Weight limits

[I'm Dun]

My husband is a fan of Judge Judy so sometimes I sit in front of her whilst having a cuppa. She often tells people - eat less exercise more. Good advice.

You really think its that easy?? Its this sort of attiude that makes people ashamed of what they weigh. I stopped riding when I got too heavy and started driving. I tried and tried and tried to lose weight for about 5yrs before that. Ironically I did then manage to lose 5 stone and keep 4stone of it off. Do you know what it took, 800calories maximum a day for 4 months, plus being active for 8 to 10 hours a day. I managed it in lockdown as I had 24/7 to dedicate to it. I dont think I could do that again with a job and a family etc, it took far too much out of me.

I need to lose another 2 stone now really, I dont ride and I was and still am within the 15 percentage limit of any horse Id want to ride anyway, but that was the weight I was at for years, pre the accident that caused the weight gain. I'm just gearing myself up mentally to do it. Its incredibly hard and I've had so much stress and unpleasantness the last couple of years I've put it on hold. Im not as fat now, so it will be another 4 months of 800 calories a day, walking 10 miles a day, and keeping myself on my feet and moving the rest of the time. I'm exhausted and hungry just thinking about it.

Yes there are fat people who dont care, but they are the minority. Youd be hard pressed to find a fat person who hasnt tried and failed multiple times to lose weight. If it was just eat a bit less and move a bit more we wouldnt have fat people, becuase for the vast majority of people being fat makes them unhappy.

And no they shouldnt ride horses if they are too heavy. I very much wish Id given up sooner. But attitudes like this are ludicrous and really do not help anyone.

 

[khalswitz]

So I would be too heavy by your limits - and I personally would have seen the weight limit and gone ‘yeah K you need to lose weight’ rather than blamed you for looking out for the welfare of your horses. That person is entitled and selfish.

Personally, I’m both reasonably tall (176cm) and heavy (98kg so just under 15.5st) - I am absolutely overweight but even in my heathy BMI would be more than the limit for many RS (many have lower limits than yours!).

I lost a stone before looking for my current horse (the one in my profile pic!), and the horse I have is a ~650kg ¾ ID, whom every equine professional that has met her has called ‘a very big girl’ - and not for her height (she’s 16.3hh), for her bone. She’s the same height and length as my last horse, a TB, but none of his boots and very few of his rugs fit her!

And even then, I hit 15% on her without tack, so we don’t jump and don’t do fast work whilst I’m working on losing more weight, and she only gets ridden maybe 3 times a week (anything more is long reining, good for us both!). I still feel a little guilty, but she used to be a riding school horse so her workload is most likely less with me.

I wouldn’t want someone my weight who was a beginner bouncing about on her for hours a day - I would expect when she was a riding school horse her weight limit was less than mine. Maybe that’s hypocritical, I don’t know.

Obesity is a huge problem. I know it’s not good for me - I do other sports and my joints are definitely getting bombarded, and that’s before risk factors for heart disease and other issues. People are very sensitive about obesity, but that doesn’t mean we push the problem onto our horses, who will carry on doing whatever we ask them…

Edit: Having just seen I’m Dun’s post, I agree. I also gained the weight after an accident (horse fall, ironically), and have struggled to lose it despite being active (I’m a rugby referee so do a lot of running, plus I cycle on top of horsey things) because if I don’t fuel my exercise I don’t perform well and am generally exhausted, nauseous and miserable.

 

[Goldie's mum]

It's not about whether you are over weight, or whether you find it easy or hard to lose weight, it's about knowing you don't fit the requirements for a business but turning up anyway and trying to bully your way into the activity. The person who told @Hamlet they had already been turned down twice amazes me!