will people please stop........

L

lilym

Guest
worrying about what natives and cob types can carry weight wise!! these animals were bred with jobs in mind...take the highland, standing at around the 14hh mark these stocky little guys were selectively bred to carry huge, cumbersome red deer stags off the mountainside, they will therefore NOT, I REPEAT NOT, have trouble with a 12 - 14stone rider..
welsh ponies, i am refering to PROPER welsh mountain ponies, not the flimsy riding type that seems to be being bred that is sooo far from true to type it is unreal, that is another rant for another day.....it was not uncommon for shepards to hop on these ponies to cross the craggy mountain areas to check on sheep grazing, they were also used as pit ponies due to their tremendous strength and small size...AND HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU SEEN ADULTS RIDING THEM IN AT SHOWS BECAUSE THEY ARE TOO NAUGHTY FOR THE CHILD!!
the sec c welsh pony of cob type, agian, bred to be a multi purpose WORKING animal, the short cannons and strong bone density as well as being short coupled make it a fantastic strong animal, often too strong and sharp for a childs pony....
sec d well, what can i say here?? these guys were bred as a light draught type, capable of pulling heavy loads at harvest time, taking the farmer hunting of a saturday, yet still smart enough to put in a trap for church on a sunday.....leg at each corner cobs.....
fell/dales.....again bred as a light draught animal, way back in time these would lug heavy packs of merchandise across some pretty rough terrain....
shetland...need i say more???
new forest.. i have seen these standing at 14hh or less carry grown men all day with NO ILL EFFECTS on forest round ups.....

vanner cobs and other well boned cob types, irish draught etc are all bred to be strong and tough...

PLEASE PLEASE REMEMBER OUR NATIVES WERE BRED WITH THIS IN MIND, UNLESS YOU ARE ABSOLUTLEY HUGE, LIKE ABOUT 20 STONES THESE GUYS CAN COPE!!
 
Henry Blake wrote that one of his best hunters was a 12.2 welsh pony and he was about 11 stone!

(Henry Blake wrote books like Talking to Horses. He used to get all the troublesome horses to re-educate. He was also a point to point rider and took his pointer to Aintree, all the way from Wales to Liverpool with a Land Rover and trailer, there and back in one day. It isn;t THAT long ago that he died - apprantly he came off a horse and broke his back and ended up in a nursing home in Hereford, but was involved in the local Riding for the Disabled Group).
 
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But that is the old styles. WHat about the ones (as u say) that have been bred to be finer than they were years ago?
x

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LETS NOT BREED FROM THE RUDDY THINGS....
 
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But that is the old styles. WHat about the ones (as u say) that have been bred to be finer than they were years ago?
x

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LETS NOT BREED FROM THE RUDDY THINGS....

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Lol BTW i know nothing about these breeds, so am just going on what has been said.
 
it's really annoying, i take it you are a warmblood person?? if so the only way i can get you to relate to my rant of breeding non true to type natives would be for you to see people breeding oldenburgs to look like arabs!!
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But would the farmers have made them canter, gallop and jump xc with said 14 stone stags on them? These ponies were fit for purpose, worked all day and were the older more stockily bred ponies.
 
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12 stone is still 12 stone whichever century it was weighed in....

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yes bot there wasn`t 12 st in olden days cos they lived on gruel.
 
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it's really annoying, i take it you are a warmblood person??

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It's really annoying that people have to be a warmblood person, or a native person or a TB person! I think we are all united in that we love horses. GD is a dressage girl and we all have horse for courses. Doesn't mean we can't see when something is wrong though. What horses were bred for originally doesn't mean that it is acceptable in this day and age.

We use horses for leisure now, back in the day, when the old farmers rode their welsh cobs - it was what they had to do - to make a living! Doesn't mean to say our horses have to put up with it now so we can have fun!
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it's really annoying, i take it you are a warmblood person??

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It's really annoying that people have to be a warmblood person, or a native person or a TB person! I think we are all united in that we love horses. GD is a dressage girl and we all have horse for courses. Doesn't mean we can't see when something is wrong though. What horses were bred for originally doesn't mean that it is acceptable in this day and age. We use horses for leisure now, back in the day, when the old farmers rode their welsh cobs - it was what they had to do - to make a living! Doesn't mean to say our horses have to put up with it now so we can have fun!
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you are taking my post out of context, with all this worrying about weight etc i was putting across a point that horses and ponies are not delicate beings to be wrapped in cotton wool...
and TBH i believe you are a cob /TB/warmblood person, this was NOT a nasty comment just a mere observation, i have noting against warmbloods whatso ever, i just wouldn't own one far too much horse for me...but does that make me any less of a horse person???
i know a couple of "warmblood" people who can't ride my cob...
 
I was talking to a very good friend the other day about what weight my cobs could take, he said that if the horse wasnt happy it wouldnt go.

Before i bought mae she was used for travellers pleasure, carrying 2 full grown men into town etc. The man i got her from is heavier than me (would say around 17 stone!) and ive seen him ride her and she went well.

