Suitably Mounted was launched in July in response to concern about the growing number of equestrians riding horses for which they are deemed to be too heavy.
Has Lizzo taken up pony-trekking or something?
The group, which is made up of vets, scientists and welfare officers, as well as representatives from the British Horse Society, was formed after welfare officers found they were increasingly feeling it necessary to ask overweight riders to dismount during shows.
It hopes to encourage equestrian bodies and riding schools to provide equipment to allow both riders and horses to be weighed, as well as giving staff the confidence to challenge riders who they feel may be unsuitably mounted.
Who uses which set of scales, I wonder!? Still, if it's a cadre of suitably-qualified vets and horsey-types then who am I to poke fu..
Group chair, social scientist Dr Tamzin Furtado, from the University of Liverpool...
Oh.
...said: 'We are finding that mis-matched riders and mounts is becoming an increasing problem.
'This is partly a weight issue, because as a society, we are getting heavier than we've ever been.
'But we are also finding an increasing number of adults riding children's ponies in an attempt to help get their children's mounts 'worked in' and calmer at shows before the children get on.'
I never saw that in a Thelwell cartoon!
'We have found that a lot of equestrian organisations would welcome a rider size/weight welfare standard, but were unsure how to go about it.'
Really? That's strange. Because though I don't remember back as far as my childhood pony-trekking on Dartmoor, I do remember a horseback ride through Yosemite Park in the States about 15 years ago. And they wouldn't book without taking my weight and height.
If the Yanks can do it, why can't we?
Rhetorical question at the end? ☺️
ReplyDeleteNon sequiteur?
ReplyDeleteI had a German Shepherd years ago. As a puppy I (typically - big mistake!) sat him on my knee when we visited the vets (he 'hated' the vets), which proved 'embarrassing' years later when (still terrified) I ended up with a six stone quivering canine in my lap.
As one of the 'few', a male who rode/rides, I still get looked as an an oddity when I admit that in public. The equestrian field in Britain is massively a female dominated area.
I look on in bemusement, and a degree of anger, when women who ... patently still believe they're the tiny waifs they were (and were probably delusional even then) as children, lower their 'bulk' onto some suffering equine.
Point? 'All' of the offending 'riders' are women, and that, right there, is why 'the authorities' daren't speak the truth.
Having ridden everywhere from the Blue Mountains (wearing a fetching "man from Snowy river" ensemble), all across the USA (usually some variant of my "Clint" or "The Duke" outfits) and even Mongolia (don't ask!). The reason such is 'allowed' in the US is .... because men riding is still commonplace there, and as such lard-arses of both sexes try their delusional best to cripple horses and ... they can ban such behaviour by stating 'weight', without having to point out that they're all land-whales (ie. blame the men, when the majority of the guilty are, as here, women).
Yep, the 'difficulty' is yet more of that "male privilege".
[Reason #27,489 "I don't understand women". Why is it that 'every' woman worries (obsesses) about her weight ... 'except' the women who ... have a real weight problem? Who all, apparently believe either they remain sylphs, or demand the world accommodate their tonnage as if they were sylphs?!]
I'm waiting for the usual claims of fatism or whatever label is applied to discrimination based on weight.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the time will come when using horses, donkeys, mules etc as beasts of burden will be banned. I can’t think of any justification for forcing an animal into slavery for the amusement of mankind.
ReplyDelete"Rhetorical question at the end?"
ReplyDeleteAlways... 😁
"Point? 'All' of the offending 'riders' are women, and that, right there, is why 'the authorities' daren't speak the truth."
I suspect you're right, which is why a breakdown by sex will never even be collected, never mind published...
"I'm waiting for the usual claims of fatism or whatever label is applied to discrimination based on weight."
Oh, they won't be long!
"I wonder if the time will come when using horses, donkeys, mules etc as beasts of burden will be banned."
I wouldn't be surprised. I think serial fabulists PETA have already suggested it.