how much weight do you think newforests can carry?

I would probably say not much more than 10 stone, but then again they are fairly sturdy little ponies... oh, I don't know! (Really helpful response, eh?
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Well lets just say the commoners ride them out all day on the drifts and some are big butch men.

I've always heard that the general rule for foresters is a stone per hand, but to be honest, I do think that is over-doing it a little. But 10 or 11 stone should not be a problem for them at all.
 
A stone per hand. Dependent on: age, fitness, health/history.

Daughter1's Little Cob is a lightweight Traditional cob. He's 13.3hh and happily carries me at roughly thirteen and a half stone. When I asked the vet, the backman, the McTimmony lady if I was too heavy they all laughed and told me to stop worrying, he was fine. I'd happily ride a 14hh NF
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I think the view nowadays is an underestimate of the work levels of a NF and what they used to actually carry. I was reading an old book about horses written in 1930s over Christmas and it was also of the view a stone per hand, and a full height 14.2 NF was discussed as being a good pony for a farmer that could carry 15st for a days hunting as well as do a multitude of other tasks on the farm.
 
There is a formula... take the horse's weight in lbs (pounds!) divide by 6, then divide by 14. This will give you the maximum weight of the rider in stones ( sorry not into kilos!)that the horse can carry. But remember to add 2 stones to your body weight to account for clothes, saddle etc .
 
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A stone per hand. Dependent on: age, fitness, health/history.


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this. they are study things which can carry a lot more than they are given credit for!
as said above 14.2hh new forests used to carry 15 stone men for a days hunting quite happily!!!!!!!
 
I weigh about 10 stone at the moment and wouldn't think twice about jumping on my 14hh new forest, he certainly doesn't find it difficult to chuck me around when he gets excited!!! my legs however do hang rather low below his belly these days... had him since I was a young teenager, but I would never give him up
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It depends on the build of the pony - mine is 13.2 built like a small cob - and I am 8 stone but he was backed by a big man!

NF are good weight carriers so much so at the breed show there is a special class "weight carrying pony" - riders have to weight more than 12.7stone and have to be weighed on scales before they can enter the class to make sure they are heavy enough.

However some of the modern foresters are more lighter types - apparently a weight carrying pony will have plenty of bone and short cannons as well as good wide barrel and depth of body.
 
Depends on built. I know cobby NF and I know showpony-type NFs.

i'm 10.5 stone and would happily ride a chunky 14hh NF, but wouldn't put much more on one for hard riding.

It also depends on how big a saddle they can take. Some of the short backed geldings max out at a 16" saddle and I wouldn't happily ride in one of them for long - it concentrates the pressure into to small an area.
 
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