What is a lightweight adult?

I used to ride an ex racer and the owner stipulated a lightweight adult rider due to his build and nature. I'm 5ft 1in and 7 stone :)
 
I would say 8 - 9 stone max is a lightweight adult. I am 5'10 and ten stone and I would say I am a middleweight adult. Anyone over 12 stone, I would class as heavyweight, and anyone over 16 stone, too heavy to ride IMO.

ETA you need to take into account the weight of clothes, boots, helmet, body protector and saddle. This can easily add two stone to what the horse is carrying.
 
That Would Be Me.....

5 Foot Dead and More Than a Bit Under 7 Stone......

So IF I Ever bought a Pony, How Many Hands Would You Say is the Smallest I Could Go For Riding Not Driving?

This NOT on Option at the Moment, Just asking....
Thanks
 
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Well, 20% of the horses body weight, including tack. So let's say you weigh 7.8 stone with tack (50 kilos) then you'd be able to ride a 250 kilo pony.

So using the blue cross weight chart, a stockier pony of 11 hands or a pony 12 hands.

Sounds like you might be under that too! I just chose 50 kg because it's easy to work with.
 
Going by the 20% rule though, men wouldn't be able to ride pretty much anything except a draft...

And then people like me, at 12 st riding an exracehorse... You lot would probably think I was too heavy for him, but he was ridden by 15st men when he pointed, and at faster pace and higher jumps than we do now!!
 
Not at all, a 16 stone man could ride any horse just over 500 kilos.

My OH is 16 stone and 6'2. He's quite fit but he's certainly not a skinny or even slim guy.

According to the Blue cross that's anything over 15.2
 
Just looked now, the upper scale of heavy horses is apparently 720 kg. So anyone up to nearly 150 kg (23.6 stone) :-o could ride.

At 150 kilos, someone of 7 foot tall would STILL be clinically obese.
 
LadyGascoyne said:
Just looked now, the upper scale of heavy horses is apparently 720 kg. So anyone up to nearly 150 kg (23.6 stone) :-o could ride.

At 150 kilos, someone of 7 foot tall would STILL be clinically obese.
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Err...what size saddle to you reckon a 23.6st person would require?
 
I always take these ads to mean that the pony is really child-sized but too much for a child to deal with, so someone who is probably no bigger than the average 12 yr old.
 
Holly Hocks said:
Well that's it then! I will have to stop riding my NF x cob at 14hh as most people who have commented would have me way to heavy for her at 10.5 stone and 5ft 6". I'd better stop riding and let her get as obese as I am!
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I don't recall anyone saying that at all. You probably aren't a lightweight rider, but I wouldn't consider your pony to be a lightweight pony - your NF x Cob (at a guess, because I haven't seen her) could probably carry more than my 16.2 lightweight TB.
 
Holly Hocks said:
Well that's it then! I will have to stop riding my NF x cob at 14hh as most people who have commented would have me way to heavy for her at 10.5 stone and 5ft 6". I'd better stop riding and let her get as obese as I am!
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Nah! You're fine (and you know it).
I weigh just over 10st and have a 14hh heavyweight cob with a good 10" of bone, he's fine with me and was fine with OH when he weighed about 113/4 st. However, after a winter of stuffing chocolate OH popped on him again and I made him get off. The 'admitted' weight ( afterwards ) was 12and a half stone.
The changes in the way the horse went were subtle, just a slight shortening of stride. No unwillingness, no moaning or groaning. Could easily be missed.
OH is now in starvation paddock!
 
cobgoblin said:
Nah! You're fine (and you know it).
I weigh just over 10st and have a 14hh heavyweight cob with a good 10" of bone, he's fine with me and was fine with OH when he weighed about 113/4 st. However, after a winter of stuffing chocolate OH popped on him again and I made him get off. The 'admitted' weight ( afterwards ) was 12and a half stone.
The changes in the way the horse went were subtle, just a slight shortening of stride. No unwillingness, no moaning or groaning. Could easily be missed.
OH is now in starvation paddock!
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Heavy weight cobs can carry 16 stone :)
 
Wiz201 said:
depends on the build. I rode a 14.2 heavy weight very recently and my bum/hips are not big so I fitted the saddle ok. I don't ride anything like that regularly though.
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There is a world of difference between 14hh and 14.2hh for a cob. Besides which you can get much smaller heavyweights now.
I think the saying that a heavyweight cob can carry 16st relates to the time when cobs were usually around 15 - 15.1hh , as in show cobs.
 
