Confidence knocked

[PinkSand]

I own a beautiful 12hh pony. I do not ride her but take her out for long walks along a bridle path and within a local beauty spot. We absolutely love it. She is safe, kind and looks after me.

I'm fed up of people - mainly men) shouting out "That's a big dog" and also people looking as if I'm strange.

Didn't think I'd fear taking her out because of the constant comments.
I'm looking for reassurance it's OK what I'm doing :( please help

Of course it’s ok, and much more usual than it used to be. Most people are trying to be friendly/funny but of course it’s the obvious line so gets tedious for you.

Just people being people. Sounds idyllic. Enjoy your walks.

Other thing is I am really overweight and not pretty. I sometimes feel (because of being called a dog by men in my past) they're calling me a big dog Instead.

Thank you 😊

Thank you.

Wonder why pony walking is more usual nowadays?

She is putting on weight and that's a bit worrying too.

Oh bless you. Obviously I'm not there but I'd take those comments as people just trying to find something to say to be friendly.
You carry on walking your pony. What a lovely way to spend some time. X

I'm with you OP, I used to hand walk my little nieces shetlands while my DD hacked her pony. I obviously couldn't hop on to ride, so was the only option and I actually enjoyed it. Who cares what people think! Kept them fit and the weight down in addition to their other work.

There's nothing wrong with walking heritage hand but if she's gaining weight, I'd recommend either getting someone to ride her regularly or lunging her yourself at a good pace for increasing amounts of time.

Horses and ponies do need to be worked for their cardiovascular health and to keep their condition. Walking isn't enough on its own.

I take the pony my daughter shares for a walk when she can’t exercise him. I get funny looks sometimes but I quite enjoy it and consider it bonding time!

I wouldn't take these comments as negative or to heart, I expect people think they're being funny and original, not knowing the 10 previous people you've met have all made the same not very funny joke. And I really wouldn't interpret it as a negative comment on your looks, if they meant to call you a dog I think they'd phrase it differently.

It's not at all the same thing but our summer grazing is quite a long way from the yard, about half a mile away, and the only way to get there is along what used to be a quiet country lane but which over the last 20 years has had major housing developments built along it and is now really busy both with car traffic and pedestrians. It's a bit of a lottery as to who'll you meet on foot when going up there on a sunny weekend in particular when the world and his wife will be out for walks and bike rides, often people are excited to see the horses, particularly the children of course and lots of them shout comments (sometimes just 'look at the pretty horses' or similar but sometimes 'jokes' like you're getting and on occasion ruder comments about how horses shouldn't be allowed to use the road or worse), some want to stop and talk to me and ask questions (about their rugs or fly masks, their shoes etc), the children often ask to pat the horses. It's lovely that people are so interested in the the horses but it can all get a bit awkward TBH, if I just have my own boy with me I don't mind stopping for a quick chat and even to let an under-control child have a quick pat as he's very well behaved and child-friendly but even he can get quite antsy if made to wait too long, and if I have a second horse in-hand (as the field is so far away we try and take/fetch two at a time if we can) it's really not safe to be blocking the road while we stop to have a chat or to have small people underfoot - most people seem understanding but I've had the odd person get quite antsy with me for that and call me snobby etc - I think for some reason some people have it in their head horses are public property (see the endless threads about not feeding horses on here).

I think you just have to smile and nod and get on with your own business TBH, old gimmer comment in-coming but the general 'public' you meet in the countryside these days is not the same as it used to be, in the old days country-dwelling people were usually country born and bred and so used to all sorts of livestock being around and knew how to behave around them, plus in general everything was quieter/fewer people in more space so you could largely avoid others if you wanted to, now people are crowded in on each other in these dense developments and 'town' people move in who have no idea about large animals, farming etc (no complaints there, of course people have to live somewhere and there's much more space in the countryside than elsewhere so makes sense) and everyone is on top of everyone else all the time, cars are everywhere and the footpaths/bridle paths that remain are of course overcrowded - so we all just have to readjust to sharing our spaces and for those of us with animals we have to be much more alert and tolerant with people who've never seen large animals before outside a zoo or petting farm and have no idea of the normal 'etiquette'...

I agree about there being more people using the countryside than years ago. It’s a good thing though, people are more aware of the benefits of getting out into nature. We have to learn to share. It is hard not to judge sometimes though. I live near a large forest run by the forestry commission. You would not believe some of the footwear on show on a sunny bank holiday. There’s me in my hiking boots are people are pratting about in high heels!

I used to ride and lead and got the same comments like have we lost the other rider etc etc.