rhino
Well-Known Member
That's the problem, common sense is not terribly common!
Where Do You Draw The Line? (Small Ponies vs. Big Riders)
- Thread starter QueenOfCadence
- Start date
That's the problem, common sense is not terribly common!
Phoebe+Sophie
Well-Known Member
Do you think I'm too heavy for my pony? She is a 20 year old Welsh sec C x Exmoor and I'm 5'4" or 5'5" and I weigh 8 and half stone. She is 12.3 and a half and between 307kg and 329kg. She is a feisty tank and doesn't seem too struggle. The vet and saddle fitter think its ok and she doesn't have any problems. I think I just answered my own question.
MuesliMoo
Well-Known Member
Do you think I'm too heavy for my pony? She is a 20 year old Welsh sec C x Exmoor and I'm 5'4" or 5'5" and I weigh 8 and half stone. She is 12.3 and a half and between 307kg and 329kg. She is a feisty tank and doesn't seem too struggle. The vet and saddle fitter think its ok and she doesn't have any problems. I think I just answered my own question.
Definitely not too heavy. Most of the bigger exmoors at least can take up to 12 stone of weight.
TheoryX1
Well-Known Member
You know what young lady, I bet your friend is just being polite to you. I dont normally get myself involved in NL bitchfests, preferring CR, but this one intrigued me. I dont think she looks large, in fact I weighed a dam sight more than than this time last year and I ride a MW 14.3hh 18 year old cob, who never had any issues with me then and certainly not now after a large weight loss.
Tell her she looks great, she does not look out of place on her horse and shut up about pony squishing.
Lolo
Well-Known Member
I don't think she looks big at all...
Al's horse has some back issues, as did her previous pony. As she's a size 10 max, slim and healthy and a balanced rider I doubt it was due to her build, just bad luck. This pony had no issues:
This pony didn't care:
This pony thought she was the best thing ever, and merrily pinged round 3' SJ classes...
It's amusing, every mini pony she's ridden has not only been cheerful about carrying her with no health issues but have also been massively successful. The black pony won consistently at Novice and scored well at elementary. The chestnut roan was sold on as a superb SJ pony and had massive success in her area at BSJA and the welsh C was an allround superstar. She hasn't grown an inch yet now rides a 16.3hh TB and looks about right on him... It's down to what the pony is happy with and they make that clear enough.
Al's horse has some back issues, as did her previous pony. As she's a size 10 max, slim and healthy and a balanced rider I doubt it was due to her build, just bad luck. This pony had no issues:
This pony didn't care:
This pony thought she was the best thing ever, and merrily pinged round 3' SJ classes...
It's amusing, every mini pony she's ridden has not only been cheerful about carrying her with no health issues but have also been massively successful. The black pony won consistently at Novice and scored well at elementary. The chestnut roan was sold on as a superb SJ pony and had massive success in her area at BSJA and the welsh C was an allround superstar. She hasn't grown an inch yet now rides a 16.3hh TB and looks about right on him... It's down to what the pony is happy with and they make that clear enough.
Beatrice5
Well-Known Member
For those who like me didn't know the stone to Kilo's conversion.
I looked it up and it's 1 stone = 6.35 kilos
So I reassured myself I am well within my limits when I ride my sons pony although I still get off and lead him on the hills Soft as butter I know but I adore him and would hate for him to struggle and then not want to go out.
I looked it up and it's 1 stone = 6.35 kilos
So I reassured myself I am well within my limits when I ride my sons pony although I still get off and lead him on the hills
Soft as butter I know but I adore him and would hate for him to struggle and then not want to go out.Dexter
Well-Known Member
Has the vet been smoking crack?? Because thats the only explanation I can think of. Your "friend" is no way heavy enough to cause back problems for either of those horses unless they have other issues. Threads like this really get on my nerves. 7 stone people asking if they are too heavy for occasional hacks on tank like cobs??!?! People of 11 stone saying they are too heavy for their 14.2hh so they have stopped riding it. Has the world gone bloody mad??
