Not with that bristly brushcut 
Sh!t he may be, but he’s never promoted anorexia. All he’s ever said is that hunters are placed according to the overall package they present. Long and slender will always beat out short and slender or long and heavy or short and heavy.
That’s the man’s bias. Heidi, ole Georgie is the one who’s old school!
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>I haven’t noticed it a bit, certianly not around my delectable feasts!
Saturday, CDCTA schooling show menu: <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
ETBW, You should have seen the swarm when I announced: “The volunteers have finished their lunch. Competitors are welcome to the leftovers.”
Fairweather…there is a condition that causes you to regurgitate your food…like alot of food…I know someone who has it, and there is an operation to fix it but apparantly it is very risky. My dad is a doctor he was telling me about it. Have you seen a specialist? I know that it is very unpleasant and awkward for the person I know who suffers from it.
I’m a readaholic so I read EVERYTHING… including Jane. I’d categorize it as the most schizophrenic of women’s magazines… it has a flashy editor with “edge” who nonetheless works for a major publisher and accepts ads promoting the inescapable, impossibly thin image they decry in many of their articles. However they DO try to put in as many empowering articles as they can without offending the advertisers… and they don’t mind offending/titillating the readers at all. Some of the headlines they put on the letters to the editors are laugh out loud funny and more sarcastic than any British head groom. However, don’t leave it lying around where your 12 year old will get to it… they’ll get more of an education than you may like them to have!
My breeches are definitely 26s and I’m definitely 5’7"+ and around 140 lbs. give or take. I’ve got moderately wide shoulders, long-ish legs, definite hips. Most of my dresses, skirts and slacks are 8s or 10s, depending upon cut. Or maybe it’s brand: Most of my breeches are either On-Course or Harry Halls. I do know that Harry Halls, in particular, s-t-r-e-t-c-h a lot! G
They finally got the new issue of Jane into the book store today and I got a chance to buy it and read the article, and, only IMHO, it’s not nearly so bad as it sounded like from here.
I certainly don’t like the cover blurb – that’s really terrible and unjustified. But the article itself points out the existence of a real problem, and does so in what I thought was a sincere way. (I’m guessing the author of the article wasn’t responsible for the cover blurb.)
It seems clear to me that the article comes from someone who is either a member of the COTH boards or who was directed to the weight threads as a lurker. A few of our members are identified and quoted by name in the article. And anyone who read “The Weight Issue” threads here can recognize other people who are quoted by psudonyms as our own members whom we have supported and who we praised for coming forward with their experiences so that our other members can learn from them and be aware of the problem and the solutions.
The author even got comments from the person – to remain nameless but who was mentioned several times on the weight threads – who is the poster child for eating disorders in the H/J world. And it makes GM – whose attitudes were also prominently discussed on the weight threads – look like the jerk he is when it comes to judging womens’ appearances. (He, of all people, denies knowing that any of his students were ever anorexic or buliemic!)
The article quotes Alan Balch as follows: “‘Maybe we need to have our equitation committee take up this question a little more formally,’ he says, sounding sincere. ‘If these are things that are out there, maybe we should have some official campaigns.’” From what I’ve seen of Alan Balch and the new direction of USA Eq over the last several months, I’ll bet money that he is sincere and will ask the committee to follow up. So maybe the article will do some practical good in that respect.
To me, the article really doesn’t say anything more than make public in the general media what we were all discussing here and agreeing on a year ago – that the weight issue is a real problem and too many people are ignoring it. Yes, the article publicly exposes a problem in the horse world – but it is a problem that needs exposure.
JMHO, of course.
Whoo! COTH BB is mentioned…
Swift’s Injuries: 4 Major, 21 Minor, 9 XRays. Injuries to rider: 6.
BUT! In fact at my lowly and inconsequential C-Show it was brought to my attention that an exhibitor (in Beginner rider, no less) received the impression from a judge that she was too heavy.
Well, she isn’t slim but definitely not obese a chunky teen-ager who will probably slim out later but with a short leg. I thought I had properly advised her and her mother not to take the comment seriously since the judge was also not very skinny, and in fact varying from the long legged skinny image was not a reason to penalize a rider.
I was horrified, they did not come to me this time because I learned that this girl had been compelled by her mother to lose a pound a day from that show to this. Imagine losing 21 pounds in 21 days, and, her ribbons didn’t improve. The mother’s reaction was well we’ll go home and lose some more weight.
This is an issue for us and it is a travesty of logic. I may be able to understand that George Morris would believe that looking like a little boy was better, I might be able to understand that he believes that girls are out of balance because they have breasts. But, then what about boys who cannot totally comply with the forward seat for anatomical reasons.
Have we become so shallow and so vain that horsemanship is dependent on an image? I was always proud to brag that this sport was the rare exception that did not care what a rider looked like but whether or not the job got done.
I think this may have changed while we were not looking. I don’t know if my quotes were included because I am sure they were quite banal for their sensational approach. I would like to know if anyone has the issue. They did not extend me the courtesy of a copy.
But, please do not look the other way, do not think this is not affecting our children…it is serious. We can attack an unsophisticated mother or call her various names but that does not change the fact that in order to help her daughter accomplish a goal she believed it was an important factor.
