Query RE: Reiners and BMI

[Tamara_in_TN]

[QUOTE=NCRider;5136807]
Until they joined FEI, reining horses weren’t expected to last as competitive mounts much past the age of 4 so please don’t take the fact that there were some fat men competing at WEG as evidence of the fact that being fat doesn’t have a negative impact on your horse’s health. .[/QUOTE]

what ? the longer a reining horse remains “working” the more money he makes the rider/ owner…ruining them makes no one any money and defeats the whole purpose…

do you think Craig’s comments about his 6 yo having a lot more working life in him had to do with some stupid European group “policing” him ? making sure he did not ruin a great horse?? and the horse he won on is 12…I’m sure the FEI had everything to do with him not being on a mexico meat truck years ago…

Tamara in TN

[Plumcreek]

Until recently, the high dollar competitions in reining were for 4 and under horses - futuritues and maturities. Since top horses were not gelded, unless necessary for attitude, or were mares, horses made money past the 4 year mark by breeding and raising foals in a discipline with rising demand. For the very first FEI competitions, great horses retired to stud were un-retired to compete. Now with frozen semen and unlimited embryo transfer standard, top horses are staying in competition.

Commenting on the OP question of rider weight, I have seen this also through the years - a high percentage of the top cowhorse and reining riders were heavy, most seem to be from genetics as they were pretty fit. I realized early on that ‘thunder thighs’ would have been useful in holding oneself in the saddle during rough bouncy green horse stops, and wished I had stronger thunder thighs at one time (same with skiing).
When you think about it, a horse has to get deeper into the ground to counter and balance significant weight on its back during a stop, deeper than it would with a light weight rider. Same with spins, they have to stay really balanced and underneath themselves to counter more rider weight while spinning. Even the fast circles, a horse will take more and shorter strides to balance more rider weight, making it look like the horse is running faster. I believe there is more than coincidence to the heavier reiner riders at the top of the sport.

[frugalannie]

Thank you, Plumcreek. I was thinking there had to be something to it!

[SaturdayNightLive]

I think it’s interesting that they won both team and individual gold (so far our only decent result) and all some if you can say is “But they’re fat!”. I’m not sure if y’all are just projecting your insecurities or what, but whoa. There is nothing embarrassing about team and individual gold. Nothing.

Some of these comments kind of remind me of that scene in Girl, Interrupted when the anorexic girl starts pitching a fit about the other girl having a boyfriend. “But 75 pounds is the perfect weight!!!” :rolleyes:

[KC_and_the_Sunshine]

BEING FAT IS UNHEALTHY. Those men are fat. If you can’t see that, YOU ARE THE ONE WITH THE PROBLEM!

[SaturdayNightLive]

[QUOTE=KC and the Sunshine Band;5137488]
BEING FAT IS UNHEALTHY. Those men are fat. If you can’t see that, YOU ARE THE ONE WITH THE PROBLEM![/QUOTE]

No, being unfit is unhealthy. Regardless of whether or not they are fit (I don’t know any of them personally, so I have no idea), calling the only gold medal team the US has thus produced at this WEG “embarrassing” because they offend your aesthetic sensibilities is a bit over the top.

[Graymaresrule]

@SaturdayNightLive;5137456

I think it’s interesting that they won both team and individual gold (so far our only decent result) and all some if you can say is “But they’re fat!”. I’m not sure if y’all are just projecting your insecurities or what, but whoa. There is nothing embarrassing about team and individual gold. Nothing.

Some of these comments kind of remind me of that scene in Girl, Interrupted when the anorexic girl starts pitching a fit about the other girl having a boyfriend. “But 75 pounds is the perfect weight!!!” :rolleyes:

Yup.

[canyonoak]

I think that low and solid center of gravity–aka Shawn Flarida/McQuay,etc etc-- is probably of great use in the requirements of top reining.

These men are working athletes–same as marathon runners and weightlifters and gymnasts, etc --all of whom develop bodies to cope with the necessities of their sports.

I just wanted to giggle about the ‘heavier load’ from the HORSE’s perspective…am definitely, absolutely, most assuredly, not getting into any discussion whatsoever of any rider’s weight.

[KC_and_the_Sunshine]

Dude. If you can’t see that those two men are seriously over weight with their big beer guts then you must be wearing rose colored glasses. Thems two is FAT. Like it or not, they’re fat, not fit.

[SaturdayNightLive]

[QUOTE=KC and the Sunshine Band;5137539]
Dude. If you can’t see that those two men are seriously over weight with their big beer guts then you must be wearing rose colored glasses. Thems two is FAT. Like it or not, they’re fat, not fit.[/QUOTE]

Do you have a point? What difference does it make if they’re fat or not? It obviously hasn’t made any difference in their abilities as riders.

