I would just like to say thank you again to Portia for bringing up this subject!! I think that it is very important that subjects like these be an open topic. THe effects of eating disorders are so huge and devistating tht it is so crucial that we discuss these issues, i think. At school we had heath week, and the people who came to talk to us didnt even effect me like everyone else has here, that and we all couldnt tell our stories! Thank you to everyone who contributed!!!
At 5’ even, a few extra pounds makes me look roly poly. So I run. I’ve noticed that 30 min of jogging 3x a week makes a big difference in the way I look. Even though my weight does not really change, I look thinner and tighter through the waist and thighs.
I just looked at the East West pix and thought Cody looked perfectly normal and average weight. She did not look heavy at all. And her body did not seem to hamper her performance or affect the judges in a negative way whatsoever. I guess there are so many female riders who resemble LC that normal weight people look heavy.
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by RZ:
[B]Heels – I looked at your photos, and saw the one you took after Nona went off course. I was there too - let me tell you I was SO upset for Rythmical! One of my favorite horses of all time. They definitely would have won the class, I don’t know what she was thinking, going around the combination that way. I saw her in tears afterward, I felt really bad for her.
One thing’s for sure, it sure proves that “it happens to everyone.” lol[/B]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Oh RZ didn’t is just break your heart! It broke mine, I really like the way Nona rides and Rythmical is a favorite of mine too. From where I was seated I couldn’t really see exactly where she went off course, and I was shocked when it happened. It was such a big class, 71 horses, only those five went clear and then to go off course… I would have wept if I were her too. I’ve often wondered how the riders memorize those courses so well for the jump offs, especially if you happen to be last in the first round and the first in the jump-off. Yikes!
I’m pregnant now, so I’m not allowed to worry about my weight … as long as I don’t gain an enormous amount of weight. I have neither been anorexic, nor bulimic, but I still think I have a minor eating disorder. Basically, I obsess about food. I’m a yo-yo dieter. Sometimes I obsess and lose weight – the low-carb type works best for me, then other times I can’t focus and all the worrying about food only makes me think about it more, then I compulsively eat – oops gotta have those cookies in the lunch line (I’m a public school teacher) even though I promised myself not to eat sugar today. Ug – I can’t stand it.
I promised myself not to worry about it while I’m pregnant … but I don’t want to be a fatty-fatty bobalatty after the baby comes. Am I good about exercising, no, I’ll admit that. When I’m riding though, it keeps me busy, happy, and not worrying about food so much. I can’t afford to ride anymore – so my nervous habits point towards food instead of being burnt off at the barn. I have depression and take medication for it, which sometimes helps me lose weight and not obsess so much on food.
I’m about 5’4", very large boned, so that even 140 looks normal on me … If I could stay that weight I’d be happy but instead I’m up and down and can’t seem to stay in one place. I got down to 121 a couple years ago … my mom said I looked yellow and gross. I think 130 would be a nice skinny, but again, I’d be happy if I could just stay around 140, not over 145.
This whole weight thing is very depressing. I cannot eat three normal meals a day and not gain weight, so it’s always a stress to fall under the average calorie intake.
My poor Vogels have been taken in and let out so many times! I got stuck in them one humid day at Devon … took 45 minutes to get out and they nearly cut off my blood circulation.
Help, anyone?!
I think it is interesting that a thread about “body image” and the lack of relevance of “being thin” to “being a good rider” has tunrned into a thread about-
DIETS!!
Dear JTurner,
First throw away the scale! They lie all the time. It’s the same principle as watching a pot boil, it never does when you’re watching.
When I was in college I learned something most interesting, they had set up a cafeteria for infants. They could eat whatever they wanted whenever they wanted. Lo and behold these babies were able to correct their own deficiencies by choosing what tasted good to them. I also learned something else, that statistics can say anything you want then to say.
The Rye Bread manufacturers say that two slices of rye bread a day will stop some kind of cancer, don’t remember which one. A few years ago they said that red wine was poisonous so every one started drinking white wine. Well, now they say that 2 glasses of red wine are good for you. Peanut oil has good cholesterol that gets rid of bad cholesterol and on and on. Oh! yes they discovered that it is fat that makes your brain work, you need it to transmit all those little messages. So low-fat diets are go for heart and bad for your brain. OH! yes and what the one where they said that mashed potatoes were brain food. If you smoke you won’t get Altzheimer or Parkinsons (maybe because you won’t live long enough but it’s also good for those of us who are paranoid schizophrenics. They will want instead that we take nicotine pills.
The conclusion…there is none, LIVE LOVE and do what feels good. In fact 30 years ago what was then a size 10 is today a size 2. We didn’t change they changed the sizes. I know because I was 5’7" and 98 pounds with a 21 inch waist, I was a size 10. Marilyn Monroe was a 14, they lied when they said she was a size 2, in our day a size 2 didn’t even exist. She wasn’t voluptuous because she was a twiggy. Let me ask you if you are a size 2 and you lose more weight what size are you? a 0, meaning you are a nothing.
