Heavy Rider School

I keep this as a reminder of what working army horses, usually between 14.3 & 15.2, used to carry and stay sound.


The late Major Wilton kept the cutting, as an example of what the troop horse was actually carrying on active service.



South Africa. Weighed in the Field, from The Times of the 7th March 1901. Name of the Regiment not given.



Saddle, wallets carbine bucket, etc 31lb 6oz
Bridle 7lb
Shoes and nails 2lb
Lance 4lb 8oz
Carbine 8lb
Sword 3lb 14oz
Ammunition for carbine, 150 rounds 9lb 6oz
Bandolier, mess tin and waterbottle (full) 7lb 4oz
Knife, etc. and towel 8oz
2 days' groceries and 1 days meat 3lb 4oz
1 days' corn (horse feed) 10lb
Great coat, forage nets, saddle blanket and numnah 27lb
Emergency ration 1lb
Total 115lb 2oz

Average weight of man 166lb

Grand Total 281lb 2oz
Or 20 stone 1lb
 
Reading through the posts, I didn't realise many RS's have an uper weight limit of just 12 stone. I'm 5ft 8, and I take a size 12 in clothes. I look very slim, and I am quite fit; but I actually weigh 11 stone, so with riding kit on I probably wouldn't be far off the maximum weight limit! That's crazy.
 
madeleine1 said:
bl**dy b*llcks sorry but that makes me angry you clearly have never met a rugby player at top level or weight lifter or numerous other sports where people are unbelievably fit and often 20st. i personally have a 16hh horse and im 18st and i play rugby and my horse happly clears 1.20m with me on and my riding school have loads of horses they are happy for me to ride for often well over an hour.
and in answer to other comments made i wouldnt mount from the ground regularly even if i was 5 stone. its jst not neccasery every time and doesnt help the horse.
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Rugby players and weight lifters at 20st do not sit on top of other animals.
I agree there are light larger riders, but 20st is 20st, light rider or not, you have to question a 20st person's fitness and their effect on the horse they are competing on, seriously.
 
TheEquineOak said:
As someone has already mentioned - horse riding is a demanding, physical sport. Surely a rider must be prepared to be 'fit' before contemplating starting?

Just my opinion :)
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I agree with you, that a rider should be prepared to be fit before riding, but in reality, people will do what they want to do regardless.

For example (about 1 minuet in :eek:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtRCq2HCliE
 
Misinterpreted said:
Reading through the posts, I didn't realise many RS's have an uper weight limit of just 12 stone. I'm 5ft 8, and I take a size 12 in clothes. I look very slim, and I am quite fit; but I actually weigh 11 stone, so with riding kit on I probably wouldn't be far off the maximum weight limit! That's crazy.
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I was told by a friend who has worked at an RS for over twenty years that they have a similarly low weight limit because so many people simply lie about their weight.
 
You don't need much knowledge of physics to understand why a riding school would limit their weight to 12 stones. ..

There wasn't much awareness of back lameness until recently - it isn't an 'in your face' thing. I think anything which causes pain should be avoided.

Sorry, not in favour of a heavy rider school.
 
I think the 12st limit does make it difficult for many men to learn to ride. Even the places that will take them generally only have 1 or 2 horses which are suitable, and even if they are quite good and capable horses, it means they aren't getting the breadth of experience which lighter (or even just shorter) riders are able to get.
To get round this, your options are generally either to go somewhere so bad that they dont care what weight of rider they put on the horses (where generally the quality of teaching makes it difficult to learn), or somewhere training at quite a high level with plenty of 16hh plus horses, which will get you good training but tends to have the kind of prices that would put beginners off.

If you wanted to run it as a business, you would need to be around a big city, where plenty of people have access to choose to come to you. As a local riding school, the majority of customers are kids, and ponies are much cheaper to keep, so it doesnt really make sense as a business plan to cater excessively for the larger rider.
I also think that you would have to pitch it as riding for adults, rather than riding for tubbies, and let people draw their own conclusions.
 
B'Jesus my ned is going to love this snippit of info no more work for her ...

I am 5'9" a size 12 and training to be a yoga instructor so not overly flabby but I weighed 11st 12pounds this morning butt naked stood on the scales on 1 foot !!!! :-0


Good job I have a grey as I won't look out of place riding Gadiva style !!!
 
Evelyn said:
Being a heavyweight - I'd love to get back into riding my Clydesdale BUT where can I get jodphurs big enough? They just don't seem to make them.
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I don't know if you can get them to ship to you out there in paradise but there is a company here called "fuller fillies" do clobber for the slightly softer of us ladies :-)
 
I wouldn't like a riding school to cater to heavier people specifically, those poor horses dealing with it day in day out. BUT if your average yard had a few - the load *oh god sorry lol* would be more spread out and people would have choice and variety as would the horses.

I can only think that I feel sorry for horses that would have that strain on them 2/3/4 times a day. That I don't think is fair. But I do think heavier people need somewhere to learn and if every riding school had a choice of appropriate horses for heavier people, that might be good.
 
