The 20% rule

[Mike007]

The 20% rule is useful but of far more importance is the 1.5 lbs per square inch rule. If a saddle exerts more than this pressure on any area of the back,it restricts/stops the blood flow to that area . There are plenty of riders well under the 20% guide who exceed the 1.5 lbs rule.

 

[Cortez]

As someone with similar conformation, I agree My height is in my legs, with longer thigh bones than shin bones, I am short backed (BP's can be a problem), with fairly narrow hips and widish shoulders. This is not something which any of us can claim credit for, genetics having a great deal of influence on build, but I wonder what others think about this?

Good rider conformation plays a much larger part in riding ability than many wish to acknowledge, it's just pure mechanics. I am tall, with long thighs, short back and a strong centre, all of which makes riding easier.

 

[Pigeon]

Good rider conformation plays a much larger part in riding ability than many wish to acknowledge, it's just pure mechanics. I am tall, with long thighs, short back and a strong centre, all of which makes riding easier.

I think so too!

My stubby T-rex arms are the bane of my life!!!

 

[Cortez]

I think so too!

My stubby T-rex arms are the bane of my life!!!

Just to be sickening...I have long arms too!

BUT all of that doesn't necessarily mean you'll be winning the Olympics; Charlotte DJD doesn't have a perfect physique for riding, and she's doing pretty well....

 

[Pigeon]

Just to be sickening...I have long arms too!

BUT all of that doesn't necessarily mean you'll be winning the Olympics; Charlotte DJD doesn't have a perfect physique for riding, and she's doing pretty well....

I hate you

CDJ gives me hope that you can in fact ride with the line from bit to elbow broken upwards. If I kept that line at all times my hands would be on the pommel!

 

[KittenInTheTree]

Is that how you get the thin person that's hidden inside every fat person?
* runs away*

Thin people are crunchy...

 

[Mongoose11]

Thin people are crunchy...

To me, they often taste bitter. 😂

 

[Mongoose11]

I think so too!

My stubby T-rex arms are the bane of my life!!!

I wonder how much should be deducted for T-Rex arms?

 

[neddy man]

I read today that ROR are applying 17% rider and tack rule to all their events now...
I was stewarding at BE a while back and I saw one lady, on a 15h horse who was not big boned, she did look way over weight for the horse... she was spilling out over her saddle and horse was sweated up, maybe they all should apply a sensible rule from next season, that gives riders all winter to shed weight and feel better all round.
I stopped riding 3 years ago when medicine for my health problems made me gain weight .
So I now get my horsey fix other ways

Well done to you!

 

[EllenJay]

I think you look lovely. He's got a long enough back to carry a saddle that you aren't overflowing, you sit very nicely and he looks well strong enough to carry you. Have you any idea what percentage you are?

Ref the losing weight, I'm sure it will help you with wrapping your leg around him, rebalance your centre of gravity, and make riding really well a little easier, but I wouldn't say that he 'needs' you to lose weight at all.

Surely a long back means they are not such a weight carrier - look at sausage dogs. Personally, I think the picture shows a nice combination.

 

[ycbm]

Surely a long back means they are not such a weight carrier - look at sausage dogs. .

Of course. I didn't say he had a long back. I said he had a long enough back to carry a saddle that the rider doesn't spill out of. On these threads we quite often get pictures of ponies carrying weighty riders. And while they might be able to carry the weight, sometimes it's obvious that they can't carry a saddle that the rider actually fits into.

 

[Equi]

Not sure what's possessed me, as a fatty I tend to shy away from any weight related thread, but to hell with it. Have at it.

 

[Mongoose11]

Not sure what's possessed me, as a fatty I tend to shy away from any weight related thread, but to hell with it. Have at it.

This is a pleasing partnership as far as I'm concerned, but people just assume I'm a fatty sympathiser so you might want to wait for an experienced AND thin AND non prejudiced rider to come along to share their opinion before you go feeling confident in tacking up tomorrow.