I totally agree that cobs were built to carry weight but there alot of cob mixes around. Im a cob person, not cause of weight but because of their looks and personality. It was a cob that helped me build confidence and a tb that ruined it! Mae has taken me to a level that i never thought i would get to. I happy hack her out alone, or ride about when there is no one there. Before i waited until someone was around!

Think its best to agree to disagree on this one lol
 
Hmm, thing is we dont think short term now.
YES a good cob can carry 17/18+ stone but could it do that all day every day without long term damage?
What it's being asked to do makes a huge difference too, a light hack isnt going totrash a ponies joints in the way a XC course every week would.

Part of the reason we are more carefull about what a horse/pony can carry is that we want them to go on working as long as possable and have a decent pain free retirement.
Long and short of it, unless you are ready for half tonn hospital there IS a horse out there for you, you just need to make sure you find it then everyone is happy
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Well I'm 10 stone and ride our 12.2h NF pony everday. I jump him at least once a week for half an hour, have 1 hour lesson once a week and the rest hack out for at least 2 hours with lots of fast canters! We've had him 6 years, never been lame, only had the vet out for his annual booster, lives on fresh air and is the most placid pony ever, very forward going, strong but 100 per cent safe. I love him to bits and I think he loves me!
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Well I am a bit of a lightweight anyway, but I still ride my Section B (who for the record is a traditional B, not one of these flimsy snap-a-leg sorts that you get these days). I've had him since he was 2 (and I was 8 or 9), and he was my PC pony for a few years until i 'grew out of him' - he's a great little pony and someone could have some serious fun on him, but you have to ride him and it would seem that most kids we tried to loan him out to just wanted something that they sat on and said pony would read their minds!! So needless to say 14 years on...I'm still riding him alongside my current horse!! And he hasn't had a days lameness in his life!!
 
I couldn't agree more. I have a true to type welshie section a which I have to ride on a fairly regular basis as she can be a bolshy little madam with the kids
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I also used to regularly ride our little shettie who was as strong as an ox
Although I weigh about 9 ish stone I have had comments over the years by various people.

Also used to have a NF who was 14 hands and was regularly ridden by my OH without any probs as NFs can carry a stone a hand.

If any of the ponies were uncomfortable I am sure they wouldn't go forward.
 
why is everyone so paranoid about their weight and if horses are overburdened? Ive never seen so much noise about nothing. Again, as someone said-"too many horseowners and not enough horsemen". I cant remember the last time I saw a horse carrying too much weight and dont believe its common practice in Europe anyway. If you have suddenly started worrying if youre too heavy for your horse them maybe you shouldnt own one. Its a matter of commom sense and basic horsemanship and if we dont have the very basics then....!!!!!!!!
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Im sorry if I come across as being whatever you choose to call me but sometimes I cant believe if some of the members are being serious or really dont have a clue ! Mairi.
PS, this is not aimed at you alsxx, I just tagged on to you
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TBH i tend to go by the rule if it aint happy its goning to let me know one way or another if its standing still refusing or stuggling to move or if i end up flying throught the air my little 12hh welshxshetland refuses to stand still with me she wants to keep going and i know i am too tall but not too heavy (i hope lol:o) we only go on short hacks but we go with alot of gusto i think you know when youy are putting too much pressure on a horse thats just my way of looking at it
 
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I cant believe if some of the members are being serious or really dont have a clue ! Mairi.


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PMSL....you can't tell me you've ony just realised this, Mairi???
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lmao I could not agree more. I have had several welsh cobs. But like you wish they would stick to the original breeding lines of strong thick set and not so fine often weaker ones.

My worry is that we categorize the natives as traditional strong animals capeable of this and that BUT there are now so many finer ones that are just not upto it including wintering out never mind carrying weight!!

IT just complicates things too much for some people who do not know the difference Just the same as the one where pupil tells instructor she is now looking for first a horse/pony. Inst says buy a nice steady 'cob' Pupils buys a lovely looking Welsh cob because lets face it they are generally thought of as much nicer to look at than a true steady cob. Pupil gets in WAY OVER HER HEAD because both her and sometimes instructor did not know the difference!!

YES I DO KNOW THERE ARE BOMBPROOF PERFECTLY BEHAVED WELSH COBS OUT THERE!! But unless handled right they very rarely stay that way!!
 
We used to have a 12.2 Traditional Welsh Mountain Pony and he was ridden by adults across the hills and mountains to check fencing, round up sheep etc and even go the bank 15 miles away.

He was still being ridden in his mid 20's. Yes he was mainly walked but that was because the terraine was stony, the ground hard and he never had shoes on.

The problem with most horses today is that they are not ridden enough at a walk each day and spend far to much time being ridden and schooled in a menage.
 
there is some kind of formula involving the measurement of the cannon bone to work out the weight carrying capacities of each individul horse..............anyone know what it is???
 
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