[MistyBlue]

I think the ballet slippers in one of the Tredstep photos is a bit odd.

Other than that...Reality only works on TV shows. (and even then it's scripted) But ads are made to sell an ideal image, not the actual product. And that goes for everything. A sports car is not going to get the old sasquatch looking man a supermodel girlfriend. Viagra is not going to make your wife want to boff you 24/7/ Anti-wrinkle cream will not turn you into an 18 year old. Wings on a sanitary pad will not make your period happy. Beano will not stop you from farting if you go to a chili festival. Victoria Secret will not give you giant perky boobs or a model's body...and oddly enough it will also not give you culture despite the non-UK company using that accent in commercials, cleaners will not give you an immaculate model mansion nor will they knit you a sweater since every person in those ads wears a sweater over a button down, and wet wipes does not "make the go better."

Every print ad and commercial has been through tons and tons of testing before being seen by the public. And years of study on what ads worked and what ads didn't are behind that. Image sells, reality does not.

Heck, look at real estate. A staged home sells tons faster and higher than a normal home. People are buying the image, and they really do believe if only they had that home they would also be uber-clean and uber-stylish and uber-organized.

It's sales 101...find out what people want and market that. And it might have nothing to do with the product...doesn't matter since sales go way up when you market to the imagination as opposed to the reality.

And you don't need wide hips to have thigh gap. You could have narrow hips and wide thighs. My thighs are off-set out farther than my hips. They don't touch in the middle. I'm not skinny. And my conformation does indeed tend to go more for saddlebags rather than inner thigh rub. And even when skinny, I look like I have saddlebags.

As for really thin women can't do heavy lifting...my youngest has the same physique as that model. She's a Marine. She can bench press me. And lots of her fellow female Marines look the same. Go to Parris Island every other Friday and watch the boot camp graduates. Pretty much all of the females look like that...minus the makeup and loosehair.

[Alagirl]

As a 30 year old rider, 5'9" and about 130 pounds - I take offense to quite a bit of what was said here!

I KNOW I am blessed to have my body type and metabolism. I eat like, well, a horse. I get it from everyone, all the time, about how much I suck because I can eat like a 400 pound man and stay in a size 26 breech without exercising.

You know what? It HURTS SKINNY GIRLS FEELINGS just as much as those who are above average in the weight department. Skinny people do naturally exist - not all of us starve ourselves, or work out til we pass out, or vomit after meals.

I have done some modeling and have been in national publications for riding gear. AND YOU KNOW WHAT?!! They photoshopped me to be FATTER so that I wouldn't offend anyone!!

I ran a barn, 40+ horses, for 2 years - by myself. Totally. I now have my horses at home, and can shovel shit and sling bales with the best of them. I ride multiple horses a day - oftentimes the ones that are dangerous or unwanted!

Generalizations to ANY GROUP are unnecessary and hurtful. Do I think that companies should maybe use a range of sizes? Sure. But don't assume just because I am skinny that I am a weakling incapable of fending for myself or lifting anything heavier than a flower.

LOL, nobody said anything bad about skinny people.

I am just very tired of looking at models sporting riding pants that don't appear to have the muscle tone to do more than walk down a catwalk!

Somebody mentioned male models...
They seem to be required to work out and be buff in all the right places.
The girls only seem to be required to be thin and tan.

back in th day when I was actually able to crawl out of bed my fighting weight was a shade over 116 pounds, I consider myself 'fat' now at 137.
Which I am saying tongue firmly implanted into cheek since if it was shapely, fit weight, it would be super good.
Sadly - and the spoof video was right on - even the skinny girls get photoshopped for the magazines. Nobody looks that good or is that thin! Even barbie would have a problem living up to that standard!

yes, I get it
clothes fall so much nicer on a gal that is 6 foot with size a boobettes than they do on a woman 5'5" or 5'8" with Ds.....
but taking more off the skinny? Really?

