Lessons for plus size riders

[OhMoreDrama]

I used to ride as a kid and I'm really missing it now - my boys go riding and I'd love to join them!

I'm just under 18st but tall with it - 5'10!! I used to be a lot slimmer but stated on anti anxiety meds and they made me put on loads of weight even though I was eating less.

Do you think any riding school could cater for me? I only really want to plod about and maybe hack out occasionally.

This really annoyed me.

I am actively trying to lose the weight. I eat a healthy diet of about 1300 calories a day, am active and yet I'm struggling to shift it. It's the damn Sertraline. I was never this heavy before I started taking it.

Yes not silly like others have said. Men do ride although at an amateur level definitely less so than women, and a lot of the men you do see at riding schools would be smaller/lighter in general. The taller men I know that ride usually learnt as children and now have their own horses who don't have too heavy a workload and are well suited physically to be weight carriers - not so much shire/plough horse types that carry their weight on their shoulders but usually more like old fashioned heavyweight hunter types that have a good amount of draught blood to give size and bone, but with a judicious dose of blood to give a good hind end and engine too. These types aren't easy to find these days to be fair - compared to say 50 or 100 years ago when more men would have ridden as a matter of course particularly hunting. Although then again remember the 'average' man was smaller and lighter in those days too. I do think we can look back with rose tinted glasses as well, it used to be commonplace to see big heavy men on the field riding far too hard for too long and knackering their poor horses in a way that wouldn't really be acceptable these days I think.

I do think a tall/heavy man would have just as much of a difficulty learning to ride at a riding school today as a woman of the same weight, like I say it's not that there are no horses out there that can carry 15 or 16 stone or even more, but it's just not commercially viable for riding schools to buy and keep those horses (a bigger horse costs more all around, more feed, bigger stable, bigger rugs etc) when that isn't what the majority of their clientele want or need, and even if they did have those horses they'd have to do a lot of management of their fitness and workload to keep them sound and happy, it wouldn't be good to do 3 heavy beginner rider lessons in a day even for a very big strong horse but you wouldn't really put a child on that kind of horse. My yard owner says her absolute ideal riding school horse is a 14.2-15hh Connemara cross - easy to keep, good do-er and can be ridden by anyone from taller children to small adults which is her average client really. She does have a few bigger horses but they aren't her priority/what she aims to buy especially since the COL crisis, which leaves even completely average weight taller women with not many options never mind anyone a bit overweight...

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply, that’s really interesting.

I cannot think why you would want to inflict that on a horse. I am not being rude when I say you are far too heavy to ride. Like another poster said , it's a good incentive to lose the weight.

The OP has elaborated on her weight loss challenge, as she takes medication for anxiety, which makes it difficult for her to lose weight.

So many sanctimonious ones on here.

The OP has clearly explained (if you bother to read) that the weight gain is medication induced, and she’s got no intention of breaking any horses backs, she’s just looking for advice on the norm when it comes to weight limits for riding. Let’s not start a pile on please.

I’d go back to the GP. Sertraline shouldn’t cause that degree of weight gain- thereby creating a new health issue to resolve. Usually it increases/decreases the appetite a little at first which then stabilises but you’ve reacted particularly strongly to it.

You are being rude.

I've been and it was a waste of time. He told me to keep a food diary and to exercise more!

Oh that doesn’t sound like a great response from them- sorry to hear that. There are other medication options out there to try but I understand if it’s helping otherwise it might be preferable to stick with it. I’m an ex pharmacist but I practised for 8 years and found that once patients got used to the medication appetite stabilised and additional weight came off but everyone’s different.

You need a better GP. In my local practice there are about 6 but only one I would speak to about my mental health and its impact on my weight. I had a similar GP at my old surgery but I moved when SHE retired.
Some of the people on this thread need to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes IMO.

I appreciate that it's difficult to lose weight on sertraline, but I still don't understand how that makes a difference? Weight is weight whatever the cause, and expecting a horse to carry you at 18 stone is ridiculous.