Jenni_
Well-Known Member
I'm sorry- but weight of rider isn't always the prOblem- A heavy person can ride very light and a light person can ride equally heavy
Wagtail
Horse servant
I am not at all surpised the first horse in the OP developed a sore back. He is bein worked totally hollow and your friend is sitting right back on th antle of the saddle. The TB is not being worked over its back either. At our yard we have a 14 hh pony and a rider that is really too heavy but she works him up over his back and he copes, though a lighter rider would be better so long as he was worked correctly.
Dexter
Well-Known Member
The majority of horses I know dont work "over the back" yet none would struggle with a rider of that weight. I am genuinely shocked at the responses to this thread! If a TB is expected to complete the grand national carrying 12 stone on those hideous racing saddles I am damn certain they can manage 12 stone + for your average RC riders workload!
Wagtail
Horse servant
Hmmm... well with the number of broken horses coming out of the racing industry, many of whom have kissing spine (I have two ex racers with KS at my yard alone), I think your argument falls flat on its face. As for the rest of the horse world, so many horses are suffering bad backs but stoicly put up with the pain or have owners who just label them as quirky or cold backed.
scarymare
Well-Known Member
The way I see it - and I've been a real porker in my time is that fat/podgy adults or children look dreadful on small/fine boned horses. I never saw it in the SE England where I hail from by its really bad up here in Aberdeenshire - never seen the like. If people would only realise how much better they would look on the right size.
Also I have recently lost well over a stone and cant believe the difference it makes to my balance and fitness when riding..... therein may lie another reason for the struggling horses.
is that fat/podgy adults or children look dreadful on small/fine boned horses. I never saw it in the SE England where I hail from by its really bad up here in Aberdeenshire - never seen the like. If people would only realise how much better they would look on the right size.Also I have recently lost well over a stone and cant believe the difference it makes to my balance and fitness when riding..... therein may lie another reason for the struggling horses.
QueenOfCadence
Well-Known Member
Exactly Wagtail... With the TBs in the Racing Industry being backed and raced SO young, I'd say that a large number of them HAVE back problems and that most owners just don't investigate "bad behaviour" as they should
eahotson
Well-Known Member
O.K. well I am 12 stone and have a welsh cob of about 14.2.I bought him off a girl who was about 8 to 9 stone.He had a dreadful back,ridged neckand a drooping right quarter.He passed the vet.He had a really badly fitting saddle and very harsh and unsympathetic schooling.He goes dead flashy in a pelham!!! I bought him a saddle fitted for him by a properly trained saddle fitter, physiotherapy from an ACPAT physio and some good schooling courtesy of my lovely instructor.The saddle has had to be adjusted several times as his back has recovered and changed shape.Weight isn't everything. He now, also works over his back.
Dexter
Well-Known Member
Not posting this to be aggressive or cause a fight
They come out of racing broken as they were started as YEARLINGS! And kissing spines isnt caused by heavy riders, so your argument just fell flat on its face. And idiots working or trying to work horses in pain, actually, IMHO dont number that many, and again arent caused by heavy people riding too small horses. How many horses,carrying very LW riders are lame?EDITED to add: Its normally the flat racers that come out broken. Its way less likely for the NH horses, and they carry heavier weights over longer distances and with more effort involved!
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JFTDWS
Well-Known Member
Exactly -nothing to do with the rider weight
Not posting this to be aggressive or cause a fight
EDITED to add: Its normally the flat racers that come out broken. Its way less likely for the NH horses, and they carry heavier weights over longer distances and with more effort involved!
I would have said exactly this
Wagtail
Horse servant
Have to disagree with the weight issue re kissing spines. It is indeed sometimes caused by too heavy a rider. Sometimes it is congenital, sometimes due to compensating for other issues such as hock or sacroilliatic pain but carrying too heavy a rider is also a cause. I know because I was told that at Rossdales and two out of the three horses with KS at my yard had too heavy a rider whilst young. It makes perfect sense as the heavier the rider, the more the spine is weighted down bringing the spinous processes closer together. It is also why the symptoms are often only shown under saddle.