I believe most sound fit horses are more than able of carrying 13 stone ish. I went up to about this weight after having my daughter and my mare a 16hand tb was still as spritely as ever. I actually thought once I lost the weight I would see a difference in her but she didn't seem to notice. Although I have to admit I find the idea of an 18 stone beginner on a horse horrific!
 
though this is interesting, i dont know how i feel about it. i mean someone thats 10 st beginner flapping about on the saddle the horse will feel but double that and i think its unfair on the horse.
however some people who are overweight dont seem to think they are. (experience from rs)
what noone seems to have noticed is that would they fit in the saddle without damaging it?? we had to turn someone away as she would not have got her bottom into the saddle and it was an 18'' saddle.
I'm sorry but if we are keeping on pushing for riding to be considered a sport why dont we have the criteria for it being a sport. how fit com someone 18 st be?? and really how much weight will they loose walking on a horse for half an hour once a week? will they ever really loose any. i know its not pc but i do think its unfair on the horse to have to put up with that. though some larger people can ride really well and carry themselves lightly on the horses back but somone that is larger and a beginner cant do that and will be putting strain on their knees and joints and the horses joints.
like i said above would someone 20 st fit in a normal saddle and if the saddle was bigger would it fit the horse properly?? i dont know i think people might be looking through rose tinted glasses. yes a rs can accept bigger people but i think bigger people need to accept they are bigger and things may be more difficult for them.
i hope i havent caused offence, just my opinion. they have weight limits on fairground rides but i dont see anyone complaining about that.
 
Evelyn said:
Being a heavyweight - I'd love to get back into riding my Clydesdale BUT where can I get jodphurs big enough? They just don't seem to make them.
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Ah, sorry just seen you are in NZ! Not sure if ebay would post that far! Shall i come deliver you a pair instead? I'm desperate to come back over!
 
Dandycandy I completely agree with you! Its a difficult one though because people who weigh the same can look so different guy at my yard is 16 stone and looks slim, and at 13 stone I looked like a ball! X
 
As somebody mentioned it I agree some people will lie about their weight going to a new riding school, but that's no different and equally as potentially harmful as the people who lie about their ability - and that's gone on for ever.

Fortunately the yard I work on I've never had to turn away anybody for turning up and not being the size they said they were, and it is very much a visual assessment. Some tall skinny minny mum of a current rider will go 'oh I'd love to start again, but I'm over your weight limit' and you make the judgement that they're fine - our weight limit is very low as we only have one breed of pony in the school, BUT that staff are all over the limit ;) So I'll be equally discretionary when accepting clients.

Equally I've recently spent some time doing training at a Where To Train yard, where they don't feel the need to weigh people and do it on the information the client gives and on visaul assessment - overheard a phone call while waiting around the other day, obviously client requesting a certain horse "I'm sorry but on our system I've got that you're a little too heavy for X, as he has back problems he has a lower weight limit. Why not try Y horse instead?" which I'm sure nobody could be offended by!

On the other hand, I'm also on a course at another venue where there apparently make every rider get on the scales in full kit. Considering it's predominantly kids that seems a little excessive to my mind - I wouldn't fancy it much as a potential client and I'm a 5ft6 size 10-12 so would be under most places limits.
 
I personally find the weight limits for riding schools too low and am just glad that I learned to ride as an overweight 12 year old in the 80's and not now as a tall but a-bit-overweight woman.

I'm 5'9" and 13 1/2 stone and am no porker, but do have ample boob and hip! I cycle many miles a day, ride my horse (who is a TB in a heavy side saddle and has never suffered from lameness issues), muck out, don't sit around all day shoving cakes in my mouth, don't drink pop/wine/beer, don't eat much meat and I always place at shows so obviously being a stone overweight isn't affecting my riding!

I'm a size 16 but people are always amazed when I tell them that but I suppose my tallness stretches pout the fat and I suppose no one here who has seen pics of me posted here in the past would think I'm that big but I'm just naturally a good doer and have never been thin no matter I do even as a kid whilst my sister has always been a stick despite being fed the same things as a kid.

My lowest weight has been 12 stone which any lower, I would have looked like sickly but even at 12 stone, I still would have been on the border of being over the weight limits!!!

This topic of anyone being over 12 stone not being able to ride is a sensitive one for me as sometimes I would just like to go a riding school occasionally to have a tune up lesson on me on a different horse or if we go away to somewhere like London, I can't just for a ride at Hyde Park Stables as they have a stupidly low weight limit too.

I think weight limits at schools should be a discretionary thing depending on a ability, build and sex of a person. When we went to Devon several years back and I still had my 15 1/2 stone weight after giving birth to my son, I inquired at a holiday hack stable if I could ride and the woman put me on a 15hh native breed and took a look at my riding and said "There is nothing wrong with your riding love!!. I will be forever grateful for that woman saying that and if made me feel like a human again to get back into riding instead of being made to feel like a lazy blob "not worthy" of being near horses due to my weight.
 
ollyorse.jpg


OH having a lesson, by the laws of some of you - he shouldn't be riding as he is nearly 15stone :D

xx
 
This all very interesting. I'm a student on a school yard that has 45 natives. We have everything from a minature shetland to a suffolk. It doesn't matter if your short, tall, fat or thin. If you can get on the block and get your leg over to mount, theres probably something to ride. But then I think there's very few schools with as many horses to choose from.
 
sidesaddlegirl said:
I personally find the weight limits for riding schools too low and am just glad that I learned to ride as an overweight 12 year old in the 80's and not now as a tall but a-bit-overweight woman.
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Whether or not they're too low I don't know - BUT I definitely agree they seem to be getting lower and more in your face 'our weight limit is THIS'.

