Almost all my experience riding as an adult (after a long break following growing up with horses) comes from the bird dog field trial world, which I participated in with my dad for almost two decades. So my experience is mostly riding with eastern saddles on Tennessee walking horses. I have seen fat shaming in that world, and it's never been particularly consistent. "The gallery," meaning the people who ride behind braces of dogs in competition, are a combination of dog owners and fans, and some of them can be pretty overweight. So can the judges, who are often either retired owners or retired handlers getting on in years.

The handlers, who are professionals, tend to be athletic and not overweight, but some of them are very large, muscular men weighing over 200 lbs anyway.

Nonetheless, I have heard them hassling overweight people, usually women, who don't weigh as much as they do, about riding. Given that handlers traditionally bring strings of horses to trials so gallery members can ride, it's understandable they have a proprietary interest. But I think that it's not often very professional. They'll say they're just protecting their horses, but sometimes I don't think that's the full truth.

They're much more likely to hassle an overweight woman fan than a judge, for example.