With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting that a third of U.S. adults and 17 percent of children are obese, Western wranglers and outfitters say they are doing all they can to accommodate the widening of waistlines and other anatomical areas.
via www.reuters.com
I grin when I think of these giant saddles. At least they are using upsized horses to do the job. I thought it would be neat if all the draft foals produced while generating Premarin hormone therapy for women found a home in dude strings.
According to TheHorse.com however, the Premarin industry, under fire in 2004 for mass-producing low-value draft-cross foals as a byproduct of pregnant mare urine, switched to mostly breeding purebred draft horses and sport horses. These babies fetch a hefty price. (The only PMU draft-cross filly ever boarded at our stable had OCD, which limited her athletic ability.)
The height of the Premarin controversy: A 2004 MSNBC video investigates the use of pregnant mares to produce urine for the hormone therapy drug Premarin: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3995076/ns/dateline_nbc/t/hrt-horses/#.TwCc2tSvKSo