A little concerned about the amount of weight threads at the moment

No holding, as a teen I didn't compare myself to what I saw in the media in a positive light. By comparison the average top fashion model was bigger than teenage me. I only compared myself when people made negative remarks about catwalk models etc being unattractive & unfeminine. As for when my child's a teen, I remember many skinny jibes & if I ever responded with fat comments, instead of being viewed as teen bitching & equally bad, it was always considered worse for me to call someone fat than they calling me. As an adult we can discuss how we are all different & that's fine. But teen girls are horrid, & I simply mean that if my daughter responds in kind, I am not going to tell her calling someone fat is rude but calling someone skinny is ok. They are equally bad. And don't presume to guess how the teenage me felt about my body. For every skinny super model, there's 50 people saying how bad it is to be thin.If you are a chubby teen (or adult) people do not tend to think its acceptable to constantly make comments on it, if you're thin they do. Take the 7 & 1/2 stones thread, can you imagine the backlash if I'd started a similar thread but referring to 12 stone women? I'm just sick of the double standards.
 
Littlelegs I believe I'm close on double your age and your post is the story of my life! I never went around calling fat kids fat, but boy did they take every opportunity to call the slim kids names. I've never been hung up on fat or slim people, they are what they choose to be. I choose to never be fat, I like being slim :)
 
Littlelegs said:
No holding, as a teen I didn't compare myself to what I saw in the media in a positive light. By comparison the average top fashion model was bigger than teenage me. I only compared myself when people made negative remarks about catwalk models etc being unattractive & unfeminine. As for when my child's a teen, I remember many skinny jibes & if I ever responded with fat comments, instead of being viewed as teen bitching & equally bad, it was always considered worse for me to call someone fat than they calling me. As an adult we can discuss how we are all different & that's fine. But teen girls are horrid, & I simply mean that if my daughter responds in kind, I am not going to tell her calling someone fat is rude but calling someone skinny is ok. They are equally bad. And don't presume to guess how the teenage me felt about my body. For every skinny super model, there's 50 people saying how bad it is to be thin.If you are a chubby teen (or adult) people do not tend to think its acceptable to constantly make comments on it, if you're thin they do. Take the 7 & 1/2 stones thread, can you imagine the backlash if I'd started a similar thread but referring to 12 stone women? I'm just sick of the double standards.
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I can relate to this as although im by no means skinny now, as a teenager i was the tall skinny gawky one, who had no self confidence at all. I used to be really envious of the more curvy girls at school and believe me there was never a day went by that someone didnt comment on the way I looked. I was a late developer but I still look back on those days as an unhappy teen. My daughter on the other hand although very tall has a more athletic build than I had at her age. I think theres too much pressure on kids to conform to a certain body type which lets face it we all come in different shapes and sizes.
 
Don't get me wrong spring feather, I didn't just go round calling people fat. But if I had a fall out with someone, & being teens it usually ends up as being personal insults, it would always be jokes about being anorexic etc, & I'd simply respond in the same manner. And many occasions had, & still do, comments such as 'aren't you skinny' & as a teen I would have to bite my lip not to answer with 'aren't you fat'. New yrs eve I was cramming down the buffet, & some random woman made a comment about me eating loads & how you wouldn't expect it. Whereas if I saw someone biggish picking at the buffet, I wouldn't have even thought, let alone said that I was suprised someone fat ate so little & I wouldn't have expected it.
 
Wagtail said:
That gets talked about all the time on here. You really are not making any sense. Are you saying that we can't tak about lesser welfare cases because there are worse welfare cases going on? :confused: Are you some self appointed moderator telling us what we can and cannot discuss? For someone who doesn't seem to give a fig about how much weight horses should have to carry, you are spending an awful amount of time on these threads.
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Wagtail the only welfare issue I have ever read from you I think, is the weight of the rider.There might have been the other odd thing but not much because I would remember it.The message I get from you is that there is only one issue.I don't really get that from anyone else.
I don't really care about myself to be honest, I am old grumpy and have come to terms with who and what I am.I do worry though about maybe kids who will really be worried maybe quite unecessarrily (sp?).
 
