Children being weighed before donkey rides

The hope is that parents who have overweight kids won’t go near the donkeys after reading about this restriction as I do feel a but sorry for them but understand the donkeys have to come first.

He's doing the right thing, they also have Height restrictions on children "Fun" rides and inside play equipment .
My DD is tall, on one occasion she went to a class mates birthday party , unfortunately she couldn't go on some of the play things because she was unable to walk without bending under the height barrier, she was younger than the child whose party it was, so no different.

Our Sunday School Annual trip to the seaside was the highlight of my young life.

And a 6d donkey ride was my idea of heaven.

Certainly I weighed nothing like 6 stones.

Oh, happy days!

As my GP remarked, children ought to be skinny. The trouble is that fat parents overfeed their children with the carb-heavy food they indulge themselves with, so that being fat becomes normal.
It's actually a tragic situation which leads to poor health, the perpetuation of poverty and early death.
I see no harm in what that donkey man said.

Fat shaming is a good thing if it makes parents think feeding their kids a bad diet is child abuse.

We have a donkey charter here in Blackpool.

If the weighing makes a few parents of fat children think twice about stuffing them with more junk, it might well be a good thing. But I doubt it’ll have any such effect.

I know only too well how equines are abused throughout the world. The fact that these donkeys are not beaten or used as they may have been is no excuse for the way that they are used today. Being loved is not enough. Being given a good life free from abuse is something else entirely. Perhaps you should be a supporter of charities such as SPANA or World Horse Welfare to learn more about how donkeys and other equines cope (or don’t) in the heat.

Germanshepherdsmum

I applaud him for making sure his donkeys don’t carry too heavy a weight, but I would much rather he just let them graze in a field rather than being used for entertainment. I don’t approve of animals being exploited.

So riding schools are bad then. This man and his family have been caring and working these donkeys,and their forebears since 1914. They are loved by the people of the area. They are fed, cared for, not beaten with sticks or made to climb steep hills with lazy people sat on them, or having to carry massive loads of timber, or coal, which is what they were first worked to carry.They have the best care and are loved by all. They are not out all hours, time is limited, and Donkeys have their own way of coping in the heat, after all they originated in Africa, and there's always water available.

I agree David49 - children have to accept limits at some stage (and so do parents about their offspring)

A child could be anyone up to 18, at that age a child could be 16st so there always has been a weight/size limit.
There are many activities that have a weight/size/height limit. 6st sounds a sensible limit to me, children have to accept limits at some stage

He’s quite right, in my view.

I am all for looking after the donkey.

JaneJudge

If you go to a riding stables you are weighed in your full clothing and hat before being accepted onto a horse. It is one of the welfare needs

Thanks for that info JaneJudge. That’s my today’s new fact.

So he's doing the right thing JaneJudge.

If you go to a riding stables you are weighed in your full clothing and hat before being accepted onto a horse. It is one of the welfare needs

BlueBelle

Donkeys shouldn’t be out in the hot sun walking all day with
6 st on their back It should be banned completely

Indeed, but while it is still allowed, at least this is a step in the right direction.

I think I would set a weight limit for the protection of the donkeys but take away the age limit... Then the argument could be made that they have maximum weight limit

We don't tell lifts off for fat shaming

I'm with Bluebelle, its cruel and should be banned, it has been on my seafront, o donkeys for many years.

I applaud him for making sure his donkeys don’t carry too heavy a weight, but I would much rather he just let them graze in a field rather than being used for entertainment. I don’t approve of animals being exploited.

Would be nice if he had some option for a "test your weight before I do" so you had a chance to do it separately from the crowd first.

Donkeys shouldn’t be out in the hot sun walking all day with
6 st on their back It should be banned completely

I think it's fair.

I agree with Mollygo. A carefully worded sign with an age limit and reference to a maximum weight.
I certainly wouldn't like to see a child being embarrassed for being over the weight limit. However the welfare of the donkeys is the priority here.

He means fat. The parents are to blame.