weight carrying ability of horses, question

[Capriole]

my OH has started riding recently, and is a big hefty bloke and 6 foot, easily.
he wants me to explain to him (pref. in scientific terms) what weight a particular horse/breed/type can be expected to comfortably carry.
I'm having the dickens of a job trying to explain to him why my 2 year old anglo arab will not grow into something able to carry him...apparently there must be a scientific formula out there and he wants to know it...
anybody help?

 

[FestiveFuzz]

Typical male.....my OH is exactly the same lol!

Apparently a horse can carry 20% of its own weight comfortably.

I found a graph at this link

http://www.ca.uky.edu/Gluck/q/2000/jan00/Q_jan00.htm

Hope this helps

 

[Capriole]

thanks

 

[FestiveFuzz]

No worries

 

[horsegirl]

This could be very misleading, after all if you have a hugely obese horse weighing, let's say, 650kg instead of the ideal weight of 550kg 20% would be 130 kg instead of the 110kg if the horse was at the ideal weight.

Just to clarify, these weights are purely examples, I know there are mnay horses who weigh 650kg and are not obese.

 

[Bananarama]

Well I was told that if you take 20% of your horse ideal weight then it should be able to carry that rider. However it should be able to carry 30% of its ideal weight if it is an experienced rider

 

[*hic*]

Then we have the even more misleading!

I own three equines who weigh within 5Kg the same by using a weight tape. Two are 15.1, one is 13.3, all take a 5'9 rug.

Anyone want to hazard a guess which one would carry the most weight?

Then if we add into the equation that one is a heavy built Welsh D, one is a lighter Welsh D and one is a light boned AA . . . . . . any recommendations now? And then given that the 13.3 has the most bone?

This is a real situation and I'm very interested in the answers!

 

[JanetGeorge]

[ QUOTE ]
my OH has started riding recently, and is a big hefty bloke and 6 foot, easily.
he wants me to explain to him (pref. in scientific terms) what weight a particular horse/breed/type can be expected to comfortably carry.


[/ QUOTE ]

Tell him a horse's back is like a suspension bridge. The longer it is and the further apart and weaker the supports are, the less it will carry!

Having a hefty, 6'2" OH I can assure him that anything under 16.2 and with less than 10" of bone AND a short back will be struggling! And the amazing thing is that even when a horse is carry too much weight, it can still buck - and in fact if it is carrying too much weight, it's more LIKELY to buck! That might convince him!

 

[ISHmad]

The other issue is bone density. Some breeds have naturally denser bone than others. Take an arab and a TB for instance. The arab has denser bone than a TB, a Highland pony has denser bone than a hackney and so on.

 

[SpruceRI]

I don't think height of the horse makes much difference in the weight carrying abilities of a horse. For instance a Shetland Pony can carry much more weight, pound for pound than a TB.

Most of the British native ponies were originally bred for farm work, carrying farmers, deer etc.

Plus look at heavyweight hunters? They have to be able to carry over 14 stone don't they? It's their compactness and amount of bone that make then weight carriers. Arabs reportedly can carry a lot more weight than they look due to have shorter backs/less ribs than other types.

 

[JanetGeorge]

[ QUOTE ]


Most of the British native ponies were originally bred for farm work, carrying farmers, deer etc.

Plus look at heavyweight hunters? They have to be able to carry over 14 stone don't they? It's their compactness and amount of bone that make then weight carriers. Arabs reportedly can carry a lot more weight than they look due to have shorter backs/less ribs than other types.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, and a solid, larger native can carry 14 stone for slow work - but he'd not still be going at 4 o'clock hunting with that weight!

A Heavyweight hunter should be able to hunt all day with at LEAST a 14 stone rider (plus tack). And don't bother taking one into the ring if he's less than 16.2!

 

[Orangehorse]

Cobs were only supposed to be 15 hh too, and they are the ultimate hunter weight carriers.

The width across the back, from whorl to whorl is important - which relates to some extent with the width of the chest.

A pony is "over engineered" for its size, so it can carry more than the horse in proportion, which is why they do not suffer from soundness problems like horses.

 

[DuckToller]

I used to volunteer at a local RDA stables and they have a formula, but I would have to look through a load of old paperwork to find it! They use I think things like height, length, girth, bone, then factor in age, etc and come up with a maximum weight for each horse and pony, which is for a balanced rider. Weight allowance goes down by 14lbs for an unbalanced rider. If I find it I will post it on!