In Spain they have passed a law that says no model may be smaller than a size 6. Now, that’s a law I could vote for.
You’ve all bought into the complicated marketing of “image”. It’s just plain silly because you are and should weigh what ever weight at which you feel healthy and vigorous. There are Size 16 women that are magnificent, and there are size 2 women that look like a hanger. If they weighed a little more maybe they wouldn’t plastic boobs.
I don’t know about you, but I know that all the people I love look just great with whatever build their bones and genetics gave them. The world was made for variety, how boring if we all looked the same, were built the same. Can you imagine if every female was a size 2 with platinum blond hair and the same build, how would our husbands know which one was us!
Snowbird has very wisely brought up the crux of the problem! Quick fixes don’t work. They don’t work in diet or exercise. they don’t work in riding or training horses. they don’t work in relationships. They just don’t work!!! Wouldn’t it be fabulous if we could just snap our fingers and do what really takes weeks, or months or years to accomplish? Well maybe not. Because another way to look at it is to do a mind adjustment to enjoy a project or a challenge as it takes time, as it helps us learn something, and as it builds a solid foundation for the future. Too many people focus on the goals, more than “the every day”. Goals are great to have, but they are in the future. The everyday is our reality. “Instant”, not only is not where it’s at, it doesn’t work or last in the long run.
Ummmm, I’ve hesitated to post this, as I’m not quite sure how to make it sound encouraging and not like criticism. Just take my word for it, please, that this is not intended to put anyone down at all.
I’ve never seen Cody Baird in person, but from her success she must be a tremendous young rider. Based on one photo of her in the Chronicle, and I may be wrong about this, it appeared that she maybe still has a bit of baby fat – perfectly fine for a girl her age – and she perhaps doesn’t fit the “image” of big-time hunter and Eq riders that some trainers say is so important. I CERTAINLY do not want to turn this into an “is she fat?” discussion – I would never want to do that to any person, especially a young girl at a critical stage in her development who doesn’t need that kind of pressure. The point is, with all the problems young girls have with body image, anorexia, bulimia, and other eating disorders, I think it is wonderful that someone who isn’t 5’9" and 110 lbs. can win consistently at the highest levels of hunter competition. I hope her success sends a signal to others that it is skill and talent that really matters, and not whether you wear a size 4.
I hope that some of the junior riders see these wonderful post and take notice! It is what you do with what you’ve got that makes you great. If our sense of self worth comes from our appearance, it’s a sure bet you’re going to lose those looks (plastic surgery can only tuck so much) will you lose your sense of self worth, too? As a junior high teacher, I see smart, capable girls, some boys too, who constantly put themselves down and second guess themselves because they aren’t tall and thin and beautiful and handsome and muscular and etc. What a shame to waste so much energy on what we don’t look like instead of loving what we CAN DO!!
I’m 15, 5’4" or thereabout, and around 100 lbs. I don’t count calories. I do eat. I get comments about being anorexic (I ate lunch around 4 instead of noon, but that was because of the meds I was on, which I eventually told my doctor I couldn’t take cause they made my appetite far too off balance) or bulemic, neither of which was the case.
I have friends with eating disorders, some of whom I’ve made get help. There’s been other disorders too, but we won’t get into that. There’s a girl at my school who clearly tries impossibly hard to be perfect, I’ve never seen her eat, and she’s absolutely anal about everything being done perfectly. She’s blonde and incredibly skinny. There’s no reason for her not to eat.
There’s no reason for anyone to feel un-beautiful. I’ve met few truly ugly people. The people that I call ugly have been pretty on the outside, but inside they’re just plain nasty. Isn’t that what counts anyways?
As a junior I definitely struggled with my weight/self-image. My trainer–a very thin adult at 5’7", 108 pounds–had also been an overweight junior whose trainer watched her like a hawk and was rather cruel about it. Luckily for me, her experiences with her trainer and crash diets meant that she stressed fitness over thinness. As a result, although I was never as thin as the other girls, I had a very successful junior career. Ironically, I did much better in the medals than I did in the hunters because I was strong and had good skills–and a horse who didn’t jump all that round in the hunters but could jump a big jump. I didn’t show in eq on the flat though because we both thought I would be penalized there.
Were there instances of prejudice? Yeah, I think there probably were. But I think I won when I deserved to. I do remember one show in particular where I won two medals and was champion Jr. Hunter. The day before the show started I couldn’t pull my boots on and missed my first class. This is not the way you want to start ANY show, not the mention a big A show. Got the boots stretched, pulled myself together, and rode as well as I could. I was rewarded with some really great wins, but felt so awful about myself. My trainer and I ran into the judge in the horse show office after the show ended when he complimented me on my riding and told me he thought I would be almost unbeatable if I lost weight. Talk about emotional roller coaster!
