Opinions? Tall riders showing ponies?

[BallyJ]

Just been scrolling through the Daily Mail and saw this;

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4983060/Official-orders-six-stone-teenager-pony.html

is there not a age restriction? i'm not into showing but thought children's ponies should be ridden by children?

 

[Antw23uk]

Unsuitable childrens ponies warmed up and knackered out by adults before said child gets on board and trots round the show ring to win a rosette for being a wonderfully quiet 'childs' pony!

 

[cobgoblin]

She looks too tall....but at 6st I would expect someone of 5'7" to look skeletal.

 

[Antw23uk]

She looks too tall....but at 6st I would expect someone of 5'7" to look skeletal.

She aint six stone, lol

 

[AFB]

If you were that mortified would you seriously take it to the Daily Mail?!

 

[SpringArising]

She's not too big but there's also no way in hell she's 6 stone.

 

[Regandal]

I'm 5'6 and 10 stones. Average build. At 6 stones, I wouldn't be able to function. Or remain upright.

 

[Leo Walker]

I've got a friend who is 5ft8 and 7 stone and shes not skeletal. Just tall and slim. The rider in question has offered to get on the scales in front of anyone, so I dont think shes lying. Shes also a lovely rider who works very hard with her whole family to produce these ponies. This wasnt a case of the pony being ridden into the ground by an adult before the child got on. The pony did light up a bit so she was riding it, but its ridden regularly by her tiny little sister who shows the pony. The atmosphere just got to him a little bit.

Shes made a lot of noise in the last few months about unfair/corrupt judging and then she was singled out like this. Seems a bit suspect to me! No one else was removed as far as I know.

 

[showaddy1]

I'm not sure how I feel about this... yes sure she is tall for the pony, but is height going to cause harm?

 

[MotherOfChickens]

I don't think she's very heavy looking at her and regardless, she's not too big or too heavy for that pony. worlds going mad.

 

[exracehorse]

The link is running on chit chat and tack. Apparently pony is 12 hands. And there was no tannoy announcement although she was asked to dismount by a steward. I do not think she is 6 stone either.

 

[maggie62]

If you were that mortified would you seriously take it to the Daily Mail?!

The Daily Mail just need these stories to fill their pages. I like how they have a picture of her standing closer to the camera making her look so tall in comparison to the pony a few feet behind. I am no expert but she does look too tall sitting on that pony regardless of her weight.
In tears and shamed in front of everyone....so what do you do......put the terrible incident in a national rag so everyone in the country can see it.

 

[Leo Walker]

Here is the info from the rider herself:

https://www.facebook.com/timothy.noodle/posts/1735327139824387

For anyone wanting more light on the subject..
I took Colin (who I ride at home and out hacking with no problems!!) into the top spec arena for his evening work in. Colin is usually a pony you can pull off the Lorry, put a tot on board and straight in the ring, however HOYS is a very artificial environment for any horse or pony and is also very buzzy. He has always been sharp (too sharp to put a small child on to work in first!!) at Hoys so requires a 10-15 minute work in by myself.

We have owned Colin since 2011, I backed him myself he has NEVER struggled and I would NEVER compromise the welfare of any animal!! I rode Colin around the arena 2 times before a steward came up to me and his words were "you are far to big on that pony; you need to leave" my response was "oh I'm sorry, I didn't realise I will go out now" I also explained my little sister was riding him the next day and that I rode him at home with no problems; he responded "oh well you can have one more trot round then as you are here". I had another trot round (Colin was still sharp) so I circled up the top then came back to walk and was walking down he arena to go and leave when the steward came up again (he didn't call over tannoy as stated in article so this is an error on behalf of the daily mail) and said "now your taking he Mickey out of me give me your number I will be putting a complaint against you".

At this point lots of people were staring over which made me feel very uncomfortable and I explained again to the steward that the pony was sharp, had a class the next day and walked out the arena with him escorting me out infront of everyone!! I left the ring and was very upset about it and that my pony was in the ring the next day (something I've worked so hard for!!) without having done his warm up. I was very lucky to find a shorter jockey that was able to warm him up for me in the morning slot the next day!
Mum went and made a complaint at the equestrian office and we was told we had to put a £250 CASH deposit down if we wanted them to try and resolve it.. So instead we (we couldn't afford to loose £250!!) emailed HOYS. Nothing was resolved..

We feel at Hoys it's very one rule for one, one for another and that's it's ok for mounted games kids to jump on and off of ponies (some 3/4 Colin's size) jockeys that are tall and no one peeps a word yet show riders aren't allowed to take the edge off of their ponies for the smaller jockeys too get on. Also adults bigger than myself working in petite show ponies that were not asked to leave like I was.
I have also been contacted by the Surrey mirror, BBC radio 1 and the Sun to do an article on this. Now this has gone viral I really hope now HOYS put a proper rule in across the board and make it 100% clear to EVERY competitor!!

