Do fat riders make your blood boil?

i don't have a problem. you're fine on your 18hander, if you'd said you have a 13 hander i might be a little concerned. simple.
i'm not picking on anyone, if you read the entire thread (mind you, you might die of boredom doing it!) you'll hopefully see that. i wasn't having an anti-fat rant, i was saying (not very clearly at first, i realise, and i apologise) that big people on horses too slight or small for their weight are not being fair to their horses. other people have agreed with me and made the point far more clearly.
 
Wow! Too many posts to trawl through so apologies if I am repeating someone else!

I think that while there is a welfare issue surrounding the competition horses having to cope with the extra loads I think perhaps the bigger issue is the health and fitness of the rider. Surely if the rider is unfit then he or she will be unable to balance themself correctly, thus putting extra strain on the horse and they will be unable to react as quickly as a fitter rider (thats probably not making much sense but hopefully you get what I mean).

That said I know some very fit people who ride and compete but are huge! One of them is a brilliant rugby player, is bulit like a brick s**thouse, has amazing core stability and strength and is just solid muscle. He must weight a good 14 stone but he is by no means overweight or unfit and can remain more balanced than many I know on a horse, allowing it to move freely underneath him and not hindering it in anyway. He also has lightening quick responses and I have seen him get himself and his horse out of trouble on the hunting field before because of this!

So I do beleive it boils down to fitness of the rider rather than how much weight they are carrying.
 
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umm, "Sooty", steady on. i would never never say such a thing about "black" or "Jewish" people. how dare you intimate that it is the same thing. i am neither racist nor prejudiced.
being fat is a choice. sorry, but it is. i'm not saying it's easy to lose weight, but no-one ever went to bed 10 stone and woke up weighing 20 stone.
if someone is huge and happy, fine, as long as the only thing they want to sit on is a sofa.
if they're huge and riding a horse which isn't up to their weight, it's a welfare issue.

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I am quite sure you would never say such a thing, but why do you feel at liberty to take cheap shots at another area of society? Being Jewish is also a choice, come to that! Your original post specifically targetted fat people riding, regardless of their ability or size of horse. It seems to be that you are quite obviously prejudiced - against fat people riding!
 
Interesting, working for an eventer I get to see alot of riders and there horses from other countries as well as the UK. Now at the moment we are trying to find a man in the US a Novice + eventer. He is 6ft+ and about 13stone. We are having to look over 16.2hh and a good mw. We are not even considering pure tbs. We have been looking for a few months so far and found 1 horse, just the one, that he is coming to see.
Do I think he shouldn't compete, no, just as long as he competes on the correct horses.
 
To be fair Kerilli did make it clear exactly what she meant, it's just some chose to go off on a tangent and make out it was large riders in general. When it wasnt.
I quite agree, I don't think someone of 5'6 weighing 20 stone would make a good rider, and shouldnt be competing.
 
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To be fair Kerilli did make it clear exactly what she meant, it's just some chose to go off on a tangent and make out it was large riders in general. When it wasnt.
I quite agree, I don't think someone of 5'6 weighing 20 stone would make a good rider, and shouldnt be competing.

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You can say that now but the title of this post wasnt Do fat top level competition riders make your blood boil was it?????
 
if you read my original post, i definitely said about competing, not just riding. i didn't say it clearly enough, but i was referring to big overweight riders on lightweight horses. read my other posts (although i won't be surprised if you can't be bothered) if you like... i never said "fat people shouldn't be allowed to ride", i swear!
 
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Um, actually I did say that 90% of overweight people are over weight because they eat too much, are greedy, and have no motivation to go on a diet - If you wanted to lose the weight, you could (hence why slimmers world etc are still going - they teach you to eat less and exercise more, you go, and loose weight)

Probably only 10% of overweight people are overweight due to medical reasons.

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FF... that really really isnt true AT ALL... if it was THAT easy to lose weight no one would be fat, over eating can be just as serious condition as under eating, people self sabotage(by stuffing their faces) as they feel they are worthless, as an anorexic starves themselves!

All sorts of head fu*kery goes on in the minds of over weight people so to say they could lose it if they really wanted to isnt stictly true. the same way a dying anorexic still wont eat!

Unless you have ever been seriously over weight, and I mean like 4 stone plus, its difficult to understand how anyone could/would let themselves get that fat but really and truely, its not that simple!
 
umm, those weren't my words. i did say that no-one goes to bed 10 stone and wakes up 20 stone, and i stand by that. sorry if it sounds harsh, and i'll admit i'm no expert, but i resolutely believe that if someone gets enormous, they should think long and hard before riding a horse that isn't up to the weight. i don't think that is an unreasonable thing to say.
 
kerilli... I know those werent your words hence that reply is to FF!!!

I also know your not saying all fat people shouldnt ride ... but that wasnt clear in the first post...... and I know you've tried to make amends, but you have to understand coming form the side of the fence that was being "attacked" it was bound to get peoples backs up!
 