 

[Goldenstar]

When I was training we were taught the ideal was the riders shoulder to hip , hip to knee and knee to ankle lengths would equal in the perfect conformed rider .
This is optimal for balance .
While my legs are well proportioned ( but sadly shorter than I would like )my back is longer than ideal so I had to work at staying upright .
A rider will be helped if they are naturally supple and coordination is very important .the role of spatial awareness is undervalued but the ability to look somewhere and naturally use your body to get to that spot will always make it easier to learn to ride .
But the most important thing you need to ride well is feel and thats got nothing to with your shape .

 

[Palindrome]

Article about one of tge weight studies (also gives the origin of the 20% max weight which is US cavalry handbook from 1920):
http://www.equinews.com/article/horses-weight-carrying-ability-studied

 

[YorksG]

I think the hip to shoulder, hip to knee, knee to ankle all being the same is supposed to be the ideal conformation for people altogether, rather than just for riders

 

[Equi]

This is a pleasing partnership as far as I'm concerned, but people just assume I'm a fatty sympathiser so you might want to wait for an experienced AND thin AND non prejudiced rider to come along to share their opinion before you go feeling confident in tacking up tomorrow.

Hahah!

 

[Equi]

I think the hip to shoulder, hip to knee, knee to ankle all being the same is supposed to be the ideal conformation for people altogether, rather than just for riders

Very much so. I had photos taken in my first chiro session and I was leaning so far back he said my head weighed, to my body, 51lb. After three sessions in definitely walking a bit more forward I can feel my muscles being used differently. I've about two more sessions to go before I'm allowed to exercise TBH but I've been mucking out and riding just low level waking tho. My bad hip was also lower than my other one meaning my spine is sitting at a crooked angle all the time, which won't help horse knowing weights in saddle!

 

[cobgoblin]

Ok then I've just measured my hip/ knee/ankle ratio....and they are all equal....obviously I should have been a pro rider. If only someone had told me that years ago!

 

[Wagtail]

Not sure what's possessed me, as a fatty I tend to shy away from any weight related thread, but to hell with it. Have at it.

Your horse certainly has the bone and the size to carry you. I do think you have chosen a bad photograph however as it has caught your horse in a hollow outline which makes it look as though he is not carrying you effectively. If he was lifting his back more then the whole picture would be changed. It may be a schooling issue or just a moment in time when he is not working correctly. His back sinks down from his loins and his neck is tense at the withers. This gives the impression that your weight is pushing his back down when in fact it may just be that he is not carrying himself (and therefore you) effectively.

 

[Wagtail]

I would be interested to see what you think about my horse and I as a combo. I am very aware of the fact that I am overweight, and have begun to make a conscious effort to loose some to benefit him.

The first photo is a horrendous one of him, he wasn't happy at being asked to halt and hollowed through his back and put on a fake outline, but it shows my weight the best. The second photo was taken about 30 seconds afterwards and shows more accurately the way in which he works.

I don't think you look particularly overweight in these pictures. You are certainly not too heavy for your lovely horse.

 

[Goldenstar]

Ok then I've just measured my hip/ knee/ankle ratio....and they are all equal....obviously I should have been a pro rider. If only someone had told me that years ago!

If only it where that simple .

 

[Equi]

Your horse certainly has the bone and the size to carry you. I do think you have chosen a bad photograph however as it has caught your horse in a hollow outline which makes it look as though he is not carrying you effectively. If he was lifting his back more then the whole picture would be changed. It may be a schooling issue or just a moment in time when he is not working correctly. His back sinks down from his loins and his neck is tense at the withers. This gives the impression that your weight is pushing his back down when in fact it may just be that he is not carrying himself (and therefore you) effectively.

Yes bad photo but one of the only I have side on. He's supposed to be halted 😂

This is one of my most recent but it's just a blur.

 

[Lovethebeach]

Neither for or against but history, when lives depended on sound horses, did have several experiments, from the book Small Horses In Warfare http://www.lrgaf.org/small-horses.htm
Ponies in India.