Tnavas
Well-Known Member
Will have to disagree with you here, while the TB's are broken young their riders are certainly not heavy by any means, so this cannot possibly be the cause of the kissing spines. All the yards I've worked at have track riders well within the prescribed weights for flat racers.
Wagtail
Horse servant
I never said the cause of KS in racehorses was due to heavy riders. I said that using the racing industry as an example was ridiculous because so many of them come out of racing shot to pot, so it doesn't prove a thing. Twelve stone is around the maximum they will carry ansd so using racehorses as an example proves nothing! We are talking on this thread about disproprtionately heavy riders on ponies and horses that are not up to their weight. There are other factors too such as how that rider rides. We have a young cob here who started with KS 3 years ago. He is 14hh and his rider around 14 stone. He had injections and the rider received instruction which taught her to work him long and low and over his back. His condition has improved dramatically. But a heavy rider working a horse hollow CAN cause the back to dip and over time KS can develop. However, once you get to a really big weight, no amount of correct riding will prevent the horse suffering some kind of back damage.
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tallyho!
Following a strict mediterranean diet...
I think the line should be drawn under the belly.
If your stirrup goes past the belly line, you're too tall.
Also, if you require longer than a 15inch saddle, you're too fat for said pony.
There, job done
If your stirrup goes past the belly line, you're too tall.
Also, if you require longer than a 15inch saddle, you're too fat for said pony.
There, job done
sbloom
Well-Known Member
I've not read the whole thread, but one limit is definitely saddle fit - there comes a point where the rider is just too tall or too heavy for a pony with a short ribcage, and even if they can take the weight, if the ribcage is short, no matter how strong a shorter backed animal may be, if the saddle that the rider needs is too long for the pony....I can lift the cantle by saddle design or padding depending on the situation, but I can only do so much to keep the rider in the middle of the saddle.
scarymare
Well-Known Member
You've hit the nail on the head here. I have previously had to sell a 15 hand mare brought at auction. She was incredibly short in the back and needed a 15 inch saddle. Game over for me. My 16.2 horse takes a 6 ft rug (and is actually quite wide in the chest)
I just get away with a size 1 wow and if I had a bigger bum would be pushing down on his loins. There is more to it than just weight. The OP's friend is sitting to far back IMO.Mlini
Well-Known Member
I am 5'7 and just over 9st. I have never sat on anything I believe was too small for me. Smallest being a 13.2 Welsh C.
I have seen a riding instructor get on a cheeky Welsh A that was misbehaving for a child. He would be about 6ft (maybe more!) and of medium build for his height.. Wouldn't really like to guess his weight, but IMO he was definatley WAY too heavy for the little pony - his feet were practically on the floor! He 'tired it out' for the child It was sooo cruel!
Sorry to hi-jack but... My friend has a 11.3 Shetland X, he is 3yrs and not very stocky. Will need breaking in at some point in the near future, she has no plans to do anything with him over winter though. Both I and his owner are too heavy for the little mite! So we will need to find a rider... What weight do you think he will be able to carry?
I have seen a riding instructor get on a cheeky Welsh A that was misbehaving for a child. He would be about 6ft (maybe more!) and of medium build for his height.. Wouldn't really like to guess his weight, but IMO he was definatley WAY too heavy for the little pony - his feet were practically on the floor! He 'tired it out' for the child
It was sooo cruel! Sorry to hi-jack but... My friend has a 11.3 Shetland X, he is 3yrs and not very stocky. Will need breaking in at some point in the near future, she has no plans to do anything with him over winter though. Both I and his owner are too heavy for the little mite! So we will need to find a rider... What weight do you think he will be able to carry?
Wagtail
Horse servant
I'd say about 7 stone max.