The gal in question has her legs crossed and you still can see daylight? Please tell me that is photoshopped!

[mvp]

If you are "blessed" with the desired body type, why not just count those blessings? Remember that the other folks don't get to put that "correct" body on their gratitude list.

Look, you win some, you lose some. If you are ahead, be a gracious winner.

PS-- No one said anything about thin-looking people getting their look via mentally-deranged means. If the breeches model is the same woman, I think the person who did her up in the blue breeches went too far. Meh, blame the photoshop newb, perhaps.

[Personal Champ]

I do count my blessings, as I stated - but I do not enjoy being lumped into a category of unrealistic, incapable of doing more than walking, or anything else.

However, apparently I missed out on the Ds, and the tan. Damn British skin!

[Alagirl]

I do count my blessings, as I stated - but I do not enjoy being lumped into a category of unrealistic, incapable of doing more than walking, or anything else.

However, apparently I missed out on the Ds, and the tan. Damn British skin!

you can have my Ds, sorry, I don't tan well either....

[Big_Grey_hunter]

Every time I get a new Dover's catalog, the models for the clothing just make me cringe. They insist on using the super-thin models that you can tell are just plain skinny, no muscle at all. Like someone else said, there is a difference between being just plain damn skinny and skinny with some meat on your bones. The models in the Dover catalogs are nothing but scarecrows-- there is no way they could stick on a horse, much less keep from being dragged across the ground by a lead rope if the horse so desired.

I cringe every time I see those fat 'plus sized' models in catalogs. They insist on using people who are so unhealthy looking, they look like hippos. There's a difference between being a bit too heavy and having rolls of fat stuffed into the clothing. There's no way they could even get on a horse, let alone ride it!

Do you see how ridiculous and nasty that sounds? Now read your post. Your stereotypes and nastiness are completely untrue and unnecessary. I am 5'4 and 100lbs. I ride just fine, thank you very much, and I can certainly handle a difficult horse on the ground, or undersaddle

[GoForAGallop]

Every time I get a new Dover's catalog, the models for the clothing just make me cringe. They insist on using the super-thin models that you can tell are just plain skinny, no muscle at all. Like someone else said, there is a difference between being just plain damn skinny and skinny with some meat on your bones. The models in the Dover catalogs are nothing but scarecrows-- there is no way they could stick on a horse, much less keep from being dragged across the ground by a lead rope if the horse so desired.

I'd say she needs some groceries.

I see those ultra femme chicks and think, "She's the one who's going to ask me to dump the wheel barrow or lift up the trailer ramp because, while she can perhaps ride, she can't do the heavy lifting."

Then again, I have a stick-figure friend who is a pro, and that woman can and will move tack trunks with the best of 'em.

LOL, nobody said anything bad about skinny people.

I am just very tired of looking at models sporting riding pants that don't appear to have the muscle tone to do more than walk down a catwalk!

Nobody said anything bad about skinny people, huh?

[GoForAGallop]

If you are "blessed" with the desired body type, why not just count those blessings? Remember that the other folks don't get to put that "correct" body on their gratitude list.

Look, you win some, you lose some. If you are ahead, be a gracious winner..

So just because some of us are lucky enough to have a "popular ideal" body, that means we should just shut up and sit here while comments are made about skinny people "not being able to sit a horse" or "she's gonna be the one who asks me to dump her wheelbarrow."

5'3'', size 0, 115lbs here, and I stack 900 bales of hay by myself every year. In addition to the rest of daily horse-keeping tasks. And I dump my own wheelbarrows. :eyeroll:

[Real Rush]

This thread was originally started by the OP asking for a happy medium. The ultra-thin and obese likewise both fall on opposite ends of the spectrum, and neither look good. My old dressage trainer naturally was super thin, but she also had muscle tone. There IS a difference.

[mvp]

I do count my blessings, as I stated - but I do not enjoy being lumped into a category of unrealistic, incapable of doing more than walking, or anything else.