 

[Hallo2012]

I've got a friend who is 5ft8 and 7 stone and shes not skeletal. Just tall and slim. The rider in question has offered to get on the scales in front of anyone, so I dont think shes lying. Shes also a lovely rider who works very hard with her whole family to produce these ponies. This wasnt a case of the pony being ridden into the ground by an adult before the child got on. The pony did light up a bit so she was riding it, but its ridden regularly by her tiny little sister who shows the pony. The atmosphere just got to him a little bit.

Shes made a lot of noise in the last few months about unfair/corrupt judging and then she was singled out like this. Seems a bit suspect to me! No one else was removed as far as I know.

agree with you!

she's an inch taller than me and i weigh 7'11................i look a lot rounder than she does!!!!! i can well believe she's 6 stone-look how narrow her hips and shoulders are, theres not bulk to her at all. her BMI is low.....so is mine........i never feel sick or dizzy, its just how some metabolisms are its absolutely not an impossibility to function at that BMI.

FWIW i know her and the way the ponies are produced and they all have a lovely family yard life, not over cooked and the kids ponies ARE kids ponies but HOYS is very buzzy!

i have a 13.2hh welsh B to produce................shoot me now.................im going to look top heavy but seriously doubt he will struggle to buck me off!!!!!!

 

[ester]

I wouldn't expect the DF to get things like the presence of a tannoy right .

But I did think that other affiliated shows this year had the presence of (uncalibrated) scales to deal with this sort of situation, which appears not to have been employed here.

I do not understand why HOYS are saying this

'would like to highlight that this is not an issue about the weight of a rider. Riders could be asked to dismount or stop exercising if it was felt that they are not the appropriate height for the animal'

In all of the blurb put out this year about oversized riders I have never seen height mentioned? have I missed it? and why height would ever realistically be a problem when riding a pony on the flat if you are a genuinely good and balanced rider?

 

[AFB]

Just to clarify, my comment wasn't a criticism of the rider/pony situation - more a choice of media outlet - surely approaching someone like H&H where the readership has an interest/working knowledge and the industry is related, may get more of a response from the right people?

 

[Hallo2012]

The Daily Mail just need these stories to fill their pages. I like how they have a picture of her standing closer to the camera making her look so tall in comparison to the pony a few feet behind. I am no expert but she does look too tall sitting on that pony regardless of her weight.
In tears and shamed in front of everyone....so what do you do......put the terrible incident in a national rag so everyone in the country can see it.

but what harm does height do?!

i school a 12.1hh welsh B..................im 5'7 and 7'11 stone......................i look silly........................he doesnt struggle..............wheres the issue?

 

[MotherOfChickens]

she also has a point about the games ponies. she's a teenager? I think she could be very light-I weighed next to nothing until I was 18 and it was suspected that I had an eating disorder when I complained of stomach pains as a 13 yo-I didnt, `i just never stopped running about! height wise she may not make the fashionable picture but in no way is she too big to ride the pony as described. (LR looked like a pea on a drum of that obese maxi cob-looked dafter imo and that horse's weight more of a welfare issue).

 

[ester]

she has a very good point about the PPC ponies, who run under specific weight regs/limits I think?

 

[nikkimariet]

I'm 5'6 and 10 stones. Average build. At 6 stones, I wouldn't be able to function. Or remain upright.

Whereas I'm 5ft8 and 7.5st and am perfectly healthy. It's all relative.

Regardless, the girl is neither too tall nor too heavy for the pony.

 

[BlackRider]

As a tall person with a pony, I also see that height isn't an issue, it is the weight that is the important factor.

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

A few people were taken off at hoys. She was not singled our. She was not told she was too heavy which ishould the angle the daily fail is taking. She walked to get off of a 12hh pony because she was too tall on it.

 

[ester]

But do you think too tall should be a consideration EKW?

 

[BallyJ]

I wondered if showing was like show jumping - i've never really been involved in showing- but where only the rider who was competing the horse was allowed to ride it at the venue?

clearly not! I can understand why she was riding at the girl looks so little on him

 

[honetpot]

I think most of us that have been riding for years have hopped on a small pony at some time, usually its for a small amount of time. This young women was doing just that and she is probably still young enough to have hardly any mature women's body fat. She was not riding it in the ring, but in the collecting ring.
There are quite a few professional riders of small ponies who are mature women, and although not much more that 5' have a mature women's body and would weigh probably considerably more than 6 stone. If its a rule about weight, it has to be the same for all, you have a set of jockey scales, their weight is recorded and people get a wrist band for that show. If its about height its the same, but it has to be for everyone. Which would put the cat among the pigeons and quite a few people would lose their job and even more small ponies would be out of a job.

