o weight or not, but I cant remember the formula,maybe another poster can help.
 
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