Human weight limit on my horses

dressagelove

dressagelove

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Looking for a sharer for my boys atm, and just wondering what the great people of HHO would be happy weight wise letting on my two horses. They are both very fine thoroughbreds, one 16hh, the other 15.3. What is the max weight you would want on them?
 
For a fit and healthy horse you take 20% as the maximum they can carry including tack. Just because they can, doesn't mean they should and many people work to 15% max. The weight carrying capabilities decrease the finer limbed they are, if the horse is overweight and if the rider is unbalanced. Also if you increase the intensity of the workload to include lots of cantering/galloping/jumping it decreases what they should carry too.

Eta - my 14h2 who is 450kg (ish) shouldn't carry more than just over 10st including tack at 15%
 
This is in 'old money' but doesn't assume a fat horse can carry more! Add up everything that is carried - horse, tack and rider but in pounds(lb). Then divide by the number of inches of bone. Then divide by two. The number needs to be below 85 for hacking and under 75 for jumping etc. I like this calculation because it means I can ride my pony but not if I put on any weight at all!
 
Splashy pony said:
This is in 'old money' but doesn't assume a fat horse can carry more! Add up everything that is carried - horse, tack and rider but in pounds(lb). Then divide by the number of inches of bone. Then divide by two. The number needs to be below 85 for hacking and under 75 for jumping etc. I like this calculation because it means I can ride my pony but not if I put on any weight at all!
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The maximum weight my pony can carry using the 20% would bring that out at 59.5 - surely that's not right?
 
Splashy pony said:
Err you're right. It's the other way round. Below 75 for jumping, not above 85 for general riding. Sorry but this wine is really good!
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But that still means my horse would carry an extra 2 stone - which would be 25% of her body weight for jumping or 30% for general riding. That's awful :(
 
I am 8.5stone my largest horse is 17.2 fine TB, smallest is 14hh cob, I also have a 16 2hh WB built like a tank and a 15 2hh Trotter X, weight depends on how good the rider is and what horse they are riding, my absolute limit for my lot is my OH, at 13.5 stone and losing, he is balanced in the saddle and is a sympathetic rider, knows the horses limits, he won't ride the cob as he is still a baby and my OH feels he is too heavy for him just now, but works him in hand
 
Fides said:
But that still means my horse would carry an extra 2 stone - which would be 25% of her body weight for jumping or 30% for general riding. That's awful :(
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The point here is that her body weight isn't the mark, it is simply part of the loading problem and the legs are the solution. I know some research that suggests up to 30% of body weight is fine for long distance riding! This suggests that if she has the bone it's ok; but of course it is only a guide. She might not take someone of 25% of her body weight round a 5* event but could pop a set of show jumps.
This sort of calculation is like the 'Celsius to Fahrenheit: times 2 plus 28' type. It works ok for most of the range.
 
Well as my 14.2 welshie usually carries nearly 13 stone + tack on a daily basis.... which is about 18% of his bodyweight..

I'm not sure it's something any mathematical formula can adequately deal with tbh so OP I would just go with what you are happy with as you don't want to be worrying about them and no one is going to judge you so long as you don't say 8 stone ;). Fwiw I would ride 2 of the 16hh TBs (both flat bred) on the yard but wouldn't do much on the other.
 
I reckon your TBs will carry 12 stone balanced rider comfortably.
I'm 17 stone and ride a 17 hands cob. Have sat on a 14.2 cob who seemed to have 10 plus inches of bone on his legs and he carried me ok for half an hour but I feel I'm better on a maxi cob above 16 hands until I lose more weight.
 
Its a wonder men ride unless they are whippets eh. My oh doesn't look over weight but at 6ft 1 and 15 stoneish he wouldn't be able to ride a lot of horses.

We women have it easy really
 
I've always gone on 20% of correct (not overweight!!) bodyweight, to include tack.

To put 15% into context, my 14.3hh heavy cob weight taped at around 450kg at his correct weight. 15% would make 67.5kg, or 10st8. Allow 1st for tack, and his weight limit would have been 9st8? I understand the "just because they can doesn't mean they should", but that's just silly IMO.
 
ShadowFlame said:
I've always gone on 20% of correct (not overweight!!) bodyweight, to include tack.

To put 15% into context, my 14.3hh heavy cob weight taped at around 450kg at his correct weight. 15% would make 67.5kg, or 10st8. Allow 1st for tack, and his weight limit would have been 9st8? I understand the "just because they can doesn't mean they should", but that's just silly IMO.
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is that weight tape weight as it seems very light for a 14.3hh heavy weight
 
One longer term study (I'm blowed if I can find the reference now) suggests that horses regularly carrying over 25% of their body weight are more prone to lameness and musculo skeletal injury. So you need to consider how often the rider will ride the horse and for how long, as well. I use the 20% limit.
 
twiggy2 said:
is that weight tape weight as it seems very light for a 14.3hh heavy weight
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Weight taped, yes. My other 13.3 hairy cob taped at 380kg. I know they're not fully accurate, but I don't have access to a weigh bridge. I take taped weight and go on 20% to include 1st of tack, meaning the former could carry a 13st rider, the latter a 10st rider.
 
ShadowFlame said:
Weight taped, yes. My other 13.3 hairy cob taped at 380kg. I know they're not fully accurate, but I don't have access to a weigh bridge. I take taped weight and go on 20% to include 1st of tack, meaning the former could carry a 13st rider, the latter a 10st rider.
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Pop them on a weighbridge and think you will be surprised! My 15hh youngster (not overweight) was over 504kg when on the weighbridge and he is not a heavy weight cob! Weigh tapes are great for monitoring changes in weight but can be nearly 100kg out in my experience with my ID!
 
That's why the % of weight thing doesn't really work, few of us know exactly how much our horse weighs or should weigh as we don't really have any need to, so it is probably just easier to be sensible as I think it is pretty obvious if an animal is struggling/overpersoned ;)
 
ester said:
That's why the % of weight thing doesn't really work, few of us know exactly how much our horse weighs or should weigh as we don't really have any need to, so it is probably just easier to be sensible as I think it is pretty obvious if an animal is struggling/overpersoned ;)
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This exactly Ester but then let's not forgot that common sense can be somewhat difficult to find nowadays....
 
I now feel like a terrible owner. I'm roughly 11 stone (was lighter and have lost aprox 2 stone since January) but refuse to get on the scales recently) and my horse is a 3/4 Tb 1/4 Arab standing at 15hh. We jump and he's never seemed uncomfortable.
 
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The less weight your horse carries the easier it is for them. It's not like 9 stone is easy and 10 stone impossible. Ergo there's not really an exact cut off weight for horses.

How much your horse can carry depends on the horse's age, build, height and fitness as well as how demanding the work is. Using an arbitrary percentage of your horse's weight will probably give you the wrong answer.

If the weight is too heavy the horse will be out of breath quickly and reluctant to go fast.

Simples.
 
I think it depends on the horses' ages and how fit they are. My 15hh lightweight TBx mare carried me quite happily when I weighed 12 stone (I was pregnant), but she was 9 and very fit at the time. She's 22 now, and I wouldn't dream of asking her to carry that weight - I don't think it would be fair to her.
 
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