Opinion Does anyone really think a small thoroughbred should be asked to carry more than nearly 16 stone?

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Yesterday 14:25

Horse And Hound

Alamy Ref: G2N8R4

Opinion

A lot of people seem to be missing a big point about horse welfare, still.

It’s now nine years since the Great Yorkshire Show first asked people to dismount if they were not an appropriate size for the horses or ponies they were riding but there is still a big issue here.

H&H reported this week that Retraining of Racehorses (RoR) had brought in a new equine welfare framework, and that as part of this, its rules on rider-horse weight ratios were to be actively enforced.

The piece was posted on H&H social media and just about all the comments were as expected.

There was a lot of support for RoR, but there was also “whataboutery”; why is this being addressed when there are so many worse welfare issues. There was “what about big men riding, this is just misogyny”, there were people saying it’s fat-shaming. There were lots of comments about people who “ride light” and that a heavier but balanced rider is better than a lighter but less balanced one. There was even something about “skinny people bouncing about” and yanking mouths.

But this is about horse welfare. If you used the argument that this isn’t worth looking at because being beaten and starved is worse, you would then overlook most welfare issues, and horses or ponies being asked to carry excess weight is detrimental to their wellbeing.

It’s been said over and over again but this is not fat-shaming; it’s not about whether a rider is overweight or not, it’s about suitability of the rider-horse combination. You could be an 8st size zero and you would be too big for a 12.2hh pony. You could be 15st and medically overweight but absolutely fine to ride a bigger horse.

Yes, it is probably easier for a horse to carry a balanced 18 stone than an unbalanced load of the same weight – but it’s still 18 stone. If you were asked to carry a heavy load, it would be easier in a balanced rucksack on both shoulders and with wide padded straps than awkwardly swinging on one shoulder, but all the balance and careful loading in the world won’t make it weigh less.

And it’s not just weight – it’s size. A friend asked me to ride her 14.2hh a few years ago and although I was ok on the weight front, I was too tall. This meant the saddle that fitted the pony didn’t fit me, so my weight was wrongly distributed – I was too big for that pony, so I didn’t ride her.

The “suitably mounted” topic is a huge one, and of course a multitude of factors come into it; saddle fit, horse fitness, condition and conformation to name but a few. And it is a hugely sensitive topic that has to be dealt with appropriately – but it does have to be dealt with, as part of the commitment to always putting horse welfare first.

The RoR rules state that the total weight a horse should carry is ideally no more than 17% of its own bodyweight, the absolute maximum is 20%. For a 500kg thoroughbred, that’s 85kg (13st 5lb) or 100kg (15st 10lb). Does anyone really think a small thoroughbred should be asked to carry more than nearly 16 stone?