Hence why people should read a whoile thread before they go on the attack
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sorry lexie, i read the FF as short for something else! oops. my vile mind.
unless you're a 4 star eventer who weighs about 15 stone, i swear to god i wasn't attacking you!
if you read the original post, i didn't say "shouldn't ride", i said "shouldn't compete". as i've already said, i didn't intend to offend anyone.
 
My friend and former instructor gave up her riding school to become a full time dressage instructor to a junior international competitor, and travel round the world with her. She herself competed at high level, and was as round as she is tall. Thankfully, she was judged on her riding ability, not her figure.
 
It's not about figure. It's about horse welfare. a 20 stone rider compting a 16.2hh TB is like me doing the shetland grand national on Gingy... I'd break the poor bugger's back!
 
DAMN... im nearly 16 stone actually..... will have to shelve my 4* plans!!

I really need to get some pics of me riding actually, as lots of people dont believe I weigh that much, would be interesting to see what you thought!! LOL
 
Just to keep to the subject of competition riding, particularly jumping, I had an interesting conversation recently with a 50 yr old who said she wouldn't jump anymore due to being overweight. She did some major league SJing in her skinny girlhood but she feels now that as she carries her weight around her middle her tum gets in the way if she tried to fold over jumps(!) and she's just not supple enough. She also felt if she had a fall she would come down very very very hard so at the moment she is a member of the flat earth society, despite riding a stonking great IDx.

My own thought on the subject - the white jodhpur is the single most unforgiving item of clothing a woman can put on her rear end (wiry young males in white jodhpurs on the other hand ...)!
 
This could go on for as long as the Parelli thread!
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Kerilli, you must remember in the "old days" when we had to carry 11st 11 at advanced, and all the reasons why that rule went out the window. Dead weight is not great for horses; you see overweight riders that ride beautifully in balance, and lightweight riders that don't, but there is definitely a point where your size and type of horse must suit not only your weight but the level you ride at.
 
Yes realise that but have done it both ways no diff.And my mistake when I said I hardly ate I meant I just had 2/3 mealtimes a day and don't gorge like people think I do!
But even if body is in starvation mode it will eventually loose weight wether it be muscle or fat.
I have cut out drink,chips fatty foods eat healthily with odd treat and I mean odd,no diff so TBH do give up!!
On the other hand it doesn't go up any further
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I think everyones body has its own unique weight... if you can lose weight easily then your probably to heavy if not then theres no point killing yourself trying!!

Im dieting at the mo, and it is a struggle, i lose maybe one week in 4!!
 
I have just read through this whole thread and I understand exactly what you are saying and agree with you 100%. How much someone weighs is their own business and noone should slate someone for being overweight, unless however they are hindering their horse. You should make it as easy as possible for your horse to carry you, not weigh him down with excess blubber. (Other people have expressed this better than me but I hope what I am trying to say comes across
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I think the point of the post was can you be too overweight to compete when other sports you are expected to be fit/slim. I agree though that it depends on the rider. There was a woman that ran a yard nr Windsor, she was portly, but was flexible enough to do the splints which was more then I could do! It does not make my blood boil, but I do feel sorry when some feel frustrated at not being able to loose it. After all if you are mucking out, bringing horses in & out, etc you would think there were enough calories being burned off. I see a lot of larger ladies eventing & some ride better then others, but the same can be said of everyone. I think it is far more concerning to see people who can not control their hands & are forever jabbing the horse in the mouth.
 
horses aren't made of glass...

a good solid 14.2 cob will carry a 14 st person.....

the way horses have been treated/portrayed, over the last 20 yrs is IMHO, over the top... they are over pampered, kosseted, wrapped up in cotton wool, and treated as if they would melt/break/die/suffer some terrible trauma if they were left un-rugged 24/7/365 anything less is "cruel"....


how things have turned around.....if a cob/horse/pony is up to weigt...then it can carry a good weight.....
 
Kerilli, you must remember in the "old days" when we had to carry 11st 11 at advanced, and all the reasons why that rule went out the window. Dead weight is not great for horses; you see overweight riders that ride beautifully in balance, and lightweight riders that don't, but there is definitely a point where your size and type of horse must suit not only your weight but the level you ride at.

oh nicky, i know... i did 3 days when we still had to weigh in afterwards. never needed to carry lead though...
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i managed to convince myself that i had a very heavy saddle...
 
QR - I went to a show a few years ago - saw a very large woman - attempting to get on a 14hh Cob x (quite streamline build - not carrying alot of meat on it),this woman must have been a good 18-20stone... her friends had to blind fold this poor pony so she could get on as it was having none of it, i actually went and spoke to the Secretary and they banned her from the show ground and contacted the RSPCA. That poor horse was buckling under her weight and IMO was a cruelty case.
 
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btw i do think there is a horse welfare angle to this, it isn't just me being fattist!

[/ QUOTE ] I don't believe you, I think you are being 'fattist'. Just what makes you the expert on this? Your comments are arrogant, patronising and, well .. lets just hope your boiling blood catches you in the arse one day!
 
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