Ooh I’m in a funk today… It’s my own fault. I follow the comings and goings of a couple of forums -they are great places to get support and a wealth of knowledge all in one place- however I am a bit of a wimp though and try to avoid any of the confrontational threads. Most obviously the how much weight can a horse carry?

But yesterday I saw another one had been started up on one of the forums, and nearly 20pages later the same ole same ole was still going around in circles. People were mentioning weights between 12st and 16st. If I’m totally honest now I would say if I weighed anything between 16 and 18st. Then I wouldn’t even be looking at weight limits of horses. I’d be out riding.

Obviously I had some negative feedback, I wasn’t really expecting anything different, what I did want to achieve though is that if there are other overweight people wanting to ride. They could know they aren’t alone. And horse riding isn’t just for the 16st and under.

One day I will be one of those riders Unfortunately I’m not, I was over 25st and currently I’m around the 22st mark- now I want to ride, but firstly I want to know I’m not damaging or hurting my horse- what I have come to realise over the last few years is people don’t know how much weight a horse can carry, and when they give their opinion on overweight riders, it is literally their personal opinion.

Ok someone with a PhD in bio-mechanics might be able to say well if you do x, y or z you will cause problems… But equally an unfit m doing y on an unsound z. Will cause problems. no different to backing a yearling ready to race before it’s even truly 2years old, will that horse have a sounder longer life than mine? We don’t know.
If you want to see what I wrote click here…

If those that did comment negatively, think that I myself haven’t scrutinised my videos right down to the last second are mistaken. I have gone over and over them looking for any real sign of discomfort. But to be honest I think there comments are biased and mostly sizest.

I haven’t replied since and I’m unsure whether to or not. Because seriously deep down I know what they are saying is partly true and the other part is complete BS. The last thing I want to do though is get into a row with people, it’s not my style, I’m also not an advocate of overweight riders riding any ole horse any ole how.

What I am hoping is that the more concentious one’s of us, the ones that have held back for fear of hurting their horses (definitely not ridicule). Will step up and start making steps to live their dream.