Words Fail Me!

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HaffiesRock

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I'm not one to set off a debate, but the difference in opinions between people on here and on Facebook amazes me!

Query from a page

"I'm a bit of a novice and just after advice so please no crit x I'm losing weight and currently 17 stone I have just bought my first horse mainly for my daughter but I want to get into riding him he's 13.1 and 3 and half what weight would u say I should be before riding him he's a cob and I'm 5ft 4 by the way"

People are then saying 13 - 14 stone is an OK weight to ride this pony... Sigh
 
Did you see the program this week the lady with 40 cats? At one point there was a person with a massive rump (about twice size of horses') trying to get on a fairly light weight small horse. She probably weighed near enough what horse did. Thankfully she was so big she wasn't able to get leg over & went down between horse & mounting block. People can be whatever weight they want but please bear in mind the horse is a living creature that feels pain. It is not a car that can cope with huge (must have been talking 20 stone+) people that fancy going for a ride. I'm not skinny, but if I was that size I wouldn't dream of asking a horse to try & carry me.
 
I saw that one too!

The one that got me the other day on the same page was someone asking for advise before getting a vet out - their 'friends husband' had just bought a pony for his daughter - a mare with a foal at foot and in foal again. They had no where to keep them, no where to wean the foal to and had never owned a horse in their lives before ...
 
EKW said:
I saw that one too!

The one that got me the other day on the same page was someone asking for advise before getting a vet out - their 'friends husband' had just bought a pony for his daughter - a mare with a foal at foot and in foal again. They had no where to keep them, no where to wean the foal to and had never owned a horse in their lives before ...
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I also saw that one :(

I think im so shocked because if this was posted on here, the majority would tell you straight how cruel it would be to ride such a young, lightweight horse at certain weights, but on Facebook people always seem to think its OK!
 
It's a tricky one. I agree that we should be careful with how much weight our horses carry on a regular basis, however I think it also depends on the situation.

For example, here is me and a couple of my friends from a few years ago, two of us weighing about 11st and my other friend on the roan about 11.7st:

DSC00038.jpg


DSC00039.jpg


In this scenario, we had three very naughty little 12.2hh Highland x Shetlands who could be far too strong and spooky for the kids in the riding school. In the spring, when the grass came through, was also when RDA started up again... so once a week for a month in Spring we would take them out for a blooming good gallop and jump logs and things in the woods. Helped take the edge off them for the rest of the week, and once the they calmed down again we stopped for the summer.

This was the difference between spooky, bucking ponies and quiet little lambs who were bombproof RDA ponies.

Most of you would probably see that photo and burn me, but it worked so well, and ponies loved it.

So I do sometimes feel we jump on larger riders a bit, particularly of heavier types like Highlands/cobs/Haflingers that might be short but can carry weight.
 
khalswitz said:
It's a tricky one. I agree that we should be careful with how much weight our horses carry on a regular basis, however I think it also depends on the situation.

For example, here is me and a couple of my friends from a few years ago, two of us weighing about 11st and my other friend on the roan about 11.7st:

DSC00038.jpg


DSC00039.jpg


In this scenario, we had three very naughty little 12.2hh Highland x Shetlands who could be far too strong and spooky for the kids in the riding school. In the spring, when the grass came through, was also when RDA started up again... so once a week for a month in Spring we would take them out for a blooming good gallop and jump logs and things in the woods. Helped take the edge off them for the rest of the week, and once the they calmed down again we stopped for the summer.

This was the difference between spooky, bucking ponies and quiet little lambs who were bombproof RDA ponies.

Most of you would probably see that photo and burn me, but it worked so well, and ponies loved it.

So I do sometimes feel we jump on larger riders a bit, particularly of heavier types like Highlands/cobs/Haflingers that might be short but can carry weight.
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You look fine on the pony and there is a big difference between someone of 11 stone that can ride in a balanced way, dealing with naughty ponies that are mature and up to far more weight than they would carry on a daily basis and a novice of 17 stone wanting to learn to ride on a 3 year old pony whatever the height.
I bet you had a blast and the ponies look up for it.
 
be positive said:
You look fine on the pony and there is a big difference between someone of 11 stone that can ride in a balanced way, dealing with naughty ponies that are mature and up to far more weight than they would carry on a daily basis and a novice of 17 stone wanting to learn to ride on a 3 year old pony whatever the height.
I bet you had a blast and the ponies look up for it.
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This is true, particularly in the ops scenario, however I do sometimes feel like on here we can harsh a bit on bigger riders. I have a friend at 16st who is very talented and yet gets whispered about being to fat to ride so I tend to be a bit tender about it on here. And having broken in and ridden away plenty of 13hh and up ponies myself to the stage of being ridden by a small enough rider, I do sometimes feel the sting of the weight nagging!
 
