Eating Disorders and Equestrians?

[hillhavenmercedes]

Hi!

I am doing a project for my college psychology class and I was hoping some of you would be willing to help me out with having positive discussion!

My project is on the prevalence of eating’s disorders and body shaming/discrimination in the equestrian world.

The purpose of this project is to raise awareness for the topic. If you have had an experience within the equestrian community (either in an interaction with other riders, your trainer, people online etc.) that caused you to feel insecure or just generally upset about your body image and you feel comfortable sharing it I would greatly appreciate it! The stories shared will be used (completely anonymously!) as an online poster campaign/video to raise awareness about body shamming and its affects in our sport (which I will gladly share with you guys once it has been finished)!

If you have any questions please feel free to ask!

Thank you so much for taking the time to help me with this project!!

[Bristol_Bay]

There are several threads/train wrecks in the hunter jumper forum on “the Eq diet,” a euphemism for anorexia.

See related threads below.

[flyracing]

I don’t think dressage creates the same pressures as H/J (particularly Eq). I know for me, the only time I worried about it was showing ihsa in college. Suddenly winning comes down to how you look on the horse. In dressage, the only time I’ve even heard anything is when there is a high performance rider with big goals that is particularly heavy, and then you hear some comments about it keeping them from riding to their potential.

[FEIwannabe]

I’m a “fluffy” dressage rider. My biggest problem is trying to find breeches. The vendors do not cater to riders that are above a size 12 or that is not built like a little boy.
Not an earth shattering problem, but annoying as hell.

[GraceLikeRain]

I really have never seen body shaming in Dressage. I wouldn’t be shocked if people had experienced it but I’ve never heard of anyone in my circles having a negative experience.

[aaka208]

The body shaming in dressage that I’m familiar with is different than in h/j land. It comes more from a position of concern trolling. I think we’re all familiar with the threads that turn into shit-slinging between people who (regardless of who is actually right or wrong on this issue) think a very unbalanced but light rider is kinder to a horse than an overweight but nicely balanced rider, and vice versa.

[RodeoFTW]

I just think it looks pretty ridiculous when you see 5’2 women who may only weight 120lbs TOPS pitched up way on top of these 17hh+ warmblood horses. It just looks weird. What if they just floated up into space? Who’s going to save them?

[exploding_pony]

OK I am 5’2", weigh 115 and am not particularly thin so the comment above cracks me up. 120 lbs at 5’2" is by no means heavy, but it isn’t particularly thin either.

I am very conscious of my weight and my fitness level. I treat my riding as a sport, so being overweight is going to interfere with my effectiveness. I don’t think dressage riders are really into body shaming, but I do think most serious riders are also I some sort of a fitness program.

[Dutchmare433]

Having ridden with, and been a working student for an FEI dressage rider, believe me, body shaming is alive and well in the dressage world too.

The trainer most certainly have some sort of eating disorder–most often she just wouldn’t eat. One day she nearly passed out on top of a horse, managed to get off before fully passing out. We carried her inside, her temp was 95, BP was in the 70/30 range, and pulse was maybe 35 and only detectable at the carotid. She hadn’t eaten in several days. No one seemed to think it was a big deal, she didn’t even see a doctor or get fluids.

The other working students also could be vicious…and I was the “biggest” so took the brunt of all of it, which was absolutely ridiculous because I was maybe a size 6 at the time–the girl that gave me hell about it was a size 4. The only one who never said a thing about anyone’s weight was the girl who was teeny tiny–maybe a size 0, but genetically disposed to be this way. She ate thousands of extra calories a day without being able to gain weight.

[Inclined]

Not body shaming, per se, but my former trainer used to give me a hard time because I was thinner than she was. Comments about how tiny I was, etc… It’s all in one’s perspective, because my weight is quite average for my height. She was a taller, larger boned woman who wanted to lose weight, but loved to cook, so she took out her discouragement on me on occasion.

[EFASporthorses]

I’ve just read some of the posts on the related threads listed below. I am absolutely shocked that this goes on, it’s so sad!! i would only have any weight related concerns about other riders if their weight was a detriment to their mount’s well being. Otherwise why does it matter? To think trainers put pressure on their clients to lose weight, well that’s just awful!

