
6 minute read
Feature: Weight before you ride
FEATURE
Weight before you ride
Are you and your pony a good fit? PAMELA BICE spoke to us about the new rider weight and size guidelines.
For as long as people have been on horseback, there have been riders whose size has been a poor match for their horses or ponies. however, it’s only more recently that the spotlight has shone on weight bearing capacity as a horse welfare issue.
Dressage rider Pamela Bice is the pony representative on the Dressage NSW committee, and she first brings us up to speed with the direction a guide on adults riding ponies was originally headed in. “There was movement afoot to limit the riding of ponies in competition to children under sixteen years,” she explains.
But Pamela had competed on her own pony right up to Grand Prix, and knew that there were a number of adult riders who were better suited to riding ponies simply because they weren’t physically big enough to ride a full-size dressage horse: “I thought the idea of limiting them to never being able to ride in competition again was pretty terrible. We had to find a better method to make sure the pony industry, which has bloomed since it began in Australia, continued to keep growing and that the right size riders could continue to compete on the right sized horses.”
Starting the conversation
released by the Equestrian Australia Dressage Committee. Eighteen months of planning and preparation has gone into the development of the document, which is intended to educate athletes, coaches, owners, parents, judges, and officials, and bring clarity to Equestrian Australia’s expectations regarding welfare issues as they relate to a horse’s capacity to carry weight.
With their welfare squarely fixed front and centre, the whole point of introducing this guide is to benefit our equine partners - and to address the elephant that has been in the room for quite some time. “It cropped up time and again when overseas judges visited. They’d see some of the riders on our ponies and they’d ask questions,” Pamela remarks. “In fact, there were many judges who’d see inappropriate combinations and make complaints right up the line. So there was a problem that needed to be dealt with.”
Pamela recalls the time when Maree Tomkinson wrote a great magazine article on horses’ weight bearing capacity. “It was a terrific article but she copped a lot of flack for it. A lot of work was done to try and get a ruling established, but there was so much pushback at the time.”
Overseas, the response was much more blatant: "They began calling people off ponies at shows and weighing them. And it wasn’t just because of the look of it, vets were noticing the way the horses were going and saying it was inappropriate, that it was a welfare issue,” Pamela says. But of course, taking that approach at competitions was fraught with problems, and emotionally damaging for the riders. “Rider welfare is really important as well. That’s why it became evident to us that education and clear guidelines would be a much better way to approach this before the rider even reached the ring,” she adds.
FACING PAGE: Pamela Bice and her pony Rosthwaite Tinkerbell at the 2015 Sydney CDI (Image by Oz Dressage). ABOVE: Louise Maguire appropriately mounted on her pony (Image courtesy Louise Maguire).

It’s not a rule
And the guide is just that: a guide, not a rule. So, what’s expected of a judge now if someone shows up with a pony who is obviously too small for the rider they are carrying? Pamela clarifies: “Judges will continue to do exactly what they've always done, and that is to judge the athlete and the ability of the horse or pony presented to them. Now, if that horse or pony is ‘earth bound’, trying to stretch out but unable to lift – and even at novice level we're asking them to engage a little – if they are unable to do that, then they can't be marked well. It's just a reflection of what the horse can give.”
Because coaches are involved in the fundamentals of horse training and rider education from the early stages right up the levels, a certain degree of expectation is placed on them. The release of the Guide to Horse Weight Capacity has further clarified their responsibilities. “I guess it’s an expansion of what they already do, because our coaches do an awful lot more than just watching someone ride and fixing their position or telling them to do more,” Pamela says. “They really do instil in their riders empathy for their horse, making sure that they’re kept at a comfortable temperature, have water and the right feed. Over-feeding or overworking horses is inappropriate for their welfare in the long term, and so is overmounting them. Having the empathy to know the horse is struggling is part of that learning.”
Pamela is quick to point out that the new guide has absolutely nothing to do with rider body image or body shaming. “We all grow up and some of us keep growing, and we just have to bear that in mind. As a small human grows into a bigger one, they're going to need different mounts. That's just life. We really don't care what size you are, just ride the right size horse.”
Working the numbers

your horse are all found in the online guide, but Pamela, who as a pony rider has done this all herself, is happy to offer a few key points to get you started: “Put on the gear you ride in, take your scales down to the stables, and grab your saddle and saddle cloth. You can leave your bridle behind. Then get on the scales and see what you weigh. That's one measurement you can know for sure.”
Calculating the weight of your mount is most easily done using a horse weigh tape, which can be picked up at a saddlery. Use this to measure the circumference of the horse’s barrel from just behind the wither and around where the girth would sit. Incremental marks, similar to those on a regular tape measure, give you an indication of your horse’s weight in kilograms. Twenty per cent of this number is the weight capacity of your horse.
The results between horses may surprise you. “I have a 15.2hh Arabian cross with the same girth as my 14.2hh pony, so it's really interesting when you get down and actually do the measurements,” Pamela says.
But what about the naysayers? “Yes, people go on about 'oh, but won’t people just make their horse’s fat?’. Well the guide actually asks you to pull the tape tight. And remember, it is a guide,” she adds. “Twenty per cent is a generous allowance. If you’re nearly over that then you should be looking at how your horse is going. This is a conversation starter. Ask your coach questions, see if you're going to be able to progress with that pony up the grades. Enjoy your riding and have your horse enjoy your riding too.”
For the full and very informative Zoom conversation with Pamela, head on over to our VIP area.

