OK, so what does 7 1/2 stone actually look like?

I'm 5'7" and weigh 8 stone, which puts me at a fair bit over 10% of my mare's bodyweight. I have dropped weight recently because I'm more active now (have brought my mare back into work) but I couldn't really weigh much less and still look healthy. I'm very happy with how I look atm, and with my weight. I don't know how you could be 6ft and weigh 8 stone though :eek:
 
I wonder how the old hunters used to manage, 18 stones of bloke, hacking miles to the meet, a full days hunting and then hack home miles again in the dark. Some of those old downtrodden nags kept this up for years.
 
I'm 7 stone exactly but only 5"3 and have always been quite petite build naturally. My pony is 14.1hh and a connemara so not overly fine build. It's me riding in the pic next to my name if you can kind of see!
Just realised... surely a 14.2hh cob can comfortably carry far more than 7.5stone...?

Edit: I don;t think this 10% body weight rule works at all.. that would mean I'd have to be about 38kg which would make me fit the weight criteria of an anorexic and I don't think I look big on my pony.
 
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EPRider said:
I wonder how the old hunters used to manage, 18 stones of bloke, hacking miles to the meet, a full days hunting and then hack home miles again in the dark. Some of those old downtrodden nags kept this up for years.
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It was & IS done, doesn't make it right.
 
Ok then. Let's see how good you really are.

How tall am I and how much do I weigh?
P1160739_zpsa5ae2692.jpg
 
I'm 5ft5 and weigh 7 stone - I hate it :( had everything done to me to see why I always look so ill but can't find anything :( - I eat 3000+ calories a day to keep me at 7st or else I go to 6 1/2!
 
Please look after yourselves and aim for a BMI of 19-23 any less and your periods may stop and te risk of bone thinning and osteoporosis is really high.
I have no idea how they came to those conclusions in that paper but a sample size of 150 horses and riders is very small and the likelihood of a genuinely statistically significant result is small.
If your horse is happy and you are a healthy weight I wouldn't sweat
 
I'm 5 ft 3 and 6 stone 10... I don't have and have never had a eating disorder...people come up up to me and say ooohhh your so lucky to be thin etc but its not.. I hate it but ha e 2 kids 2 horses 2 businesses I wouldn't be able to keep going if I didn't eat!! I have 2 ponies at 14.2 and they are perfect size for me.. One big hate is when people say aren't you thin... You wouldn't go to someone and say aren't you fat so not sure why people feel its ok to say to us skinny types! :(
 
I think the "10% rule" has been misinterpreted. Basically if you weigh less than 10% of your horse's bodyweight your weight has minimal/ if any affect on the horse, i.e its as good as carrying nothing for the horse. Again 15% to 20% is safe for the horse to carry, over 20% is a shady area (not ideal).

Vets didn't actually claim that every rider should be under 10%, but sensationalist journalism made it out to sound like that.
 
I think Nikki is quite small as her horse is small? Hmmm maybe 5ft2 and around 6.5st?
I do think that article was ridiculous. It doesn't make sense at all...
 
Apologies if someone already posted it (didn't read all the way through) but I understand that according to the new study the 10% rule is the OPTIMUM weight, NOT the maximum. Between 10 and 15% is considered 'satisfactory'. Then above that is considered a potential (but not definite) welfare risk.

I'm not saying I agree with it (I've ridden ponies where I weighed over 15% of their weight!) but I don't think it's ridiculous to say that 10% can be the 'optimum'.
 
chazza44 said:
Please look after yourselves and aim for a BMI of 19-23 any less and your periods may stop and te risk of bone thinning and osteoporosis is really high.t
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This is very true. I'm 5'2" and went down to 7.5 stone many years ago when I got a bit carried away with diet and exercise. Got a bit of a wake up call when my periods stopped which was my body's way of saying something was very wrong! Gone the other way now though!
 
Fools Motto said:
If you want to see what 7.5st looks like, I'll happily post a picture of me....

Then you just have to imagine that image with my legs cut off and maybe an arm too...

Don't think that is a pretty picture really!!

I'm 10.5 st , 5'4'' and seemingly far too fat to be anywhere near my mare, and certainly not even in the same country as my little filly!!
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PMSL :D:D:D:D

Trouble is I sound like your identical twin :p If I weighed 7.5 st I would be a hologram !:rolleyes:!
 
Does this mean that the minimum weight for endurance; eventing etc need to change?

How many endurance horse weigh over 700kg for the minimum weight of 70kg (rider and saddle)? Not sure how many would even be over 500kg for the 15% rule.

I fortunately am just below 15% for my pony.
 
I literally do eat whatever I want and don't even think about it but that's not to say I eat a lot. It probably varies but I know for 10 years I have not gone
much above 8st, I never diet. If I want something I eat it, if I don't I don't and I think that is the best way to be.
Now i'm 7 months pregnant and it's interesting to see the scales go up! I'm now over 9 stone and it's cool!! I have boobs whoop! I still eat what I fancy. It is very possible to be a normal adult size and be 7.5st and perfectly healthy but I do appreciate for some people it's not healthy.
I do think that there probably is an increase in overweight people riding horses that are not the right size as a general population we are getting bigger. It is however hard to put a number on it as our bodies are so different and carry weight differently. Also so do horses, a chunky 14.3 cob probably has more carrying power than a 16hh Tb.
 
criso said:
I would love to see the original study the DM quotes to see how it has been 'interpreted'.

It says 10% in one line but then talks about 15% being satisfactory and 20% being a welfare issue. If their figures are be believed it says that only 5% meet the criteria

I would also be interested in what tests did they use to decide the weight that was acceptable, what range of horses were used in these tests (height, type, breed etc).
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The full paper has never been published. Only the abstract. So without contacting the authors we will never know who came up with the 10% 15% 20% cut offs.

Also, the research was not performed by a vet for whoever mentioned vets.

In its defence it does say 10% is unrealistic for the general population and 15% is fine.

Which is what most of us already knew I supsect ;)
 
Be interesting to get some of the HHO males to tell us what they weigh.

According to a BMI index I looked at the lowest healthy weight for a 5' 10" man is about 12 stone/79kg. They would need a horse weighing 790kg.
 
I'm 5ft 4 and currently weigh 11 stone 9... however I'm on Slimming World and have lost 10lb so far. I'm aiming for 'realistically' 10 stone however I want to be 8st 4lb which is my 13.3 D's 15%.
I think bone structure plays a part though, I already look slimmer at this new weight so not sure I could make 8 stone 4 unless I really push it!
 
My neighbour is under 7.5 stone. She is about 4ft9 I would guess and my 3 year old daughter's 00 riding hat fits her! Don't think she is the norm!!
 
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I'm 5'10 & fluctuate between about 8 stone 6 & 8st 11. Although if I'm ill I drop below it. I eat almost none stop, & I have a decent amount of muscle. In my teens I was this height & round the 7 stone mark, late teens up till early 20's about 8 stone. And at that size I was working & riding horses all day so had nothing but solid muscle. I gained weight in pregnancy (daughter 8) & since I make a permanent effort to keep it on for appearance. My body would prefer to be about 8stone though. I'm perfectly healthy, & had zero trouble conceiving, with pregnancy or birth or breast feeding. And I don't really care what my bmi says my health is.
I'm guessing nikki marriett is tall, 5'8 - 5'11 perhaps. Hard to guess weight in that jacket, if she has a six pack etc then weight could be quite a bit more than if not. At a guess, weight between 7 & 8 stone max, maybe 8&1/2 if she is solid muscle .
 
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