Connemara inspections may require short horses to carry fat people

A recent study on how much weight horses can carry comfortably has illustrated yet again why Connemaras should not be forced to remain 14-2 hands and under.

The study was published in January 2013 in the “Animal Science Journal” and covered by thehorse.com on May 17, 2013.

The research was conducted by the Kitasato University School of Veterinary Medicine in Aomori, Japan. Scientists analyzed the comfort level of horses, as indicated by the symmetry of the horses’ gait at the walk and trot, when the horses were carrying various weights. Six mares were used in the study; they averaged 14.1 hands and 750 pounds. They were ridden by the same 145-pound rider and loaded with progressively more weight up to 287 pounds.

The horses appeared to do well up to 209 pounds. They showed a significant lack of symmetry at 220 pounds. The researchers recommended that the weight load for these horses be kept under 209 pounds to leave a safety margin for tack and clothing.

Scientists noted that different breeds can handle different loads, and this type of testing should be conducted on all breeds.

The American Connemara Pony Society requires Connemaras to be 14-2 or under to pass inspection.

Connemara lovers have promoted the breed for decades as very suitable to carry adults, even when the adult looks too big for the animal, and many society officials are mid-height to tall adults who ride their own ponies.

If Connemaras are required to remain 14-2 or shorter and are kept at an appropriate weight so they don’t develop laminitis, it’s safe to assume they are in the 750- to 800-pound range, and 220 pounds is in the ballpark of their limit for rider and tack weight combined.

But adults are increasingly less likely to weigh under 209 pounds when tack and clothing are added in.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regularly publishes statistics that show that American adults are getting heavier, along with their kids. The CDC’s numbers from 2009 to 2010 say more than one-third of adults and almost 17 percent of children are obese (these numbers increased to 42.4 percent for adults and 18.5 percent for children by 2017-2018). The CDC provides two examples of an obese weight range. For someone 5-4, it would be 174 pounds or more. For someone 5-9, it would be 203 pounds or more.

We all know many people in those height ranges who are 200 pounds or more. With their tack and clothes, they weigh far more than 209 pounds. And Connemara ponies — those that pass inspection and are increasingly likely to be the ones that carry the breed forward — are too short for these expanding waistlines.

Has the Connemara society ever had a conversation about people getting fatter, not to mention taller? If that conversation has taken place, no one has written about it in a public place that shows up in a search engine.

It would appear that many relevant discussions never took place before inspections were rammed through and aggressively instituted.

One has to wonder if the collateral damage from inspections will be the downfall of this breed in the end.