SatansLittleHelper said:
I saw that thread and commented on it. I think the point alot of people missed was that the lady in question wants to lose weight BEFORE she even thinks about riding the pony.
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Exactly this. She wasn't suggesting hopping on a 3 year old 13.1hh pony at 17 stone, she was asking how much weight she needed to lose before she would be able to ride him. And good for her for getting the advice first!
 
my boy is a chunk of a 13.2hh NF but I would not let someone 13-14st ride him. I would say that I am at the top end of carrier weight at 10st/10st7 (weight fluctuates!), I would not let even a balanced rider over that weight on him.
 
Those little ponies look like epic fun and lots of trouble - it was a sadistic person who thought of that particular cross lol
 
WelshD said:
Those little ponies look like epic fun and lots of trouble - it was a sadistic person who thought of that particular cross lol
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Tell me about it. They were strong enough for ME to find them hard to hold, but small enough that spinning on the spot or bucking on the fly was really hard to sit as nothing in front of you!! Not ideal kids ponies, that's for sure... And at one point out yard had six of them!! Made great PC ponies for the braver kids though, as they were brill at XC, games, anything that involved speed ;)

We had our own pony grand national galloping them up the wide track in the woods with a few homemade brush fences... They had a ball. My friend on the grey and I took the black and the roan to the beach once too, to test how they would behave for the kids taking then to camp... Had them properly swimming!
 
I also saw this and it really kicked off when one person said that nobody is too big/heavy to ride! A lady who posted on the thread got her knickers in a twist when someone said that at over 20 stones she was too heavy to ride her approximately 14hh cob....the replies to the separate thread she started about the 'abuse' she was getting were unbelievable!
 
I was at a carboot sale once and a girl told me her 20 stone dad rode her 14hh pony...I REALLY hope she was over exaggerating or outright lying...but I don't know :\
 
khalswitz said:
It's a tricky one. I agree that we should be careful with how much weight our horses carry on a regular basis, however I think it also depends on the situation.

For example, here is me and a couple of my friends from a few years ago, two of us weighing about 11st and my other friend on the roan about 11.7st:

DSC00038.jpg


DSC00039.jpg
Click to expand...

Lol that is brilliant hehe! Great fun! X
 
Oh dear they're now starting a larger rider group. Presumably so they can reassure eachother that a lightweight 3yo cob can carry 17st easily.

ETA - I couldn't bear to read the entire thread this morning but the responses I did see were all supportive and not at all bitchy so I don't really see the need to have a larger rider page.
 
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Someone send us a link so I can have a nosey :) I'm 14 stone ATM and I was 10.5 stone untill I had a boyfriend and all that comfort eating malarkey, as well as the split so I've turned into a human hippo, but I've joined slimming world no 1 to lose weight so I can ride my section d when he's ready to be backed and no 2, obviously to be skinnier haha! BUT at 17 stone god forbid if I ever got that weight I would be embarrassed to go near a horse never mind ride one!
 
I would guess that by the time she has lost enough weight to ride the pony it may well be retired due to old age. Not knocking big riders I was/am one but the person in question was asking what weight she needed to be some thought way too heavy but at least the intention to lose the weight was there Depends on the pony to be honest but a three and half year old shouldnt be ridden at all in my mind and should be chilling in the field for another year
 
Facebook drives me insane. I had to close the window the other day after this came up in my news feed:

(pic of really scraggy wormy looking pony colt)

"My colt won't put on weight, what's the matter with him."

Some people recommended gelding.

"Oh he won't be gelded."

Well, that's just grand. Maybe they'll introduce more scraggy looking ponies into the world, because that's just what everyone needs.
 
Also all this about 'weight carriers', is that actually true? Because some of the vanner types you see, they were built for pulling rather than ridden work, and have horrendously weak backs.
 
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