Really irritated with this girls mother.

[Balloonhearts]

More of a vent than anything.

I work at a riding school who do weekend pony clubs in the summer, and a longer one over the holidays.

We match the riders to their ponies based on height, weight and experience/temperament.

One of my group is very overweight. Three stone heavier than her mother said she is on her form. She cannot ride the pony assigned to her or any of the ponies. She needs a horse. Which would have been fine if we knew when she booked.

Now I'm desperately trying to find a suitable mount before the 3 o clock hack so I don't have to tell this sweet girl that she is unable to go on the hack due to her weight.

WHY do people do this? Just be honest ffs! If we had the right numbers, she would have been given one of the horses but now there is no one suitable left.

Beautiful boy 🥰

Oh do get a grip. If you're fat and unhappy about it, lose some weight. But don't drag down a very nice, wholesome thread with your negativity and nitpicking.

Imagine a new mum with her breastfed baby and them both having a sleepy afternoon kip, that would be considered normal. Or a cat and her kittens.

I imagine a horse is no different.

Dexter! “Dexter, you are the inspiration for pinada”. PMSL. Thanks for my next few hours viewing pleasure OP.

Link here for anyone: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/JTVFIqKAVL4

I genuinely hope you don’t feel like this all the time, inserting yourself and your obvious anger into a lovely story about a kind person trying to help a child ride an appropriate horse.

You’re starting to sound deranged.

The OP has been nothing but kind to the child, and to the horses.

You have handled this beautifully (read your other posts) & sensitively to the girl & I MASSIVELY applaud you for that. Thank you!!!

It’s almost as though bathroom scales don’t exist. If you’re signing your child up to riding lessons, weight is important.

Because there are bathroom scales. And weight is important in horse riding. Sounds go me as though mum is embarrassed by her DD’s weight and feels like It’s a reflection on her.

Are you like this in real life or is this just an online persona ? Either way it’s most unpleasant. Why are you so palpably angry and why are you repeatedly projecting that anger into an enjoyable thread ?

YANBU at all—this is beyond frustrating. You’re not being cruel, you’re trying to keep everyone safe, including the ponies. It’s not about judgement—it’s about physics.
People need to realise that fudging weight on a form doesn’t just create admin stress—it risks the wellbeing of the animal and puts pressure on staff to scramble for last-minute fixes. You're doing your best to avoid disappointing a lovely kid because a grown adult couldn’t be honest on a form. Maddening.

Right. I’m doing it. I’m going back to riding lessons! I last rode a horse in 2014 and last took a lesson in…erm…several years before that(!). I always planned to go back when I could afford to, then thought I’d wait until DS was big enough to try it (as DH is terrified of horses), but DS doesn’t seem interested / is going the same way as DH, so what am I waiting for??

Have spent a happy couple of hours researching local yards - any chance you’re in Yorkshire, OP??

Your ride sounds brilliant so glad you managed to sort something out. I have some great memories of riding school, probably the ones that didn’t go to plan according to the teacher (one of the horses lay down and refused to get up- he wasn’t hurt, or when it started raining cats and dogs and we had to go really fast back to the stables-probably on a trot but to me it felt like we were racing)

I'm not fat.

Like what?

These are the words of the judgemental crowd on this thread, not me.

Just feeling miserable and cantankerous?

Am I the one who called the girl's mum "the bitch mother"? Nope.

OP has explained it was tongue in cheek. Have you read the whole thread?

And you know that this mother has them and/or knows anything about horse riding, how?

Bless you for being kind, this could have been a big hurt that child felt her whole life...your good heartened ways swerved that. Bless you

No, she hasn't. Quite the opposite.

She doubled down it.

Yes I fully stand by grumpily calling this mother a bitch.

Master Beth you do realise that a severely overweight child’s parents could be pulled up for neglect?

It is neglectful not to keep your child healthy. 13 stone at 5ft tall at any age is obese, when I was 13 stone at 5ft 8 I was well into the overweight category!

Waves to local person! 😊

I’m in Tewkesbury!!

There’s a riding place near the Four-Mile pub - down the lane opposite - that I took DD to a few years ago. That was lovely! I haven’t been there for a while though but might be worth checking out?

@KellySeveride How is it any of your business and why has it become the subject of this thread?

The OP was annoyed that the weight given on the form was wrong. She said:

She cannot ride the pony assigned to her or any of the ponies [.....] which would have been fine if we knew when she booked

But the rest of the thread have decided it's not fine. It's become a pile-on on the mum.