I know the arguement is people are getting fatter, that there are more people of 20 stone turning up wanting to start riding a horse than there are used to be because there are a higher pecentage of people of that weight around etc - but I'm not all that sure I buy that too much. I teach mainly kids, all averages sizes for ages with maybe a couple who are tall for their age, and a couple who are overweight for their age/height, and on the other hand some who are super skinny or shorter - I don't see it being any different distribution than it would have been 30 years ago, the majority are average and a minority aren't. That said these are after all people who want to get outside and do exercise, you're not pulling from the pool of teenagers that apparently exist who spend all day prostrate in front of a PS3 stuffing their faces - but to be honest I don't buy that the group of them is as big as the media would like it to be either :D I know when I'm trying to arrange lessons for half of these kids they can't do such and such a day because they're playing a different sport each day of the week - and I think I've taken from a pretty broad sample of interests, ages, financial situations etc.

All that said though you've got to remember though that the riding schools are in a totally unenviable position :( They can't say 'our weight limit is 13 stone if you can't ride but 16 stone if you're a fit muscly 6 foot plus bloke, or somebody who knows what they're doing' which is what we're all saying on here ;) They have to nail some colours to the mast, and they all do have to say SOMETHING because the majority of schools won't have a horse you can put a 20 stone beginner on - and everybody's frightened to death of what might happen if they DON'T have a displayed weight limit and it all ticks on fine being discretionary until one day the 20 stone beginner DOES turn up and demand a lesson, and the school has to say with no displayed weight limits etc 'sorry, you're too fat'.
 
We give lessons on schoolmasters and as such are a 'riding school', we do cater for lw adult beginners.

We have a set weight limit as it is not fair on our horses to have to carry heavy people. I'm rather of the thought that if you want to ride and you are too big for local riding places, lose some weight first until you are easier for the horses to carry and probably fitter/ more balanced.
 
It's always interesting on these threads, seeing what people perceive as 'overweight' and 'normal' in terms of numbers. 12 stone is a low limit, unless this is a riding school with only small ponies or finer types, IMO. I weigh somewhere between 10.5 and 11 stone, so I would be close to this limit, but I am a fit and healthy size 10-12 - I'm just tall with it. I would argue that I could ride most horses safely, at least as far as my height and weight goes, and even larger native-type ponies. I also think of all the you see blokes out hunting - I doubt many of them weigh under 12 stone especially in all their kit, and I would argue that a fair few would not fall into the 'expert well balanced rider' category either, with all due respect. Yet there seems to be much less angst about that?
 
much-jittering said:
They have to nail some colours to the mast, and they all do have to say SOMETHING because the majority of schools won't have a horse you can put a 20 stone beginner on - and everybody's frightened to death of what might happen if they DON'T have a displayed weight limit and it all ticks on fine being discretionary until one day the 20 stone beginner DOES turn up and demand a lesson, and the school has to say with no displayed weight limits etc 'sorry, you're too fat'.
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We always ask for a person's height and weight on the phone and I have no problem telling someone that unfortunately we cannot offer them a lesson as none of our horses would be up to carrying that weight. People generally understand, some come back to us a few months later when they are a suitable weight
 
How would u ever know if your horse can carry 20 stone? I wouldnt fancy bein the first person on board or infact teaching them to find out! ;-)
 
TheMule said:
We always ask for a person's height and weight on the phone and I have no problem telling someone that unfortunately we cannot offer them a lesson as none of our horses would be up to carrying that weight. People generally understand, some come back to us a few months later when they are a suitable weight
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Same here, and as I say I'm really lucky that have never had to deal with anybody who's lied and turned up a totally different size from what I was expecting. But big yards with shiny bells and whistles websites and internet booking need to have some 'official' weight limit displayed because when they're just 'proccessing people', rather than spending 15 minutes on the phone having a chat like you obviously do (and I do too), they need to have a line of defence of 'this is clearly our policy, and you don't fit into it'. The same as us having a clearly displayed health and safety notice about reserving the right to turn away people we consider to be unsuitably/unsafely dressed for riding - theoretically the bit of paper has to be there, because otherwise potentially the person can turn round when you tell them to go away and say 'but it wasn't made clear'. You know what riding schools are like in terms of fear of litigation from accidents these days, and I think that sort of panic of 'but somebody might sue us' has spread a bit far into other areas. That's why the weight limits are so in your face I reckon - because of this (probably entirely misplaced) fear of somebody crying 'discrimination'.
 
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