 

[SpruceRI]

But Christmas_Spangle's OH doesn't necessarily want to hunt all day or Show so what does it matter whether he rides a native pony upto weight or a hunter <16.2hh?

 

[JanetGeorge]

[ QUOTE ]
But Christmas_Spangle's OH doesn't necessarily want to hunt all day or Show so what does it matter whether he rides a native pony upto weight or a hunter <16.2hh?

[/ QUOTE ]

Because if he's like MOST men, he'll feel humiliated on something small - particularly when some wag driving past yells: "Get off and carry him". And he will find the 'balance' odd if he's towering above a pony.

 

[LCobby]

As well as balance, and fit of horse and rider, length of stride-
a good HW cob will carry >14 stone and have a comfortable long stride, and be a full up 15.1.
Also the saddle must fit horse and rider, regardless of weight, for hip to knee length and size of bottom.
A tall rider, esp a novice man, will find a short bouncy stride eye-watering!

as to using weigh tapes, I have found them to be 100 kilos out ( under estimating) on a 15h cob c/w vet's weighing stall.

 

[eriskaypony]

As a new riding Dad just starting out this is interesting. I'm 15 stone and my wife's 14.3 cob carries me with ease. He's built like a tank and is fit and it's me that tires long before he does.

I do not feel oversized on him, though I've been on 17hh horses. I'm looking for a mount of my own now and am looking for something similar, but a bit bigger as I'm hoping that my riding improves to the point that my kids stop taking the mickey and I can keep up with them both in time and speed.

And that's my first post on this forum.

 

[Capriole]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
But Christmas_Spangle's OH doesn't necessarily want to hunt all day or Show so what does it matter whether he rides a native pony upto weight or a hunter <16.2hh?

[/ QUOTE ]

Because if he's like MOST men, he'll feel humiliated on something small - particularly when some wag driving past yells: "Get off and carry him". And he will find the 'balance' odd if he's towering above a pony.

[/ QUOTE ]

thanks for all your answers guys, i appreciate it.

he bascially just wants to potter about on hacks at this point, till he gains experience and confidence, but he IS like most men, and wants something big and imposing, and frankly, too much for him.
he's riding my ID/TB 16.2 mare at the mo, but she's not really a begginners horse, but the only one ive got to carry him (apart from my 15.1 cob who isnt 'grand' enough for his taste

)

 

[Rana]

My OH is exactly the same! He fails to understand why my 26 yr old 15.2 (mostly) TB mare won't carry him. Now he wants something big (17hh-ish), flashy and fast. Which will probably try to kill him and I'll be left sorting it out.

Honestly! We spend years encouraging them to help out at the yard, then the rest of our lives moaning because they get it wrong

If he wants something big and imposing, what about a Shire or Clydesdale crossed with something finer? Some lovely Shire X TB's out there.

 

[Capriole]

theres a 17 hh id/tb gelding at my yard which i almost bought in the summer - the OH thinks its his ideal horse, truth is the horse is a handful for a novice, but it 'looks the part'

men, eh? cant live with them, cant kill 'em (only joking men

)

 

[ecrozier]

My OH is about 6'0, and weighs 14 stone or thereabouts. All three of our horses can and have carried him, his favourite (because she looks the part and is actually 'his') is our 16.3hh middle verging on heavyweight hunter, she's got lots of bone, is 3/4 ID and 1/4 TB and looks like she was born to be a man's hunter! I actually think he almost looks small on her but she is WIDE and takes up loads of leg.
My older mare is a 16.1 MW warmblood (well, a russian trakhener to be exact) and I actually think he looks best on her heightwise but he says she's too small.
Now on my 15hh arab, well, he does look too big but J has absolutely no trouble carrying him, in fact carted him down a line of 8 XC fences at top speed ones despite OH's whole 14 stone attempting to stop him

But as someone said above, arabs have a greater weight carrying capacity than one would expect of a horse their height/build. Its really hard to get a specific formula but I would say your best bet is just to point out to him that he will look flipping daft! That usually does the trick!!

 

[Capriole]

good point Emma-c, i might use the 'flipping daft' defence

problem is he's an academic and questions everything...i gave him the link to the graph above, and he's got the journals mentioned in it on order now