[KC_and_the_Sunshine]

My point is that not discussing obesity and acting like it’s okay just because so many of you are fat, over weight, plump, round, fluffy WTH you want to call it, IS THE PROBLEM. There are so many health problems associated with being over weight and sitting on a tiny horse being a 6 ft + tall man weighing at least 250 or more pounds is a problem. 2 out of 3 americans are FAT, this is a PROBLEM. Saying it’s not is ridiculous and burying your head in the sand.

I hate it when these threads come up and people all chime in and say “see he won and he’s fat so I don’t need to lose weight.”

Sad. Pitiful. Unhealthy.

[Seal_Harbor]

@KC and the Sunshine Band;5137488

BEING FAT IS UNHEALTHY. Those men are fat. If you can’t see that, YOU ARE THE ONE WITH THE PROBLEM!

Yes. So you screaming about it on a BB is going to change what? Also the comment about the smoking is a little over the top.

So shut up and learn some manners. It is not your business, not your horses, not anything to do with you. Being rude and acting like a fool is also unhealthy, because someone might take offense and punch you. Shrieking about things you can not change and having a fit is also unhealthy - your blood pressure goes up. So just stop.

And for your information there are unhealthy thin people out there as well are you freaking out about them? No? I didn’t think so.

[katarine]

Angry. Hateful. Moody.

Happy now?

[Seal_Harbor]

@KC and the Sunshine Band;5137553

My point is that not discussing obesity and acting like it’s okay just because so many of you are fat, over weight, plump, round, fluffy WTH you want to call it, IS THE PROBLEM. There are so many health problems associated with being over weight and sitting on a tiny horse being a 6 ft + tall man weighing at least 250 or more pounds is a problem. 2 out of 3 americans are FAT, this is a PROBLEM. Saying it’s not is ridiculous and burying your head in the sand.

I hate it when these threads come up and people all chime in and say “see he won and he’s fat so I don’t need to lose weight.”

Sad. Pitiful. Unhealthy.

What I really don’t understand is why you are obsessing about this? You are sounding a bit OCD. So calm yourself, suck your thumb, go rock in the corner or whatever it is you do to walk that fine line between sanity and insanity and LEAVE IT BE!

[SaturdayNightLive]

[QUOTE=KC and the Sunshine Band;5137553]
My point is that not discussing obesity and acting like it’s okay just because so many of you are fat, over weight, plump, round, fluffy WTH you want to call it, IS THE PROBLEM. There are so many health problems associated with being over weight and sitting on a tiny horse being a 6 ft + tall man weighing at least 250 or more pounds is a problem. 2 out of 3 americans are FAT, this is a PROBLEM. Saying it’s not is ridiculous and burying your head in the sand.

I hate it when these threads come up and people all chime in and say “see he won and he’s fat so I don’t need to lose weight.”

Sad. Pitiful. Unhealthy.[/QUOTE]

Obesity is a problem in America, but I fail to see what the connection is to the WEG reining team. Are you suggesting they have their medals taken away because they aren’t as skinny as you would like them to be? This doesn’t strike you as a little crazy?

Maybe they are outside of healthy BMI limits (don’t even get me started on how inaccurate those are…), I still don’t understand why it matters.

[yadayada]

I’m not buying the whole idea that a reining horse performs better with an overweight rider. Does ANY horse really perform better with an unnecessarily heavy load on their backs?
It IS kind of embarassing. I’m glad those guys got a kick out of themselves at that press conference, meanwhile, the europeans are snickering that in america, even our top athletes are fat!
It’s disrespectful to the horse, and disrespectful to the sport.

[katarine]

I am going to give the European reiners a bit more credit than that. I would like to think they are wishing they had those horses and all those years of training reiners under their belts, whether it’s a size 30 or a 42.

[ToN_Farm]

[QUOTE=Seal Harbor;5137566]
What I really don’t understand is why you are obsessing about this? You are sounding a bit OCD. So calm yourself, suck your thumb, go rock in the corner or whatever it is you do to walk that fine line between sanity and insanity and LEAVE IT BE![/QUOTE]
Maybe the same reason the anti-RK crowd obsesses about RK. Some people think some riders are too heavy for their horses.

[Seal_Harbor]

@ToN Farm;5137628

Maybe the same reason the anti-RK crowd obsesses about RK. Some people think some riders are too heavy for their horses.

And they can think that, it is their right to think that, however carrying on on a BB and going on and on about it isn’t going to CHANGE those guys weight.

How many posts did old KC have about these guys weight? Then added smoking to it, what the fu…?

Is old KC going to phone them all and tell them they are too fat? Mentioning it once, fine, ranting on and on about it, not so fine.

[mypaintwattie]

They are simply great riders on great horses, and even though they may be a little “large” for some who cares? They won the gold, which is what they set out to do.