Too fat to ride?

Mongoose11 said:
You're missing the point - the border is the border whether you go up to it with your fat, its fat or tack. What's the point of a 'limit' if someone is then going to say that you have to be within so much of it? I don't think anyone here has made a poor suggestion regarding a pony.
Click to expand...

I think you are the one that has missed the point, by quite a long way!
 
Hi there

I'm 5ft1 and I was over 14 stone and was riding my 14.3hh Welsh d x appy on common tidings, hunting, jumping, endurance PC/RC you name it and he never had back issues or a problem carrying me. The pic of me jumping in my sig I'm about 13st there. As you can see he's not particularly heavy a cob type more hunter pony really.

He carried my 6ft4 OH on regular long rides and he was over 15 St due to his height and he never struggled. He was kept fit and active and saddle was correct fit and for the job required.

Don't beat yourself up, yes it's not great to be over weight, I'm now down to 10st ish and it's great but took me a while to get there and my horses never suffered for my weight. I even had a 15.2hh WBXTB and she also carried me perfectly fine with no back issues and she wasn't a chunky lady either.
 
cobgoblin said:
I think you are the one that has missed the point, by quite a long way!
Click to expand...

Really? If a horses limit is 14 stone then it's 14 stone. How you get to it is up to you surely? If you're 14 stone and ride naked/without tack then you're still within it's recommended weight carrying limit. What point am I missing?

There's no need to be rude by making a statement like that and not offering your thinking.
 
Mongoose11 said:
Really? If a horses limit is 14 stone then it's 14 stone. How you get to it is up to you surely? If you're 14 stone and ride naked/without tack then you're still within it's recommended weight carrying limit. What point am I missing?

There's no need to be rude by making a statement like that and not offering your thinking.
Click to expand...

Why would you want a horse to carry the maximum it is capable of when there is the choice of looking for and buying, a horse that can carry ones weight easily, with extra capacity to spare. Especially as current thinking seems to be trending towards 15% being the ideal.
If a rider is so close to the horse's weight carrying capacity that synthetic tack has to be used, what happens if a synthetic saddle cannot be found that fits both horse and rider? Or you want to go on a picnic and put saddle bags on? Or it's winter and the rider needs a thick coat? All of these things weigh extra, besides which, the rider would have to be very careful never to gain any weight.
It is far more practical to have some leaway and nicer for the horse not to have to carry the maximum.
 
cobgoblin said:
Why would you want a horse to carry the maximum it is capable of when there is the choice of looking for and buying, a horse that can carry ones weight easily, with extra capacity to spare. Especially as current thinking seems to be trending towards 15% being the ideal.
If a rider is so close to the horse's weight carrying capacity that synthetic tack has to be used, what happens if a synthetic saddle cannot be found that fits both horse and rider? Or you want to go on a picnic and put saddle bags on? Or it's winter and the rider needs a thick coat? All of these things weigh extra, besides which, the rider would have to be very careful never to gain any weight.
It is far more practical to have some leaway and nicer for the horse not to have to carry the maximum.
Click to expand...

Absolutely agree, but if you find yourself and your tack at the horses limit and not over then it can still be ridden? I thought that was the purpose of a limit? You can go up to it and not over it. Nobody says you should aim to, but presumably you can. You can generally have a unit of alcohol and still drive, but you can not go over the limit. I was suggesting that going to the limit is acceptable, not ideal. Doesn't seem I've missed the point at all.
 
Ccc
Mongoose11 said:
Absolutely agree, but if you find yourself and your tack at the horses limit and not over then it can still be ridden? I thought that was the purpose of a limit? You can go up to it and not over it. Nobody says you should aim to, but presumably you can. You can generally have a unit of alcohol and still drive, but you can not go over the limit. I was suggesting that going to the limit is acceptable, not ideal. Doesn't seem I've missed the point at all.
Click to expand...

Actually I dont think it is acceptable to be at the horses limit, or even very close to it, as that is asking the horse to work very hard every time they carry you. If a horse is ridden once or twice by someone at its weight carrying capacity then that is one thing, but if that rider is the owner and therefore the regular rider then it's quite another matter.
 
cobgoblin said:
Ccc

Actually I dont think it is acceptable to be at the horses limit, or even very close to it, as that is asking the horse to work very hard every time they carry you. If a horse is ridden once or twice by someone at its weight carrying capacity then that is one thing, but if that rider is the owner and therefore the regular rider then it's quite another matter.
Click to expand...
.

Quite 😏
 
Last edited:
Black Beastie said:
Hi there

I'm 5ft1 and I was over 14 stone and was riding my 14.3hh Welsh d x appy on common tidings, hunting, jumping, endurance PC/RC you name it and he never had back issues or a problem carrying me. The pic of me jumping in my sig I'm about 13st there. As you can see he's not particularly heavy a cob type more hunter pony really.

He carried my 6ft4 OH on regular long rides and he was over 15 St due to his height and he never struggled. He was kept fit and active and saddle was correct fit and for the job required.

Don't beat yourself up, yes it's not great to be over weight, I'm now down to 10st ish and it's great but took me a while to get there and my horses never suffered for my weight. I even had a 15.2hh WBXTB and she also carried me perfectly fine with no back issues and she wasn't a chunky lady either.
Click to expand...


Just because physical issues weren't apparent at the time, that does not mean that damage isn't being caused and could well show up in future. 14 and 15 stone on a 14.3 Welsh d x appy doing all that hard work is excessive and silly
 
sarahw123 said:
Just because physical issues weren't apparent at the time, that does not mean that damage isn't being caused and could well show up in future. 14 and 15 stone on a 14.3 Welsh d x appy doing all that hard work is excessive and silly
Click to expand...