There was another show when I watched a girl who definitely didn’t have a “perfect rider’s body” but rode so well and was lovely to watch. Artie Hawkins obviously thought so to because she won a couple of medals there while he was judging. (I at least made every workoff).
Anyway, I guess my point is that there are judges out there who are more than willing to judge horsemanship over appearance. My thoughts as an adult who has finally started to master the weight thing is that physical fitness is the most important thing for a rider. Run, bike, swim, lift weights–whatever. I ride better now than I did then not because I’m thinner, but because I am so much stronger and have more endurance. Even if you are lucky enough to have multiple horses to ride, I think additional conditioning is important. Just my $.2–sorry it’s so long, guess I have a lot of issues related to this!
Yes, my heart broke for sure! (I was the one with my head in my hands in disbelief)… I think maybe you and I were sitting near eachother – I had a slightly cut off view of that combination as well – if you’re looking out at the field, I was to the right of the bridge, on the grass in the corner area.
Congrats, J Turner.
I bought the book “Low Fat Living” by Robert and Leslie Cooper from Rodale.com. It has a lot of really good pointers on easy way to keep your weight in line without starving yourself.
Janet, it is interesting isn’t it. However, I think that the turn in this particular thread is because of a concern that excess weight has on health, not body-image.
I’m also one of those who struggles with weight problems and right now I’m not succeeding very well. I was a heavy kid, lost all the weight when I hit my early twenties and kept it off until probably the last 5 years. At that time, I had some depression problems, didn’t seek help, and started gaining weight. During the last year and a half, what with not being able to ride and problems with my Mom’s health, I have really packed the weight on.(5’7",afraid to get on the scale, but a good solid size 18) I went on an anti-depressant about 6 months ago and have finally stabilized enough to start to think about what this excess weight is going to eventually do to my health. Fortunately, right now, I’m very healthy, with low blood pressure, low cholesterol, no heart problems, etc. However, I am smart enough to realize that that may not last.
I eventually want to start riding again also. At my current weight, I’m not going to be very effective, besides what I would be doing to my poor horse’s back. The diet started about a week ago. Nothing extreme, just cutting back, I fell off this weekend though, but got back on.(the diet, not a horse). I’m very glad to see all these suggestions for reading material, which I’m going to pick up right away.
The big difference I noticed, however, was that when I was a heavy kid, I obsessed about my weight and looks all the time. Now, as an adult, though I won’t deny that every once in a while I look in the mirror and go Yikes!, I’ve learned enough to know that the people that I value, will value me because of who I am, not what I look like. Thats something I wish everyone could learn much earlier in life than I did.
I gained 25 lbs after marrying - I was a SKELETON!!! My biggest fear was gaining an ounce. Know what? Looking back at my old photos, I’m disgusted that a) I let myself get so emaciated b)worried so much about something that is SO UNIMPORTANT!!! I can’t believe how much better I feel mentally and physically, and how much more energy I have. FOOD IS GOOD!! I only had to go a size up for riding clothes and my customs, with the addition of an elastic gusset, are more comfortable than ever. I’m a little more self conscious about the sitting trot, due to my newly-found “bustage”! (A definite upside to porking out!!) But hey - an 1824 bra and I’m sittin’ with the best of 'em! I guess my point - and I do have one- that health is the important thing. *One thing I am disappointed in is GM’s attitude. Isn’t it hard to believe that someone who promotes riding for the diabled would be so hard on people with an extra pound or two? I say big deal - just get a horse who can do the job. ALso - pats on the back to the Chronicle for publishing that amusing photo of a A/A champion stealing the hat from a trophy presenter. His rider is NOT the ideal body type - and she’s there with the tri-color! So - to hell with the scale! Just be healthy.
Amen Portia. To have a role model like this is truely wonderful. Eating disorders have become so prevelent(or were they always there and just never noticed). It is so important for people to realize that it is what you think, what you do and how you do it that is important, not how close you are to some idiots idea of perfection.
Well I just have to respond to this topic!
I have been riding for almost 15 yrs. and I have always been a little overweight (but I am a healthy weight for my height) - it was hard for me in the beginning, but then I came to a revalation. It really doesn’t matter what size you are, it is how well you get the job done.
I used to do the junior eq and I remember getting penalized, and I would wonder why - because I would have just as good/or even better rounds then the people who won the classes. I now compete in the A/O, and pre-green divisions up here in Canada, and I have not found that there has been any discrimination against me - I even have people asking me to ride their horses (which is the biggest honour!). I am a fit, strong, and skilled rider and I think that is what really matters when it comes to riding!
It is really sad 
to see these girls in the junior/childrens/even the pony divisions so worried about their weight and what they look like - you do not have to be a skinny minnie to be successful in this sport! I wish that this mentality would disappear, so that our riders can develop and be focused on their riding goals - and not whether or not they are a size 6 (or even smaller)!