We need to address this problem and make sure that judges are taught this is not a criteria for any judgment. I am sure it slides into place under the cover of general appearance. But, unless we are going to have equitation classes that are beauty pagents for the riders instead of measure of the riders skills we had better define the criteria. To me, general appearance referred to things like clean tack, groomed horses and polished boots. If these are to be beauty pagents then guys, I’m outta here.
I have spent my life teaching both girls and boys that it’s not how you look but what you can do that matters to the world.
I couldn’t find that article listed on the website 
oh well, now I have a peaked interest. I guess I may have to splurge on a jane tomorrow at the grocery. I must be a real cosmo girl because I always thought jane was along the lines of Teen, but from reading the cover thingy I guess not.
A quote from Snowbird:
“There is a place for the beauty pagent and its not in the horse show ring.”
Oh, how much I agree with that statement, Snowbird! I just wish that people would realize/remember that when watching and/or judging at a horse show. However, I hardly doubt that will happen…
Thanks, Robby, for your kind words! Once again, you’ve made my day!
Just out of curiosity, how many young girls still ride with the George, and how are people like Missy Clark about weight?
Ride it Like You Stole It…
Might keep me from eating for at least a little while 
Another Georgie-Porgie Gem:
"But he doesn’t think this (judging down not-so-skinny people) leads to many eating disorders. “That’s called going to extremes,” he says. “…I don’t know it. I don’t think I created it.”
As an aside, I just finished typing out the article if anyone wants me to email them “copious quotes” from it - just drop me an email if you do.
Swift’s Injuries: 4 Major, 21 Minor, 9 XRays. Injuries to rider: 6.
Try having my MOTHER! I agree that I have put on a couple of pounds…but everyday I hear “You have put on some weight there girlie” or " You are starting to look just like you did after you had Matthew" or “Are you eating again?”
I guess it’s good in one respect, but ugggh, I get sick of it sometimes. I’ll go on binge diets. The kind where I eat nothing but rice and drink water. It knocks off about 15 lbs the first month, and about 10 the next month. I don’t know about the 3rd, cause I can’t stay away from FOOD that long, lol. Eat sensibly…Hmph.
Should we all have to eat “MUSH” (or “gruel” as Suz and I call it) like GM? We actually saw him eating what appeared to be Beat Pulp at a clinic a few years back. 
NOT I SAID THE FLY!
Anyway…with magazines like this one it’s no wonder girls are sick, malnourished, bulemic, annorexic, etc. I don’t care if GM would pin me lower than he would the stick figure riding against me. That stick figure couldn’t ride some of the horses I could either. How do they make it through a normal horse show day without keeling over? I’m sorry if I offend some of the “smaller” people here…but get off the weight issue would ya! It’s hard enough being an average weight with all the teeny tiny girls around these days. I’m 5’8 and not ashamed to say that I currently weigh about 145 lbs. Hell, I’ve had a kid. OK OK OK…I’ll stop now. I could go on for years…but it won’t do any good. Sorry for the long vent. This IS a touchy subject for some of us! Natalie 
You’re only as good as the judge thinks you are…
Getting mind off terror…
Fairweather-
See a homeopath, or naturopath about your acid reflux…certain herbs and lifestyle changes can help. I cured my problem by:
Ride it Like You Stole It…
The customer service person taking my call asked if there was a reason, and I told her (politely) that I felt the article misrepresents the majority of [female] riders.
Lise
those things, and not in a humorous manner. He has ALWAYS believed that riders should be thin, both for appearance sake and so that they get full advantage of getting their leg around the horse, something that heavy calves and thighs doesn’t allow for, and especially for short legged riders. He also feels full-busted women ARE unbalanced and thinner riders tend to not have this problem. True, Melanie and Katie weren’t the most svelte of riders, but George wasn’t happy about it either. Their talent was just too awesome for him to worry about it too much.
That said, he has never, to my knowledge, encouraged poor or dangerous eating habits. Just less intake and more exercise.
Laurie
I am 5’9"; 145 pounds, and I can wear size 26 TS’s…and I have HUGE hind quarters LOL!
This past spring at Lexington, I got a stain on a pair of my breeches (that were 30’s) and I borrowed VTRikki’s size 26’s LOL! (VTRikki is 5’3" and maybe 100#'s soaking wet.) This is my proudest accomplishment of my life to date LOLOL! I beleive her breeches were 10-way stetch LOL!
Most of my clothes are 6’s or 7’s - though at Old Navy/Tommy Hilfiger I can wear a 4 (bless those nice clothes designers at Old Navy and TH). In Junior’s sizes, I wear a 9 in pants on account of the butt. Like I said early, if I sawed off my ass, I’d probably lose 50#'s 
I guess my issue with the article was that it implies that ALL horsey teenage girls were in this habit and failed to point out why.
Eating disorders have nothing to do with the sport you play or the hobby you participate in, they are a psychilogical issue manifested in food.
Riding horses makes you no more suseptible than any other sport and probably less likly than some.
Many sports encourage thin bodies, but most, including riding, need HEALTHY bodies.
To me the article was really an editorial, or a personal account, not a true journalistic endeavor, yet it was presented as such. No where is there really a by line, only the statement of the author’s name and their views. That to me is an editorial, not a factual article.
Many facts were incorrect, and that makes me question the rest.
I may not always win, but I will always try to win.
Can you somehow post the article?? I am a poor college student and have no way of getting a magazine like Jane. Do they have a website maybe?
Sincerely yours,
A Frazzled College Student
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
