Too fat to ride?

Araboo27 said:
Just out of curiosity - what weight would people put on an 11.2 section a? My kids are all light, even the girl at the yard who's rode her is only 4 stone, I can't imagine her wanting to carry too much more yet I've seen posts where adults of significantly more weight say they would ride one! Now we're obviously not talking 14 stone, lol......
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Maximum I would put on is 7 stone (and not for any hard riding), so long as the rider was an accomplished rider. However, I'd not put more than a 5 stone novice.
 
I am about 5ft5/5ft6 and weigh 15 stone exactly at the moment. I am on a diet and loosing weight and feeling better and better every day. I have an about 15hh 10 year old black heavyweight cob and a 14.3hh piebald cob. I ride both ever other day (one on one day and the other the next) and both seem to carry me fine and have no issues, are very happy and healthy horses. I am a firm believer that a 14 stone confident and able rider who has a good position and can hold themselves in the saddle nicely (heels down, straight back etc.) is about 100 times easier for the horse to carry than a 8 stone novice rider, who really cant ride, slouches in the saddle, bounces around and shakes the reins etc. Go for it, go and try out some horses and you will tell straight away if they are the horse for you, if you have to contemplate it then it's not the right horse. You will meet the horse and have a connection, get on the horse and you will just have fun without any worries about whether they can carry you etc. That will be when you know you have found your horse :) You are definitely no way too heavy to ride!
 
Wagtail said:
Well as I am 10 stone I must be a terribly unbalanced rider :(. I wonder why it is that all heavyweight riders ride so well and in balance when all the lighter riders (those 10 stone and under) seem to be such unbalanced equestrians, who bump about on their horses causing all kinds of pressure points and discomfort. Am I missing something?

Sorry, not getting at you here, but it seems to be a point that is always made in these threads and it worries me that people actually think it. There will probably be more unbalanced riders who are overweight than there are who are a healthy weight, if anything, because generally speaking people of a healthy weight are fitter and more supple than people who are unhealthily overweight. It is much harder trying to balance when you are carrying excess weight. I say generally speaking, because there will be exceptions, of course.
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Can someone please point out where I have said all 10 stone riders are unbalanced and all 14 stone riders are balanced!

THat's a request to the various people who have commented :)
 
Auslander said:
I can't really be bothered to get embroiled in a weight thread, but I have a story to tell about something myself and a bunch of other young dressagey people were made to do by our trainer in Germany. He was on the yard when we came back from hacking, and was furious because certain people were slouching, moving around in the saddle, and just generally slobbing about. He filled one rucksack to the brim with neatly packed yard jackets and boots and strapped it on to the nearest person firmly. He put a few bricks in another, and just hung it off the shoulders of the next person. He made them run round the school a few times, then swap rucksacks, and try again. Both agreed that the firmly strapped on rucksack (which was heavier) was easier to carry than the lighter, looser one with a few bricks bouncing aroud in it. I agree that a horse carrying 14 stones is carrying 14 stones, but 14 stones of balanced, competent rider is a damn sight easier to carry than 11 stones banging around on a horses back. Equally 11 stones of balanced competent rider is easier to carry thatn 14 stones of the same.
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Now why couldn,t I have explained it like that?
 
YorksG said:
With a BMI of 35+ the OP is obese and therefore very unlikely to be able to ride in as good a balance as some-one within the healthy range for their height. I am also confused as to why there appears to be a belief that riders within the healthy BMI range, will automatically ride badly, without balance and with no core strength or muscle control, that really is more likely with obese riders!
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Absolutely, it's more likely in the obese - but it isn't exclusively the obese.
 
jemima*askin said:
Can someone please point out where I have said all 10 stone riders are unbalanced and all 14 stone riders are balanced!

THat's a request to the various people who have commented :)
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No, it's not specifically directed at you, but at the comment which is always made on these threads numerous times that it's better to have a heavy balanced rider than a light unbalanced one. When the fact is, that if you are overweight you are far more likely to be unbalanced than if you are a healthy weight. I say 'more likely' because there will be exceptions. But when we are talking about how much weight a horse can carry, it is not a valid argument. You have to take into account weight and riding ability. The OP in this thread has not ridden for some time and is obese. She is unlikely to be balanced, at least at first and so should not be looking at riding horses with a maximum weight carrying ability of 14 stone (without clothing and tack) or 16 stone (with clothing and tack).