Captain L. E. Nolan, in Cavalry History and Tactics (1860), gives an account of an experimental march made by 200 of the 15th Hussars from Bangalore to Hyderabad and back, 800 miles. The objects of the march were to test the capabilities of the troop horses and to ascertain if there were anything to choose between stallions and geldings in respect of endurance. To arrive at a solution of the latter question, one hundred of the men were mounted on entires and the other hundred on horses which had been castrated only six months previously, regardless of age, for the purpose of making the experiment.

The squadrons marched to their destination, took part in field-days and pageants, and started to reach Bangalore by forced marches; they accomplished the last 180 miles at a rate of thirty miles per day, bringing in only one led horse, the remainder being perfectly sound and fit for further work. One horse, a 14.3 Persian, carried a corporal who, with his accoutrements, rode 22 stone 7 lbs. It may be added that there was nothing to choose between the performances of the stallions and geldings; though the fact that the latter had so recently been castrated was held to make their achievement the more creditable.

A forced march such as this has far more value as testimony to staying power than a more trying feat performed by a single animal; but mention must be made of Captain Horne's ride. This officer, who belonged to the Madras Horse Artillery, undertook in 1841 to ride his grey Arab, "Jumping Jimmy," 400 miles in five days on the Bangalore race-course; and accomplished his task with three hours and five minutes to spare, the horse doing the last 79 miles 5 furlongs in 19 hours 55 minutes, and being quite ready for his corn when pulled up. General Tweedie, in his work on The Arabian Horse (1894), quotes the above particulars from the Bengal Sporting Magazine, in whose pages full details are given.

 

[Wagtail]

Yes bad photo but one of the only I have side on. He's supposed to be halted ��

This is one of my most recent but it's just a blur.

that makes a huge difference. He looks like he is carrying you easily.

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

Not sure what's possessed me, as a fatty I tend to shy away from any weight related thread, but to hell with it. Have at it.

From one humungus coloured owner to another, your boy is very handsome. Just my type

 

[HufflyPuffly]

Interesting thread what would you say to mine?

I am a terrible rider shape as I am super short through my legs, (though mainly calf length my thighs aren't that short), also chubby (or fat lol) with too long a back and short arms, really I have no idea how I actually stay on a horse :lol:

Apologies for a Christmas shot the first I could find that was a decent picture .

I think it's obvious which ones I'm closer to the limit with, but happy to see what others think .

 

[Equi]

From one humungus coloured owner to another, your boy is very handsome. Just my type

He is rather special! Not one thing about him in paper would make me go and look at him, but I part loaned from a friend and fell in love and here we are a few quid lighter lolol

 

[gothdolly]

Everyone who has posted photos on this thread looks great on their horses. I'm very very jealous of Cortez's riding ability though!! I have always thought the 20% rule was too high (unless just meandering round the bridleways for 20 mins) and aimed for 15% with mine. I'm currently 12 stone, 5ft 7 inches riding a 550kg 15.3 standardbred. Having weighed myself plus tack we fall comfortably within the 17% suggested by the ROR classes (yes, I know he's not a TB, but his build is similar to a chunky tb). I personally feel that's on the high side for him though and I am still dieting aiming for 11 stone, but that might be more about my paranoia than his actual weight carrying abilities, I dont know!

 

[Wagtail]

Interesting thread what would you say to mine?

I am a terrible rider shape as I am super short through my legs, (though mainly calf length my thighs aren't that short), also chubby (or fat lol) with too long a back and short arms, really I have no idea how I actually stay on a horse :lol:

Apologies for a Christmas shot the first I could find that was a decent picture .

I think it's obvious which ones I'm closer to the limit with, but happy to see what others think .

I think you look perfect on the grey. He/she looks very light in front. You look a bit small on the dark brown, though you seem to be riding her very effectively. I think you look a bit on the heavy side for the small fine bay. Lovely horses.