[Velvet]

We all know that it’s better for the horse, and for your riding, if you aren’t overweight. It’s just easier all around. But overweight for each person is different. So is under weight. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen shaming, but I do know that there is some internal judging people do of each other. And yet, we do it for ALL aspects of riding. Weight would be one, very tiny part. If you’re overweight and you can get your horse to do things well, it’s not really an issue, it’s more of the comment that it would look BETTER if the rider were at their fighting weight. If they are awful, the extra weight makes it look even worse, so it’s a part of the “wow, that rider needs lessons NOW” attitude. Or, “Someone rescue that horse from that rider.” Then again, a thin rider bouncing up and down and slamming the horse in the back would get drive many to the exact same thoughts. Not so sure we are shaming people. I think, though, that it’s a sport and you need to be FIT and be at a fair weight for your horse. We are asking them to be athletes, the least we can do is be one ourselves! Just being unfit bugs me. It bugs me more than weight. But my own weight is something that I don’t monitor very closely. If I’m fit, my weight goes down and levels off in a decent range. The size of my clothes varies more by muscle than by weight.

[Velvet]

BTW, do you ever see top swimmers and runners that are overweight? Nope. A top rider, who is doing GP should also not be seriously overweight. It’s a sport, after all.

[amm2cd]

[QUOTE=RodeoFTW;8640946]
I just think it looks pretty ridiculous when you see 5’2 women who may only weight 120lbs TOPS pitched up way on top of these 17hh+ warmblood horses. It just looks weird. What if they just floated up into space? Who’s going to save them?[/QUOTE]

Well, I know for me, I ride and perform better when I don’t have any extra fluff. The jiggle in the middle (or up top… those $$$ sports bras are worth every peny) is incredibly distracting to me, to viewers and to my horses.
Fact is I ride a whole lot better at 5’2" and a very healthy 125 than I do with an extra 20-30 pounds. My less tactful horses give me notice when I’m wearing a weak bra or overindulge on cotton candy and pretzles.

That being said, I am also much better when I am strong, and crash dieting does not leave a person strong.

I have never hear a trainer tell a student “get thin” i have heard “you need to improve your fitness/stamina/ buy a saddle that fits the rider too”. How a person takes that is up to the individual.

Crash dieting/anorexia/bulimia to get the ‘look’ is much like using draw reins to teach your horse connection… you might get the look, but you won’t get the power.

[Cowgirl]

[QUOTE=Velvet;8641606]
BTW, do you ever see top swimmers and runners that are overweight? Nope. A top rider, who is doing GP should also not be seriously overweight. It’s a sport, after all.[/QUOTE]

Well…not exactly. Dressage is a sport you can be competitive in all of your life, that includes your post menopausal, easy to gain weight life, gather fat around the middle life. So you cannot exactly compare competitive swimmers and runners to competitive dressage. If I go into a Walmart any day of the week and compare myself to other women my age, I am a WAIF! But if I compare myself to other dressage riders, my menopause weight is a detriment…and it is a detriment in the show ring as well even though I am appropriately mounted. A rider who has no extra body movement because they are underweight (and yes, many are underweight) will simply look quieter and tend to garner a higher rider mark, all other things being equal. There IS fat shaming in dressage, but it is way more subtle…it comes in the form of lower scores and lesser opportunities. I know plenty of beginners who go to a trainer, NOT because they are effective and have trained multiple horses to grand prix, but because they are gorgeous and slim and look pretty on a horse. I call that the sorority effect.

If you are blessed with the correct body type and weight (understanding that the monkey suit puts on an automatic 20 pounds–have you seen Laura Graves on the ground?), you will gain the points for “elegance, lightness, haromony” because you don’t jiggle at all. This subjective element of the sport is similar to other subjective sports and has the same issues.

