Yet another weight question. 14.1 Haffy cross

[SatsumaGirl]

I have a 5yo Haflinger x Paint who was broken in just over 2 months ago and bless him, I couldn't be happier with how he is coming on.

Unfortunately he has not made the height. His mother was a big Haffy, about 15/15.1 and his father was around 15.2, possibly 15.3.

In my naivety, when I took him on a few years ago, I thought in my head that I'd at least end with a nice solid weight carrying 15 hander, at the least.

He is only just scraping over 14.1 (though he is just under 14.3 at the bum - let's hope he levels out!).

I gave him an extra year to mature and whereas he still has a long way to go, he has certainly filled out a lot since winter.

I'm a big person, sadly, and a good size 16 and about 5'8.
I just wanted to check that the 20% rule is correct? So it'd mean he could carry just over 13 stone including tack, given he's around 425kg?

Please note, my friend is loaning him and I haven't been on his back and wouldn't dream of it at the moment.

I've always struggled with my weight but I am really trying as I'm sick of being a chunky monkey and my confidence has suffered a lot. I don't even know how much I weigh at the moment :-/ but I was purely wanting to ask advice if you think 12.5 - 13 stone is acceptable. 12.5 stone would be my goal weight.

Thanks for reading and listening to yet another one of these posts.

 

[Anna*]

I think a lot depends on the build of your pony. I have a 14.1hh haffy who weight-tapes at about 470kg. This would mean that she could, in theory, carry about 15 stone. In reality, I don't think she could carry that comfortably with any regularity. For me, the 20% rule is pushing it a bit; 15% would be more ideal.

However, these are just my thoughts in relation to my haffy! Some haflingers are built like absolute tanks - they were bred as draught horses!

 

[shadowboy]

There are so many factors. Length of back/ and therefore size of saddle that can be accommodated for- bigger riders often need larger saddles that small compact types can't take.

Height of rider and therefore centre of balance will be more tricky. My youngster is a Welsh cob so a bit different but he's expected to make 14hh and there isn't a chance I'd let my husband ride him and my husband is 12.5stone as by the time I've added tack etc then that's 13.5 stone. It wouldn't be fair even if 'technically' he could manage the weight.

 

[JJS]

Do you have any pictures of him to give us an idea of his build, as it really does depend on lots of different factors with regards to how much weight he can carry. Also, I am very curious to see what a Paint x Haffy looks like - he sounds scrumptious!