Show makes overweight riders dismount

Perhaps if you had been clearer that the person was also heavy and the pony fine it would not have appeared quite so "heightist".

As I said you can't generalise about height, it's about fitness of the pony and the rider and weight.

Weight, yes. Height, irrelevant. I'm 5'9" and ride a 14.2, but I weigh around 12st with tack, and she's a half Friesian tank.

In response to both of these - I didn't want to be so rude as to call her a fat biffer as she wasn't, but she was definitely on the heavier side and likely over 20%.
 
If you had seen the rider you wouldn't have been - she was solidly built and my mare is a sports pony, not a cob or native.

Probably more about weight than height? - in which case yes, I would share your concern.

It's got me thinking about the whole question of proportion too. I once knew a woman who bought a weanling 'likely to make 15.2'. She was 4ft 10 with short legs so would probably have looked quite small on a 15.2 - but the horse actually made 17hh and I have to say that not only did they look a little 'wrong' but the position of her legs would surely have affected leg aids? Having said that, they did seem to enjoy hacking out together so it's not really fair of me to criticise.
 
Probably more about weight than height? - in which case yes, I would share your concern.

It's got me thinking about the whole question of proportion too. I once knew a woman who bought a weanling 'likely to make 15.2'. She was 4ft 10 with short legs so would probably have looked quite small on a 15.2 - but the horse actually made 17hh and I have to say that not only did they look a little 'wrong' but the position of her legs would surely have affected leg aids? Having said that, they did seem to enjoy hacking out together so it's not really fair of me to criticise.

Being only 5ft1 myself - it is difficult to find the 'buttons' on a horse that has been trained by a tall person. My new 16h1 has taken a few weeks to get used to.
 
Being only 5ft1 myself - it is difficult to find the 'buttons' on a horse that has been trained by a tall person. My new 16h1 has taken a few weeks to get used to.

Very interesting - my current pony (the one I felt I 'clicked' with instantly the first time I rode him) was trained by a short person, just like me.
My Connie had previously been schooled by a very tall rider and it took ages for me to learn how to get him to respond to certain things.

So it's hard for me to understand how riders who are clearly much too tall for small ponies can communicate clearly to them. Obviously not as much of a welfare issue as small ponies with heavy adults on board, but interesting nevertheless.
 
So everyone is praising the show for removing overweight riders but berating me for showing concern as to how much my mare can carry? That's HHO at it's finest...

no, I specifically quoted you on your comment about leg length, which I thought a bit odd.
You also only initially mentioned the riders height, which when we weren't talking a 12.2 also seemed a bit strange.

If you had said I found out an adult likely close to 20% was going to ride so I declined to sell that would have made a lot more sense rather than her height.
 
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My friend was speaking to the breeder of her highland pony. They've been told by the breed society to stop producing/showing overweight ponies. All good.

I was told that my highland was overweight by a judge last month and she came last in her class. She's bigger than ideal but not massive, she's backed now so that'll help to slim her down. Good to see some judges are taking on board the health and subsequent longevity of working life for our beloved ponies.
 
About time too! I would just hope they don't start going on height or riders and instead on weight! I'm 5"10 and compete a 14.3. However I am 8.3 stone and she's not exactly a slender horse! I know someone weighing in at 14 stone but 5"2 and riding 12 hand slender ponies!! It's awful so hope they make this a blanket rule!!

Bloody hell, that's disgusting. Poor ponies.
 
About time too. Although some horses and ponies can carry more or less depending on bone and quality of the bone. At least it is a starting point. I always said that the collecting rings and car parks are the ones that need stewards watched horrified as a show pony was lunged for hours while at a show last week and I mean hours as it was upsetting the stallion we had in the trailer. He is usually very good at shows but this pony was going round and round whe whole time we were there. when one person got tired or fed up another took over. Then a huge rider got on just before it went in the ring and hauled it into an outline we left before it competed so don't know how the kid did but the pony must have been beat

I'm afraid I would have stepped in and said something. There would have been a scene.
 
About time too! I would just hope they don't start going on height or riders and instead on weight! I'm 5"10 and compete a 14.3. However I am 8.3 stone and she's not exactly a slender horse! I know someone weighing in at 14 stone but 5"2 and riding 12 hand slender ponies!! It's awful so hope they make this a blanket rule!!

I had someone come to ride my Sec A who tole me she was under a certain weight - should have been the same as the girl who backed him and she wasn't hugely tall. Pony clearly could tell otherwise and girls arse touched the saddle he took 2 steps back and dumped her on her arse.
 
Correct but i think its easily led on to the whole 'too big' type conversation that we should be having as well for both horse and rider and not just showing.

I've seen people post pics of themselves on here and people have gushed over how lovely they look and how wonderful the horse looks etc .... and I'm sitting on my hands because all i see is an obese person crushing a horse no matter what breed it is, fat is fat and you shouldnt be riding until you weigh less!

This. I think people are also forgetting, or never being told, that a weight over 1.5lbs per square inch over a sustained time is considered harmful. That means that a rider who is only ten stone needs well over ninety square inches of well fitting saddle in contact with the horse's back to spread the weight.

It's impossible to find a saddle which would achieve that and fit the horse for some heavier riders on small/mid horses, and for the biggest riders on anything but the biggest horse on a huge panel saddle.

Going back to the report, it's a great start by this show. Unconnected with weight, I'd like to see the rule for children's ponies be that it can only be warmed up by a child of an appropriate age for the class.
 
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