[right_horse_at_the_right_time]

[QUOTE=Cowgirl;8642012]
Well…not exactly. Dressage is a sport you can be competitive in all of your life, that includes your post menopausal, easy to gain weight life, gather fat around the middle life. So you cannot exactly compare competitive swimmers and runners to competitive dressage. If I go into a Walmart any day of the week and compare myself to other women my age, I am a WAIF! But if I compare myself to other dressage riders, my menopause weight is a detriment…and it is a detriment in the show ring as well even though I am appropriately mounted. A rider who has no extra body movement because they are underweight (and yes, many are underweight) will simply look quieter and tend to garner a higher rider mark, all other things being equal. There IS fat shaming in dressage, but it is way more subtle…it comes in the form of lower scores and lesser opportunities. I know plenty of beginners who go to a trainer, NOT because they are effective and have trained multiple horses to grand prix, but because they are gorgeous and slim and look pretty on a horse. I call that the sorority effect.

If you are blessed with the correct body type and weight (understanding that the monkey suit puts on an automatic 20 pounds–have you seen Laura Graves on the ground?), you will gain the points for “elegance, lightness, haromony” because you don’t jiggle at all. This subjective element of the sport is similar to other subjective sports and has the same issues.[/QUOTE]

Hardly.

Here we go again.

No extra body movement because they are underweight? No, how about they are in shape.

Extra points? Hardly. Until I learned to sit quietly and using my core, my rider points were 5.5. No jiggle. Still 5.5!

If you know plenty of beginners who go to trainers because they are slim and look pretty on a horse, maybe they are in shape and maybe they are better riders. But no, let’s trash them (and insult women who chose to be in a sorority too?).

Yep, I’ve seen Laura Graves on the ground, along with many others, and they are in shape.

Sour grapes.

GAWD. Just stop. I thought we were past this. Well, most of us are, anyway.

OP - THIS is the better story. Trashing slim people. And it’s “ok,” because thin people are to be hated. Clearly we have eating disorders and aren’t good riders, just get points for being sorority girls.

[Danier]

I would say I have seen plenty of body shaming in my ridi g experience, hunter and dressage. I have seen a lot of disordered eating, but not that many full blown clinical eating disorders.
I myself have struggled with disordered eating almost my whole life, and have been treated for my eating disorder several times, I am currently suffering a relapse.
It wasn’t until after I lost a significant amount of weight that people at the barn said things about my weight. Comments about how much better I looked, that I must be able to ride better now, my horse musts appreciate it etc.(I was moderately overweight before, but was in decent fitness)
However my eating disorder is not directly related to riding, fat shaming and pressures to lose weight are rampant everywhere, and when you have a bunch of females together in an already competitive atmosphere it’s bound to crop up.
I can tell you though that in my years in group treatment programs that eating disorders are very common among nurses and teachers.

[Bristol_Bay]

@Cowgirl;8642012

A rider who has no extra body movement because they are underweight (and yes, many are underweight) will simply look quieter and tend to garner a higher rider mark, all other things being equal. There IS fat shaming in dressage, but it is way more subtle…it comes in the form of lower scores and lesser opportunities. I know plenty of beginners who go to a trainer, NOT because they are effective and have trained multiple horses to grand prix, but because they are gorgeous and slim and look pretty on a horse. I call that the sorority effect.

There is just so much wrong in this paragraph.

Where’s your proof of the effect of rider weight on scores?

Beginners–you know, people who want to learn how to ride–go to trainer, not to have someone teach them how to ride, but because they think they look pretty on a horse?

[Cowgirl]

[QUOTE=Bristol Bay;8642191]
There is just so much wrong in this paragraph.

Where’s your proof of the effect of rider weight on scores?

Beginners–you know, people who want to learn how to ride–go to trainer, not to have someone teach them how to ride, but because they think they look pretty on a horse?[/QUOTE]

You may not want to cop to this, but it is true. All you have to do is watch lots of rides and see rider scores. Someone can have an exceedingly strong core and solid seat, but if that person is not wearing a body shaper, they will get a lower score because of the impression they make.

I have no sour grapes. Really? That’s what you come back with? The fact is that some of the score is the picture or impression being made. That is why there is some eating disorder stuff going on in dressage (or in life in general). To say it is not is really denial.

BTW, this is true for men as well as women in this sport.

[yourcolorfuladdictio]

I want to add that a particular former US Olympian in eventing used to tell her students “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.” And used to lose her temper when she caught her students eating. Pretty messed up.