We keep hearing the bleating of "we are too fat, our kids are too fat, fat is epidemic...." and, for the most part, I just go along with it. Even though, yes, I do understand that my tax dollars will be paying for the high incidence of diabetes, bad hips and knees and several heart attacks down the road. BUT I read an article that really....well....annoyed the crap out of me.
For all those dudes and dudettes who want to hit the dusty trails on the back of a horse I applaud you. For one thing it employs animals who would otherwise be ....well...unemployed. The sad part is that because we, as a society, are getting larger by the second (obesity has increased more than a third in adults and 17 percent in children over the last twenty years) there is now a need for LARGER horses to accommodate these weekend cowboys and cowgirls. Yesssiiirrrriiiee - you read that right.
One owner of a Dude Ranch stated "It's nice that we can provide a situation where they can ride with their family." He doesn't say anything about just HOW they got them on this poor animal who now has to bear their weight. We are talking Draft horses here folks - not just larger horses...Draft horses.
Russ Little of Dry Ridge Outfitters says he "felt bad about telling people they're too big to ride." He had a 225 pound weight limit but now with Draft horses or Percherons that has changed. The heaviest rider he ever put on a horse was 399 pounds. WHAT???
"As long as you can get on a horse, you can ride." is what he is quoted as saying. Yes, the dignity of being hoisted (probably literally) onto a horse! That should make you feel REAL good about heading out with your family.
One of his guests stated that when she saw the smaller horses she was concerned, "because I'm a little heavier." But when she saw the size of the larger horses...."they are pretty hardy. " Well, it takes one to know one.
Peggy Howell, spokeswomen for the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (yes, you read that right too) says "I think it's wonderful that these people are looking to accommodate a larger body size. People of larger body size enjoy athletic activities." NO THEY DON'T!! At 399 pounds just standing upright is an athletic activity. The only thing getting anything close to exercise here is the horse.
I understand that these outfitters need to make a living and realize the money they are losing by turning away "persons of size" is probably getting to be quite substantial, but really.....when you have to somehow wrangle a 399 pound...that is ONE pound away from 400 pounds - person onto a live animal so they can be 'athletic' is ridiculous.
I'm cheering here for the little guy folks....and by that...I mean the horse.
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Apparently, those in the know say, if you are planning on stowing away in the wheel well of an airplane your chances of survival are better if you are young and thin, not heavyset and older. But one has to assume the chances of you being squashed by the wheel mechanism doesn't change that much....or you freezing to death...or falling out after you have passed out from lack of oxygen.
From 1947 - 2012 there have been 96 stowaways of which only 23 have survived.
Question...how exactly do they know?
Things I've learned this week:
People who have been together for a long time seem to have a 'short hand' when talking to each other.
The other morning I asked my husband "What nationality do you think Bootstrap Bill is?"
He replied, after a moment's thought, "He's an Ozzie."
"No," I replied, "He's actually a Swede."
Now - the fact that my husband immediately knew who I was referring to is what I am talking about. AND for those of you who are scratching your collective heads at this point...Bootstrap Bill aka William Turner is a character from one of the Johnny Depp Pirates of the Caribbean movies. His real-live-and-in-person name is Stellan Stargard - and had we known THAT we would have presumed he was not British or Australian - which is what we ASSUMED because in the movie he sounds that way! For even more trivia - his son is one of the Vikings in Vikings - the tall thin guy with the eye makeup.... PLUS he has several more sons who are all in show biz. So there, drop that at your next social gathering.
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SURE - NOW I find out that April is National Poetry month!!!
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Rob Ford, Mayor of Toronto, has gone into Rehab. I wish him well - no, really, sincerely, I do.....honest.
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When my husband was clambering into bed the other night he said "What is it that Sheldon always says."
I shrugged..."Bazinga?"
My girlfriend talks about her "T V friends".....crap....I guess we have them too, because Sheldon is really from The Big Bang Theory...and I have no idea what his REAL name is!!!!
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