Except if I remember correctly the poster still has the horse and it's now fairly old (twenties) and still in work and sound.
 
What the heck do all these big strapping blokes out hunting ride? They're not on 20hh monsters, heck, they're not even on 18 handers, what are they riding?!
 
cinnamontoast said:
What the heck do all these big strapping blokes out hunting ride? They're not on 20hh monsters, heck, they're not even on 18 handers, what are they riding?!
Click to expand...

Tut tut. They are men, different rules apply.

Women must keep themselves within the 15% or be shamed in to dieting.
 
I don't think anyone can talk about being at the top of the a horses 'limit' when there is no fail proof formula to say what this limit is :p.

% of weight misses out rather a lot of factors, and arabs rather mess up measuring bone as well.
 
ester said:
I don't think anyone can talk about being at the top of the a horses 'limit' when there is no fail proof formula to say what this limit is :p.

% of weight misses out rather a lot of factors, and arabs rather mess up measuring bone as well.
Click to expand...

True, Ester. There is no hard and fast rule so the 'generally' accepted one is 20%. What else should we go by? It appears from this thread that even vets and trainers will flatter their clients and put a horse's welfare at risk!
 
A bit of logic I think and assessment of the combo in front of you/yourself/horse's way of going.

There is just so many issues saying 20% too, most people wouldn't know either what their horse actually weighs, or alternatively what it should way.

I wouldn't want to be much more on my lad than I am, and was less when I got him 10 years ago and if buying now would prob go for something a bit bigger but he is tickety boo.
 
Mongoose11 said:
Tut tut. They are men, different rules apply.

Women must keep themselves within the 15% or be shamed in to dieting.
Click to expand...

Seriously, how much do these blokes weigh and ok, the horses are hunting fit, but hunting is damned hard work for a horse, what the heck are they carrying, day in, day out in the season?
 
cinnamontoast said:
What the heck do all these big strapping blokes out hunting ride? They're not on 20hh monsters, heck, they're not even on 18 handers, what are they riding?!
Click to expand...

Those 'strapping big blokes out hunting' don't really exist. Most are likely less than 16st. I've yet to see any Rugby player types out. They're usually average height men of average build. So probably 14st maybe? And they're on 16hh+ HW hunter types (ID's) or big 17hh+ sports horses/TB types They are NOT riding 15hh horses, never mind 14hh ponies. I'm sure there are some big fat man out hunting poor little horses but just because they do it doesn't make it right!

No-one has ever said the OP is too heavy to ride. Far from it. But most agree that she does need a suitable horse and that's unlikely to be a 14hh pony.
 
cinnamontoast said:
Seriously, how much do these blokes weigh and ok, the horses are hunting fit, but hunting is damned hard work for a horse, what the heck are they carrying, day in, day out in the season?
Click to expand...

The first horse I took on was an Ex Master's horse. I kept him on the private hunting yard that he had been on for 17 years and he had hunted two/three times a week for 15 seasons. There were 16 horses in total and they ranged from a 14.2 Connie, a 14h Welsh D,
15.1 cob to 16.2 TB, ID, IDx. All of those horses were hunted hard for many years and the lightest male of the family was 13 stone - they always teased Charles for being a runt. The horses were treated well and lasted well, many of them went to the hunt in their early twenties which I don't think is bad going.
 
Last edited:
We had a joint meet with the new forest this year, a fair few foresters smaller than Frank, some with tall adult men on who went all day, and Frank goes with 13 st. So for an extra 3 stone why do you have to scale up so much for an extra stone?!

I agree OP needs a suitable horse, and that could be some 14 hh ponies it depends what she picked.
 
Kallibear said:
Those 'strapping big blokes out hunting' don't really exist. Most are likely less than 16st. I've yet to see any Rugby player types out. They're usually average height men of average build. So probably 14st maybe? And they're on 16hh+ HW hunter types (ID's) or big 17hh+ sports horses/TB types They are NOT riding 15hh horses, never mind 14hh ponies. I'm sure there are some big fat man out hunting poor little horses but just because they do it doesn't make it right!

No-one has ever said the OP is too heavy to ride. Far from it. But most agree that she does need a suitable horse and that's unlikely to be a 14hh pony.
Click to expand...

This could be a massively inappropriate assumption but I genuinely think that the majority of smaller/lighter people have no idea what a 16 stone man or woman looks like. People tell me to ride my horse until they find out what I weigh! I am regularly pegged at 4 or even 5 stone less than I am. I turn up to my local meet often enough and am able to pick out 15/16/17 stone riders with ease!
 
sarahw123 said:
I'd also agree with the luck comment. Obese horse and everyone goes mental. Obese person? No probs!
Click to expand...

Clearly not the case. Absolute majority of posters here are encouraging weight loss or finding a horse up to carrying that weight without detrimental affect.
 
ester said:
Yes he is, I think he is on loan to a teenage girl now but sound and working in his 20s.
Click to expand...

It's a dangerous thing to advise someone who is overweight that 'they'll be fine' on something that really shouldn't be carrying that weight. Regardless of their own experience
 
I know plenty of strapping big blokes in our local (essex) hunts including a few masters! I guess depends on your local hunts.
 
Blackbeastie never actually said she'd be fine - on either the 14hh haffy mentioned or something like her black chap, just relayed her experiences.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top