We are celebrating Plus Size Riders as our July Featured Riders of the Month on YourDressage!
To kick off this exciting month, one plus size rider shares her journey of being involved with horses and how that inspired her to create a social media group to unite, encourage and inspire other plus size equestrians across the globe!
By Denise Burrell
I am a plus size rider. Even growing up in the 80’s on Long Island, the land of hunter/jumpers, I never fit the mold. I was never skinny; I either had thunder thighs, a bubble butt, a large chest, or fat calves. While showing in local hunter/jumper shows, I never placed well, and I always felt it was because of my size. I could never find boots that fit my calves (even when I was at my skinniest). It was very disheartening. I continued with my lessons and just kept riding for myself.
I met my husband in 2000, and we moved to North Carolina. I did not ride for a few years. Life and finances got in the way, but I took a few lessons when I could. Eventually my husband saw I was having a real problem being so far from horses, and we decided it was time for me to have one of my own. That’s when Black Magic Merlyn (aka Merlyn) entered my life. He was an 8-year-old, dead lame, underweight OTTB. Something about him told me I had to help him. When I brought him to the barn where I was going to board him, he thrived. I even got the approval from the vet to lightly start riding him. Then came the heart gutting, fat shaming insults from the barn owner. She said I was not allowed to ride Merlyn on her property, as she thought my weight was too much for him. I moved him immediately and then started riding him. We thrived. We showed hunters. We had fun and bonded.
Around 2008 I started having knee pain. The pain intensified, and it turned out, when I broke my femur as a 12 year old, there was undiagnosed trauma to my knee. The pain just kept getting worse, and my mental nerves were just shot. I decided to take up dressage at that time. I taught myself in the beginning. No trainer, just Merlyn and I learning a new discipline together. We eventually got a trainer to help us, but most of the work we did ourselves. Merlyn and I showed competitively at Training Level, and were schooling some basic First Level work in 2018, when sadly Merlyn passed away. I now have a 10-year-old OTTB, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, aka Drago, who is not only Merlyn’s doppelganger but will be my new dressage partner. He has big shoes to fill.
And then March 14, 2014 rolled around. It was an uneventful day. I was unemployed at the time, and chatting on Facebook with a friend. We were talking about how hard it was to find plus size riding attire and the negativity we experienced in other groups on Facebook. She dared me to start a group for our fellow plus size rider friends to share sales of plus size items that we found online, and to just be able to talk about our love for horses in a safe place.
The English Plus Size Rider was started that day. Little did I know that my small group of friends that I invited that day would grow to over 19,500 members, from all corners of the world in the 9 years that followed.
The EPSR, as we call it for short, has become a haven for riders of all shapes, sizes, colors, creeds, ethnic backgrounds, religions, sexual orientations, and riding disciplines to discuss all things equestrian in a safe place. You will not be put down by fellow riders, but rather lifted up. As with all groups on Facebook, there are keyboard trolls but my admin/mod squad works very diligently to keep the group as a safe, supportive, and respectful space.
The group is also very giving. Over the years we have raised money to help victims of the fires in California and Australia. We also raised money for individual members. We had members impacted by barn fires and hurricanes that we helped. Two long time members passed away over the years and, with their family’s blessings and support, we organized auctions of their own equipment and donations from members, to the tune of almost $20,000 for their families. The EPSR loves their own. Also, there is a yearly Secret Santa that members can sign up to participate in. This has become a favorite activity in the group.
Because of the EPSR’s success as a gathering place of plus size riders, we have become a sampling of what equestrian manufacturers are missing out on. Over the years, I have personally helped some companies develop and market plus size riding attire. Members and I are always reviewing products that we find that are plus sized. More and more companies are now coming out with plus size attire. Companies including Ariat, ROMFH, Sync Equestrian, Free Ride Equestrian, Kerrits, and others are increasing their plus size offerings. Recently, I was honored to be part of a photo shoot for Muirneen Equestrian. It has been billed as the largest photo shoot of equestrians of color, race, size, and disabilities. There were other members of the EPSR present, and it was an honor to meet all these amazing women.
As the public perception of what the perfect equestrian looks like slowly changes, the English Plus Size Rider will always be around to be a supportive community for all equestrians worldwide.
