Post by honeypot on Apr 27, 2018 8:19:31 GMT
I think people have no idea how what they say to a child can effect them when it comes to their appearance and weight, and anorexia is not the only thing it can cause, there is a rise in self-harm which is often hidden, in girls and boys where they cut them selves sometimes to the point they are hospitalised.
This children often look 'normal', in a small school I saw children that over exercised, were bulimic, had anorexia and self harmed and while there are other pressure at work from their peers and social media the pressure to conform is huge on children now and if its hard for adults to maintain a healthy body weight and positive self image its even harder for them.
Both my children and their close friends were tall for their age and it was often commented they were to big for their ponies when really they were for their age and development they were riding the right pony. There is nothing more worrying than seeing a child over horsed, its dangerous and also usually makes the child anxious to the point of tears.
Showing is just a snap shot of a child's and ponies life, 30 mins in the ring which for some is a huge achievement whether they get a rosette or not. With a bit of luck they are having a balanced riding life, with hacking, PC etc, which is far more important than that 30mins.
There are still too many overweight ponies, and this is mostly the fault of adults who should now know better and it would be far better to do condition scoring in the ring and as part of the rules say that any animal should not have a condition score more than 3 and if it is over it will be penalised. The Blue Cross do an excellent leaflet. www.bluecross.org.uk/fat-horse-slim
'Obesity has fatal consequences and causes severe, debilitating and painful symptoms. Next to colic it causes the most equine fatalities of any equine disease in the UK – yet it is 100% preventable'
Obesity in ponies is a far greater welfare issue than overweight riders, as we know that ponies are developing diseases and dying from the effects of obesity already and encouraging owners to cut the amount of food they give to their ponies could make a huge effect on animal welfare.
This children often look 'normal', in a small school I saw children that over exercised, were bulimic, had anorexia and self harmed and while there are other pressure at work from their peers and social media the pressure to conform is huge on children now and if its hard for adults to maintain a healthy body weight and positive self image its even harder for them.
Both my children and their close friends were tall for their age and it was often commented they were to big for their ponies when really they were for their age and development they were riding the right pony. There is nothing more worrying than seeing a child over horsed, its dangerous and also usually makes the child anxious to the point of tears.
Showing is just a snap shot of a child's and ponies life, 30 mins in the ring which for some is a huge achievement whether they get a rosette or not. With a bit of luck they are having a balanced riding life, with hacking, PC etc, which is far more important than that 30mins.
There are still too many overweight ponies, and this is mostly the fault of adults who should now know better and it would be far better to do condition scoring in the ring and as part of the rules say that any animal should not have a condition score more than 3 and if it is over it will be penalised. The Blue Cross do an excellent leaflet. www.bluecross.org.uk/fat-horse-slim
'Obesity has fatal consequences and causes severe, debilitating and painful symptoms. Next to colic it causes the most equine fatalities of any equine disease in the UK – yet it is 100% preventable'
Obesity in ponies is a far greater welfare issue than overweight riders, as we know that ponies are developing diseases and dying from the effects of obesity already and encouraging owners to cut the amount of food they give to their ponies could make a huge effect on animal welfare.