Actually though, I never said I didn't care.I went to a dealership once to try out what I was told was a 14hh cob, it was a 14 slightly cobby pony.I refused to get on it because, as I told the dealer, I considered myself too heavy.Dealer, whose was quite a bit heavier than me said she rode it all the time?? I do hope not. Most peop[le though, from what I have seen at riding schools livery yards etc. are not too heavy though.The heaviest person I saw ride was actually a stage 2 pupil from the local equine college.
 
eahotson said:
Wagtail the only welfare issue I have ever read from you I think, is the weight of the rider.There might have been the other odd thing but not much because I would remember it.The message I get from you is that there is only one issue.I don't really get that from anyone else.
I don't really care about myself to be honest, I am old grumpy and have come to terms with who and what I am.I do worry though about maybe kids who will really be worried maybe quite unecessarrily (sp?).
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Oh for goodness sake, at least get your facts right. Look at this thread:

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=602043

Where I list my main horse related bugbears:

Keeping horses alone (I don't mean individual turnout here).
People who are too heavy to ride their horses (but they ride them anyway).
Allowing horses to drop too much weight in winter (as a lazy way to counter the summer gorging, or at least using this as an excuse )
Over feeding on starchy hard feed
Allowing horses to get fat.

I can be regularly seen to comment on all of these things. I don't know what your problem is with me, but it seems a bit 'cookoo' to me. I suggest you put me on user ignore, so you won't have to read any more of my posts.
 
Surely it is just about using common sense and teaching children to do the same?

I am over the supposed 10% optimum weight for my horse however I am also in the healthy BMI scale for my height and I know I am not too tall for my horse. I could get hung up on that article and become obsessed with losing a bit of weight or seeking reassurance that I am not a horse abuser, however instead I will take the information on board and exercise common sense. I will continue to ensure my horse has a well fitting saddle, that he is fit enough to do the work I require, that I school him correctly to help strengthen his top line and that I have an independent seat and good balance - which in my opinion are equally important factors in my horses' health and happiness.

If however I was over the optimum weight for my horse and I myself was overweight I would probably use it a a healthy incentive to lose a bit in addition to doing everything I said above.

This is how I would try and explain it to a child/teenager anyway.

At the end of the day being too fat or too thin is not good for your health and both have consequences. That is a fact and I wouldn't try to dress it up as anything else. However I also don't think it is acceptable to judge anyone on their weight and I believe the world would be a nicer place if we worried more about what we did and said than how we looked.

Children learn a lot from observing the adult world and there are too many women who get far too caught up on the images that are portrayed in the media and have unhealthy relationships with their body or food as a result.

People should always aim to be a healthy weight - not because of how they will look in a bikini - but because it is nice to have lots of energy and feel healthy and increases your chances of staying fit and mobile as you age.

People have always come in different shapes and sizes just like horses and just like horses everyone will have their own optimum weight. A cob and a TB will never looks the same no matter how much you starve or feed them. Both have their own optimum weight and both are at their best when they are fit and healthy.

I really don't know why anyone buys those stupid/fashion celeb mags anyway - you're just fueling your own insecurity. The more photos of half-naked photo-shopped-to-with-an-inch-of their-lives models/celebs they sell, the more of this we will all have to endure.
 
The reason weight a horse should carry gets discussed so often is that unlike other welfare issues, people are divided, and that makes for long threads and lively discussion. You won't find people coming on here and defending feeding a horse only half of what it needs, or travelling horses for hundreds of miles without a break for slaughter, because most people on here would be against it.

However, when it comes to weight, there are some people who believe that at, say 19 stone, they have a right to enjoy their TB, and they should not be made to feel guilty for riding them. There are people who would argue that horses can in fact carry far more, even 30% of their weight. If you argue against these people, you often then get the 'fattist' card played, and get accused of being rude or hurtful. What people fail to realise is that it has nothing to do with how fat or thin they are. That is not the issue. The issue is, is it fair to impose that weight on a small slender horse?

But my point is, this makes for a lively and emotive thread.
 
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