But back to your comment; it gives the impression that all overweight people ride beautifully and never lose balance, where as all lighter people ride like a sack of spuds.
 
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I just would like to know why so many riders seem to have zero common sense when it comes to riding over weight - because all the equations in the world can be countered with common sense when it comes to (not) getting on your horse.

I agree wagtail - the "light balanced heavy rider" argument is just mindless - head in sand IMO.
 
Arthur-Badger-And Me said:
*Note to self* Never post a thread asking about anything involving weight on this forum *
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Dare you. Find a way to combine it with cobs, draw reins, NH and barefoot and it's online TNT ...

If you really want to add fuel, ask what rug you should have put on your horse today ;)
 
Red-1 said:
You forgot the colour scheme of all this equipment!
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Bum. Missed a trick there ... :( But I vote for purple-pink with rhinestone sprinkles every time.

And you're welcome, Arthur-Badger-And Me. You don't have to be mad to post here, but it helps ;)
 
RunToEarth said:
I just would like to know why so many riders seem to have zero common sense when it comes to riding over weight - because all the equations in the world can be countered with common sense when it comes to (not) getting on your horse.
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This. absolutely.

If you need to sit down and work out percentages to the last 1% to ease your conscience then you are on dodgy ground

Common sense tells me I am too heavy to ride so I have small ponies and do fun groundwork with them to get my horsey fix
 
Mrs B said:
Dear me ... I AM getting forgetful ...


Did I mention ragwort yet?
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Shh, she'll appear and I'll be told off for mentioning someone whose opinion I don't agree with (cringing at my own grammar!)

I think you forgot the carrot stick, which must of course be the right colour.

*Waddles off to ride 6hh Shetland having heard that they're weight carriers*
 
WelshD said:
This. absolutely.

If you need to sit down and work out percentages to the last 1% to ease your conscience then you are on dodgy ground

Common sense tells me I am too heavy to ride so I have small ponies and do fun groundwork with them to get my horsey fix
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I think some people are saying that they don't work it out to the nth percentage to ease their conscience instead they just assess the situation they have and they happen to have appropriate shorties that are very capable of carrying them when they aren't miles off the weight of the OP.

Arthur Badger and Me, you need to shrink your signature please :).
 
Mrs B said:
Dare you. Find a way to combine it with cobs, draw reins, NH and barefoot and it's online TNT ...

If you really want to add fuel, ask what rug you should have put on your horse today ;)
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barefoot's a bit old school these days Mrs B, they all seem to be civilised threads now!
 
Wow services. ..just sat and read this whole thread and it's blown my brain lol :o
I have a sturdy 16.1 Friesian x Warm blood who is 5. I'm just under 6ft tall and 14st 10lb.
I shall be doing some light hacking with him over the summer but wouldn't expect him to do any more than that at my weight. I'm aiming to get to 12 stone, anything lighter and I look a bit ridiculous to be honest.
Surely it all boils down to common sense?? I would hate to do anything to harm my horse so am proceeding cautiously.
 
Well, for anyone who may be curious as to how this turned out - I've bought a 15hh Haflinger, 10 years old, built like a tank and in good fitness. I have no doubts about him being able to carry me comfortably and neither did his previous owner :) I want to go right back to basics and focus on walk/trot initially and hopefully I'll have lost even more weight by the time we include some canter work, I'm sure it wouldn't faze him now but I did feel a bit unbalanced and very much out of practice!
 
MamaPonio said:
Well, for anyone who may be curious as to how this turned out - I've bought a 15hh Haflinger, 10 years old, built like a tank and in good fitness. I have no doubts about him being able to carry me comfortably and neither did his previous owner :) I want to go right back to basics and focus on walk/trot initially and hopefully I'll have lost even more weight by the time we include some canter work, I'm sure it wouldn't faze him now but I did feel a bit unbalanced and very much out of practice!
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Excellent! He sounds perfect. I hope you have fun with him.
 
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