And now for the part that I wish was an April Fool's joke...

This morning, it was brought to my attention that a photo from my blog was used on a Spanish language Facebook page in a post detracting plus sized riders, citing a 15-18% "rule" and assuming that I was over that limit. 

It was this photo:

I like how they blurred out my face, at least, for "privacy" - though within a few hours of it being posted someone who reads my blog with a Spanish translation on it recognized  me and pointed the picture out to me.

I remember not loving the way I looked in that series of photos but I LOVED the way I felt. I was helping a friend reach a goal, fulfill a dream - I had a lot of fun with both that horse and that woman.

For those of you who are wondering, in this photo, I am riding Ginger, an adult Suffolk Punch mare, on my trip to Arizona to help my friend Carina get back into riding - I chronicled this on the blog.

A couple of points -

I wish they had gotten the facts straight. This is what they posted:

In this picture you can see a growing problem that threatens the health of horses in the "developed" regions of the world. Before starting, I must say, that the last thing we are looking for with this picture is offend anybody, cuz we just want to speak objectively of a real and actual horse problem.

The horse has a known weight bearing capacity, which is between 15 and 20% of their body weight, 15% being the "best" (ignoring the fact that the optimum is avoid putting weight on their back), 18% recommended maximum and 20% "absolute" maximum. Therefore, in order to prevent injury to our equine companion, we should try to keep the ratio "rider weight + equipment" between 15 and 18% of the IDEAL live weight of our horse (understanding as ideal a body condition score of 5 or 5.5).

How that translates into kilograms?
1. - For a 400kg horse: 60-72kg2. - For a 500 kg horse: 75-90Kg3. - For a 600kg horse: 90-108kg

What does this mean?
1. - The BCS and the horse size are factors to consider during the purchase or acquisition procedure (as long as the horse is going to be mounted).
2. - The rider (whether man, woman, child or adult) must be fit, not only for the welfare of his horse, but for his own health.
3. - The equipment should be as light, minimalist and comfortable as possible.
Image from the website: http://afatgirlafathorse.blogspot.com.es/

(Text from the FB page Cuidado natural del caballo y de sus pies descalzos (barefoot))

I'd like to point out that the photo has since been removed by the page owner at my request, but I still feel this is worth talking about.

I'd like to do the math for a moment.

Let's say that Ginger weighed 1500lbs. I feel that, as large a horse as she is, that would be conservative as an estimate on her weight. 1500lbs translates to 680kg.

In that photo, I was at my lowest which would be 248lbs, which translates to 112kg. The tack, as I remember was large but not that heavy, I don't recall having trouble hoisting it onto her very tall back by any stretch of the imagination and as my core is my body part that "needs improvement", I doubt if it was that heavy I could hoist it over my head. Let's call it 35lbs, just for fun (I am a bad guesser or estimator when it comes to these things but I imagine it didn't weigh any more than my dog) - so we are up to 283lbs = 128kg... which is... about 18% of the total weight of my mount. (The most commonly referenced "weight limit" in any reasonable study that has been performed is usually around 20-25%, for anyone wondering.) I spent that week riding her for 15-30 minutes... four times, possibly - at a walk and very infrequently, a trot. 

I would be lying if I said stuff like this didn't hurt my feelings a little bit. I think what hurts the most is when someone sees a belly roll and begins to make assumptions about a) my weight and b) my lifestyle. I have come to expect these sorts of judgments because I put myself out there a lot.

This could have gone an entirely different way. The owner of the page (who clearly has a reasonable grasp of  English) could have asked me both permission to use my photo and what the facts were. I would have been glad to have had my photo shared as an example of what 18% looks like, in order to help people stop making assumptions about plus sized riders. I would have accepted criticism then - it's inevitable on the world wide web. 

At the end of the day, yes, this hurt me, but no - I won't stop riding, and no, I won't stop sharing it with you guys. For every detractor who can't get their facts straight, there are ten of you writing me emails or sending me messages on Facebook or comments on the blog saying that I have inspired you to start living your lives again. So I will remember the facts that I know to be true, I will take a tip from ducks and let it roll off my back.