Flipping channels last night I came across a segment on cutting horses. The person being discussed was a HUGELY obese woman sitting there on a smallish quarter horse type. The poor horse kept shifting his weight and really looked uncomfortable. Evidently this woman is a big champion of some sort in the cutting horse world. She was discussing all of her wins, and how she “breaks” her 3 year old horses. It literally made me sick to watch so I turned it off. What the heck, RFDTV??? REALLY bad representation of the sport. Just my two cents. Rant over.
Nice attitude there springer. Hope you don’t fall short in any way!
[QUOTE=cutter99;7511143]
Nice attitude there springer. Hope you don’t fall short in any way![/QUOTE]
Glad you said what I was thinking.
Not sure the point of the OP post, but I am excited that there is another show for me to watch on RFDTV besides Inside Reining and Chris Cox.
[QUOTE=Raleigh’s Mom;7511605]
Not sure the point of the OP post, but I am excited that there is another show for me to watch on RFDTV besides Inside Reining and Chris Cox.[/QUOTE]
So I’m assuming (from the above snarky comments) that it is completely acceptable to you folks in the cutting horse world to see a 300+ # woman + western tack on a 1000# quarter horse? Sorry, in this case I don’t believe in being politically correct. Carry on…
[QUOTE=cutter99;7511143]
Nice attitude there springer. Hope you don’t fall short in any way![/QUOTE]
I fall short in alot of ways Cutter99. But cruelty to animals isn’t one of them.
springer; I have not seen the woman in question, however I do know that the attitude in the U.S. toward truly obese people riding horses always seems to come down on the side of the persons “right” to ride and not the horses best interest.
Our attitude toward this phenomenon is often remarked upon by our counterparts in the UK.
People should use common sense to know when their weight is a problem for the horse. As I said, I have not seen this person or the horse she was riding so can not venture an opinion.
Lesson barns, “dude ranches”, and riding tours all have weight restrictions for riders. Nothing can be done when private people choose to ride their own horses when they (the people) are truly obese.
[QUOTE=springer;7511850]
So I’m assuming (from the above snarky comments) that it is completely acceptable to you folks in the cutting horse world to see a 300+ # woman + western tack on a 1000# quarter horse? Sorry, in this case I don’t believe in being politically correct. Carry on…[/QUOTE]
Maybe, then, you rant ought to be directed toward cutting horse world and not RFTV. They only film someone already made a champion by someone else. Your beef would be with them.
I would like to know who the party in question is.
The show is Weekend Cutter. I did see the woman in question, and as a plus size rider, I cringed a bit. The horse was a small 3 year old and was clearly struggling a bit carrying the weight. Hopefully the woman’s other horses are larger.
There’s a difference between attempting to educate folks and indignant pearl clutching. We don’t get a lot of the latter in this subforum (unlike others), and it’s nice.
Education implies linking to sources of information on why too much weight is bad (one opinion: http://esiforum.mywowbb.com/view_topic.php?id=557&forum_id=1&highlight=Plus+sized).
Pearl clutching just says “I may not be able to ride my way out of a paper bag, but at least I don’t (insert horrible thing OTHER people do here)”.
[QUOTE=qhwpmare;7512196]
The show is Weekend Cutter. I did see the woman in question, and as a plus size rider, I cringed a bit. The horse was a small 3 year old and was clearly struggling a bit carrying the weight. Hopefully the woman’s other horses are larger.[/QUOTE]
I looked on RFD and Weekend Cutter and there were no links to the most recent show.
So you weighed the horse and weighed the rider springer?
Maybe those who are not the perfect weight should sit at home and not even try. If she has world champions in any event, she must be a rider of at least a certain caliber.
Do you know her personally? Do you know if maybe she is struggling with a life threatening illness or has suffered from an eating disorder in the past?
Your comments were cruel and unnecessary. Not all humans fit into your perfect little box.
[QUOTE=qhwpmare;7512196]
The show is Weekend Cutter. I did see the woman in question, and as a plus size rider, I cringed a bit. The horse was a small 3 year old and was clearly struggling a bit carrying the weight. Hopefully the woman’s other horses are larger.[/QUOTE]
It’s reassuring to know I’m not the only one who noticed. I really am tempted to write in to the channel. I am always looking out for the welfare of animals cutter99… so I am not really concerned with whether the woman has an excuse of any kind for being heavy.
There are much more obvious abuses going on out there springer. Go make a donation to your local large animal rescue.
If this is the biggest concern you see you lead a very sheltered life. I can guarantee you if this woman is on a world champion level her horses are getting excellent care. They have to in order to perform at that level.
I just hope she doesn’t read this, that’s a good way to make a person want to feel crappy about themselves. Especially when she just won a significant class.
I don’t have TV so I obviously didn’t see the show in question so I can’t comment on the size on the lady or the horse.
But I am going to make an assumption at the risk of being wrong, Springer are you used to seeing riders on big warmbloods?
I have noticed that most western riders are not all that worried if they look awkward on a shorter horse as some people are in other disciplines.
You look at some of the winning trainers in the western performance world and quite a few of them are bigger guys and the horses are packing them just fine.
I have some small horses, my shortest being about 13.2H, my best horse is only 14.2H and less than 1000# I rope full grown cows that out weigh him. How I handle my horse and rope make that possible.
It’s not always about the size of the rider but how ‘light’ the rider is on the horse if that makes sense.
Your right on the mark Springer, future for that pony is bleak to say the least, joints, back etc are sure to suffer.
[QUOTE=poniesinthenight;7535993]
Your right on the mark Springer, future for that pony is bleak to say the least, joints, back etc are sure to suffer.[/QUOTE]
It will show up in the horse early on unfortunately. I took my tiny little 14 hand Arab mare to my neighbor trainer and he’s not super overweight but a big TALL guy. His legs could wrap around her. I felt uncomfortable with it. He worked her a bit and she seemed to handle him ok but I don’t think I’d have wanted him to put days and days and days on her. He’s a wonderful trainer but she was just too small for him.