LadyGascoyne said:
Just looked now, the upper scale of heavy horses is apparently 720 kg. So anyone up to nearly 150 kg (23.6 stone) :-o could ride.

At 150 kilos, someone of 7 foot tall would STILL be clinically obese.
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But those heavy horses have weaker backs than ponies like Icelandics who are designed to weight bear. I used to ride Clydesdales and they have surprisingly weak backs for their size.

Also, if you take off a stone for tack, the 20% rule looks very different... Plus doesn't take into account bone.
 
Oh no, I'm not trying to say anyone of that weight should be riding a horse! I'm trying to say that that's a ridiculous weight- excessive in every sense.
 
LadyGascoyne said:
Oh no, I'm not trying to say anyone of that weight should be riding a horse! I'm trying to say that that's a ridiculous weight- excessive in every sense.
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But if it is excessive for a large horse, then why can't it be too restrictive for a small horse? My TB for ex is more solid than a usual TB and regularly gets mistaken for an ISH but he weighs in relatively low. He has more bone than weight.
 
The larger a horse is, the less weight it can carry as a percentage of its weight. A stocky cob that weighs 500 kilos could carry more than a 17hh TB that weighs 550kg. Huge great draught horses cannot carry 20% of their weight, whereas a Shetland pony could probably manage slightly more than 20% of its weight. So I still think 16 stone should be the upper limit for any horse, especially considering that the total weight will be more like 18 stone.
 
Wagtail said:
The larger a horse is, the less weight it can carry as a percentage of its weight. A stocky cob that weighs 500 kilos could carry more than a 17hh TB that weighs 550kg. Huge great draught horses cannot carry 20% of their weight, whereas a Shetland pony could probably manage slightly more than 20% of its weight. So I still think 16 stone should be the upper limit for any horse, especially considering that the total weight will be more like 18 stone.
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I can remember reading a story in one of the pony mags about Dartmoor ponies and how one jumped over a grown man who was riding his dartmoor pony and trying to capture another one. Not sure if it's true or not, but it did make me laugh :)

With the arguement as 'light weight adult really means someone the same height/weight as a teenager', I hate to be the one who says it but a lot of 14/15/16 year olds often are around the 9 - 10 stone mark or heavier.

on another note, I've managed to lose at least 12lb over 3 weeks (and probably have put it all back on!) and am down to around the 9st 7 mark last time I weighed myself :) just another 24lb to go :D
 
I have heard the stock answer to justify a heavier rider: "If he was struggling he would tell me".

To put that into context my horse is a 16.3 WB who is somewhere between light and medium weight. Last season he evented at Novice level, I am 5.10 and I weighed over 12st. He used to get very tired on the second half of the XC and even though I increased his fast work we picked up time faults every outing.

This season I am down to 10 st and competing at intermediate/**. Therefore we are required to go even faster at 550mpm as opposed to 520 mpm at Novice. I have noticed a marked difference in the ease at which he goes round XC.

He has been one of the fastest horses round each event with very few time faults. Last time out at CIC** we were actually inside the time for the first time at this or Novice level.

Now I used to think this horse was not fast enough to progress up the grades, and he is crazy fit this season. But that improvement I personally think is partly down to the lesser weight he is now carrying. I always knew I was on the heavy side for eventing at that level and so long as I can continue to resist raiding the biscuit tin at work long may it continue :-)
 
I would class myself as a light weight adult - just under 10 stone and 5ft 5 (size 10 - 12), and ride 14.2hhs. However I would feel to heavy for a 13.2hh unless very stocky.

Others may disagree, but I have a high opinion of myself!
 
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