However, apparently I missed out on the Ds, and the tan. Damn British skin!

Well apparently, the pile o' blessing you have still don't seem enough to you. If some of those other people who "look the part" are getting there via an eating disorder or a nasty drug addiction, they don't have nearly what you do.

If the shoe doesn't fit, you don't have wear it!

[mvp]

So just because some of us are lucky enough to have a "popular ideal" body, that means we should just shut up and sit here while comments are made about skinny people "not being able to sit a horse" or "she's gonna be the one who asks me to dump her wheelbarrow."

5'3'', size 0, 115lbs here, and I stack 900 bales of hay by myself every year. In addition to the rest of daily horse-keeping tasks. And I dump my own wheelbarrows. :eyeroll:

Yes. I'll repeat what I said the first time: Winners should be gracious.

I was blessed with a stunning and cheap college education. Others around me were not. Do you think I don't get shit for being uppity or elitist or whatever?

As someone who got something these other folks did not, it is my job not to be an a-hole about it. That's one of the ways I show gratitude for what I got. And, yes, I worked hard, too. But I know that other people work just as hard and *still* won't get what I did.

[Big_Grey_hunter]

Yes. I'll repeat what I said the first time: Winners should be gracious.

I was blessed with a stunning and cheap college education. Others around me were not. Do you think I don't get shit for being uppity or elitist or whatever?

As someone who got something these other folks did not, it is my job not to be an a-hole about it. That's one of the ways I show gratitude for what I got. And, yes, I worked hard, too. But I know that other people work just as hard and *still* won't get what I did.

So I'm being an asshole for not being okay with being called weak, a scarecrow, underfed, unable to ride, and under muscled?

[pAin't_Misbehavin']

I have a right to be more offended than you!
Don't either.
Do too.

[RolyPolyPony]

Generalizations to ANY GROUP are unnecessary and hurtful. Do I think that companies should maybe use a range of sizes? Sure. But don't assume just because I am skinny that I am a weakling incapable of fending for myself or lifting anything heavier than a flower.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[GoForAGallop]

I have a right to be more offended than you!
Don't either.
Do too.

None of the "skinny" contingent is arguing that we have any more right to be offended than anyone else. We're just asking for the same respect heavier riders ask for: not to be insulted about our fitness levels/ability/level of good personness, etc.

A thread bashing riders of any other weight would not be considered acceptable by anyone's standard...why is it okay to suggest that thinner riders are any less capable?

[ElisLove]

I think the modeling industry standard should be a size 12-14 not a size 2 to 4. If a size 14 model* was the standard the average woman can have the reasonable expectation of the outfit looking as good on her as on the model. Just as an aside I've noticed that the plus sized models don't look so angry as their stick thin counterparts.

If the designers can't make a dress look good on the average women then they are not very good at their job now are they?

Rant over.



*http://www.lovelyish.com/768048368/9...-size-model/7/

Um, if I was a size 12-14 (and I was at one point) I would be very overweight and not healthy at all. That size, for most people, is going to put them as overweight. If you want models to be a bit heavier, maybe a size 7, which is a fairly average size. I was a size 7 in high school and was in no way skinny, just not overly fat.

[Alagirl]

None of the "skinny" contingent is arguing that we have any more right to be offended than anyone else. We're just asking for the same respect heavier riders ask for: not to be insulted about our fitness levels/ability/level of good personness, etc.

A thread bashing riders of any other weight would not be considered acceptable by anyone's standard...why is it okay to suggest that thinner riders are any less capable?

I wish we were talking about riders....

[Alagirl]

I have a right to be more offended than you!
Don't either.
Do too.

[ElisLove]

I wish we were talking about riders....

How do you know you're not? One of the posters on here said herself she modeled riding gear AND rode.

[GoForAGallop]

I wish we were talking about riders....

There are many, many famous high fashion models who are also quite capable riders.