An 18 stone lady can’t hack in walk for 15 minutes but a 12 stone man can hunt a horse hard for 6 hours?

12 stone is within the 15% for a 17hh+ Hunter. 18 stone isn't in the welfare range for any horse.

I think it's really different for owner horses v riding school too
I happily rode at 16 stone for a decade with no issues but I wouldn't have got on a riding school horse (or anything young, fine boned, smaller than 16hh)

Far better to look into changing the meds- or come off them entirely if they are stopping someone from losing weight and doing something they really want to do, like riding.

I’ve got the same issue as you OP
weight limit for most riding places is 14st. That even includes a couple of heavy horse riding places I know of.
I wouldn’t trust an establishment who allowed heavier riders either, I can’t imagine their horse welfare standards are up to much.

Assuming a heavyweight hunter will be rested all summer and gradually be bought back into fitness - There are men that are far too heavy, rolling around on their horses using the reins for balance- but these are probably their own horses that aren’t worked as hard as a riding school horse.

As a child there was a beautiful Irish Draught called “Rocky” that was stabled in my friend’s garden - the local riding stables rented her parents stables

I rode Rocky sometimes as a 6 yr old child- if someone was afraid of his size. (Richmond Park) It looked ludicrous, like a pea on a drum, and he had a double bridle , too.
His reins for small hands were thick to hold.

He was such a gentleman. A beautiful dappled grey fading as he aged to a snowy white with wise dark eyes and muzzle.

@OhMoreDrama I think you have an answer but also to flag a lot of places wil now weigh riders at their first lesson. It isn't to shame anyone (male or female) but it is a welfare issue. Riding school horses do long hours with lots of wobbly novice riders. Vets bills are expensive. The chances of one single rider causing an issue is small, but multiple wobbly riders who may be overweight will have a cumulative impact. And the more we learn about biomechanics and how best to look after horses the more people are beginning to understand this.

Don't lose hope. Am a big believer in where there is a will there will be a way. But definitely speak to your GP. If it is down to meds then they should be able to help.

Yeah I'm with this, my DD rides and I long to join her but until this Mounjaro has worked its magic I'm happy to save the horse's back and watch.

No because the 18 stone lady is much heavier and damage to the horse isn't proportional to the length of time ridden.

Also, a man hunting is probably experienced and well balanced in the saddle, meaning they won't be crashing down on the horses back in the same way as a beginner in a riding school would. Many riding places have the advertised limit (which is dependent on the horses they have), but will go slightly over that for a well balanced experienced rider.

Additionally, hunt horses are trained to be very fit to be able to cope with the workload. A beginners riding school horse tends to be a bit fat and not fit enough to want to cause mischief!

Please don't try to ride a horse at this weight. I am just imagining your 18 stone weight crashing down on the back of the horse in a rising trot. I feel sick at the thought of inflicting that on a horse and you should too.

@Butterflyfern I’ve watched the hunt cross my neighbour’s land. Well balanced the majority of the larger men are not. There are also lots well over 12 stone but I was making a point.
@oakleaffy people with mental health issues take medication as it is the lesser of two evils. It is not as easy as simply coming off it and to suggest this implies you know nothing of the issue.
@twistyizzy @Butterflyfern the 15% rule isn’t based on any particular science and of course being ridden for longer is more taxing. I totally respect the weight limits schools issue but to say as long as a rider is within the 15% they can do as they please is ridiculous. I will happily carry a 25kg bale of haylage a short distance, I wouldn’t want to carry it for 6 hours.

Wow. This is really nasty. Where in any of my posts have I said I plan on "crashing about" on a horse?

I was a good rider when I was younger - rode at national level and on PC teams.

Is this really necessary? OP asked a polite hypothetical question about whether she could maybe learn to ride and has already been told multiple times on the thread politely and not so politely that it's not a great idea. She's not about to go and leap on some random horse so there's no need for the hand-wringing. And she's clearly had a bit of a rough time hence the sertraline. She doesn't really need to be told about your sickening thoughts about her weight at this stage, if you really felt the need to contribute could you not just have left it at your first sentence?