An overweight TikTok star recently complained that a small business refused to allow her to ride one of its horses due to her weight.
Remi Bader, who has more than 2 million followers thanks to her fashion videos, posted a TikTok claiming Deep Hollow Ranch made her “leave because I weigh over 240” pounds. She mentioned the ranch by name, stated that it was in Montauk, New York, and provided video of the business.
“I’ve rode horses before and have never had this issue,” she also claimed, noting that the ranch should advertise weight restrictions on their signs.
The ranch has an online blog with a post titled “How Much Weight Can A Horse Carry? (Weight Limit To Ride)” that explains that a horse can carry a person weighing up to 15% of the horse’s body weight, not including saddle and other gear. For Bader, who said in her TikTok that she weighs over 240 pounds, she would require a horse that weighs at least 1,600 pounds. Your typical horse breeds (Thoroughbred, Quarter Horse, Arabian) fall under 1,200 pounds. Bader would have required a draft horse or a Clydesdale – one of the larger breeds. Many stables don’t have these breeds available for lessons or trail rides.
The ranch’s main website features numerous photos of people riding horses but not a single photo of a large breed, though it contains no information about weight limitations.
In an Instagram Story, Bader claimed she didn’t mean to direct a mob to a small business, saying she was hurt by how she was spoken to at the ranch.
“I posted for a reason and that’s not because of me being denied to ride the horses. I get it, some places have weight requirements and I’d never want to hurt the horses, but it was the way I was spoken [to] and laughed at by the owner and the way I was treated overall,” she wrote in the timed post, according to NBC News.
In response to her claims, a teenage ranch employee posted a TikTok comeback to Bader, saying: “When you’re not a fat b**** you can ride at Deep Hollow Ranch.” Bader then used this teen’s response to bolster her original claim without saying whether this was the employee who spoke to her.
“Imagine this being deep hollow ranch’s response to your experience,” Bader wrote.
Deep Hollow Ranch responded on Facebook by writing: “It has come to our attention that a TikTok video was posted regarding the ranch and a teenage employee posted a response that in no way represents nor is aligned with the views that the owners of the ranch hold. We would like to apologize to anyone who this offended and we do not condone or agree with any part of that employee’s video.”
Seemingly without looking into Bader’s claims, Hampton Water Wine, Co., which organized the event for several influencers, said it would “not work with Deep Hollow Ranch again and do not condone any of the events that followed.”
The small business has received backlash online from people who have blindly accepted Bader’s claims without considering the harm her weight may have caused a living animal.
“I will never understand why my size could actually bother someone so much,” Bader wrote in an Instagram story, according to NBC. “I really never [will].”