Guest Blog: "You're too fat to ride"

Our guest blog today is written by Bernadette who writes Green Bean Express, go on over and have a read!

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Five years ago, almost six now, I decided that for my 30th birthday I was going to do all of those things that I had always wanted to do as a child, but due to geographic limitations and financial constraints I never had an opportunity to do; riding and fencing. Fencing I hated. Riding, on the other hand, I knew was going to be opening up Pandora's box as I have always loved horses. I started riding shortly after Christmas and the weather around here can be oddly bipolar; one day it can be 70 and sunny and the next it can be 20 and snowing.

Now, dairy barns I know having grown up in dairy country. Horse barns, on the other hand, I knew little to nothing about so I had no earthly idea of what I was looking for in a good barn. I did my research and the facility I found seemed to be on the up and up so I signed up for their Introduction series. If I only knew then what I know now......During my 4th lesson I was placed on a horse that had never actually been through a training program. The owner just purchased him and threw him into the lesson program (again, I did not know this until later). It was a cool 35 degree night and the wind was hallowing through the indoor. We were working on learning to post and, well, said horse decided that he had had enough of what I was doing and decided to pick up his canter down the long wall in the arena. Did I mention this was my 4th lesson? You can see what's coming can't you? Not only did I come off, but I came off in a blaze of glory; hitting the ground, knocking the wind out of me, and scaring the bejesus out of me in the process. I got my lungs back, picked myself up, caught the horse, got back on, and finished my lesson. Dammit, I paid for the time and I was going to get my time.

After the completion of the lesson the instructor held me back and said to me, "You are too fat to ride. You should really think about taking up a different hobby." Say what?! Now, I will fully admit that I am fluffy. I will also admit that I have struggled with my weight my entire life to include some time as a bulimic when I was in the service and struggling to conform to their weight standards. At that time I was down 70 pounds from my heaviest weight (now it's a bit more). On top of that, I will proudly declare that I am half the size of my mother and I work every day to increase that margin. However, she didn't know any of that. All she saw was a big girl.

Needless to say, among other reasons, I dropped that barn and found a new instructor. Five years later I am still riding. I work my rear end off in the gym, on the metro, heck even at my desk doing things that I know are going to improve my riding. My entire body shape has changed because of my riding and I feel the best about myself I have felt ever. Am I still green, yes. Could I still stand to loose weight, yes. Am I still working on it every single day, oh heck yes, especially now.

Why now? As of St. Patrick's Day 2012, this girl who was too fat to ride got her very own pony. Oh yeah, and she is a big girl too! An 16.1hh OTTB named Cora who is built like a warm blood and hates caloric expenditure (which is probably why she didn't make it as a race horse). She and I are on a journey together, one calorie at a time.