 

[cobgoblin]

Perhaps they should change the rules so that only the competitor can ride both in the ring and in warm-up.

 

[WelshD]

yes a childs pony should be a childs pony. This particular one is ridden by various youngsters in that family at home and at shows.

HOYS however is a very different atmosphere, the warm up times bear no relation to the class times with slots being late at night or early hours of the morning, kids often need to be in bed at these times as the days themselves are very long, the stables are on a car park with the only exercise these ponies get apart from the warm up times being just the long walk from the stables to arena - no turnout at all for up to five days.

So in short I am not surprised the girl was warming up the pony. the pony is a stocky 'leg in each corner' pure section A and well capable of carrying the weight - there were an awful lot of riders far more unsuitably mounted in the actual classes

 

[SpringArising]

Here is the info from the rider herself:

https://www.facebook.com/timothy.noodle/posts/1735327139824387

For anyone wanting more light on the subject..
I took Colin (who I ride at home and out hacking with no problems!!) into the top spec arena for his evening work in. Colin is usually a pony you can pull off the Lorry, put a tot on board and straight in the ring, however HOYS is a very artificial environment for any horse or pony and is also very buzzy. He has always been sharp (too sharp to put a small child on to work in first!!) at Hoys so requires a 10-15 minute work in by myself.

We have owned Colin since 2011, I backed him myself he has NEVER struggled and I would NEVER compromise the welfare of any animal!! I rode Colin around the arena 2 times before a steward came up to me and his words were "you are far to big on that pony; you need to leave" my response was "oh I'm sorry, I didn't realise I will go out now" I also explained my little sister was riding him the next day and that I rode him at home with no problems; he responded "oh well you can have one more trot round then as you are here". I had another trot round (Colin was still sharp) so I circled up the top then came back to walk and was walking down he arena to go and leave when the steward came up again (he didn't call over tannoy as stated in article so this is an error on behalf of the daily mail) and said "now your taking he Mickey out of me give me your number I will be putting a complaint against you".

At this point lots of people were staring over which made me feel very uncomfortable and I explained again to the steward that the pony was sharp, had a class the next day and walked out the arena with him escorting me out infront of everyone!! I left the ring and was very upset about it and that my pony was in the ring the next day (something I've worked so hard for!!) without having done his warm up. I was very lucky to find a shorter jockey that was able to warm him up for me in the morning slot the next day!
Mum went and made a complaint at the equestrian office and we was told we had to put a £250 CASH deposit down if we wanted them to try and resolve it.. So instead we (we couldn't afford to loose £250!!) emailed HOYS. Nothing was resolved..

We feel at Hoys it's very one rule for one, one for another and that's it's ok for mounted games kids to jump on and off of ponies (some 3/4 Colin's size) jockeys that are tall and no one peeps a word yet show riders aren't allowed to take the edge off of their ponies for the smaller jockeys too get on. Also adults bigger than myself working in petite show ponies that were not asked to leave like I was.
I have also been contacted by the Surrey mirror, BBC radio 1 and the Sun to do an article on this. Now this has gone viral I really hope now HOYS put a proper rule in across the board and make it 100% clear to EVERY competitor!!

You haven't said how much you weigh, how big and what breed the pony is LW.

Sorry, my bad - I thought you were telling your own story!

 

[GirlFriday]

Perhaps they should change the rules so that only the competitor can ride both in the ring and in warm-up.

^This sounds like a fabulous idea. Yes, the atmosphere will make a difference but the pony's behaviour in such environments is part of it being a (very) good child's pony.

Then add a max tack & rider weight per weight of horse / or maybe, better, max rider & rack weight per class where there are breed classes - so people don't get into the idea that fat sec A can carry an adult whereas a healthy one can't (not saying this pony is fat, but many in showing are...). Anything that makes it completely objective so that no-one feels it is 'about them'.

Sure, there will be some terrible, but light riders who still ride and some superb but heavy ones who might need to show slightly larger animals - but with sensible limits these would be rare. And having limits would raise some awareness...

 

[WelshD]

the pony is a 12hh pure bred Section A with a leg at each corner - the girl's weight is not a problem, there were far more extreme tall and weighty riders in the actual M&M classes, perhaps the stewards were extra alert as this pony was competing in a lead rein hunter pony class and some of the other ponies in the class can range from very slight to very sturdy