Anyone got a fit lean sports cob?

[Polos Mum]

I'm currently looking after a vanner / gypsy cob who's never really been in full work (only 7). I think he still looks really fat (4 on the condition score to my eye) thick neck (but floppy) no sign of ribs, apple bum etc. Someone who's known him years think's he's as thin as he'd ever been and neck etc. is just his breed.

I've never had a proper coloured cob type so I wondered if anyone would have photos of fit, competing, lean coloured cobs so I can get my eye in better for what he could and should look like.

 

[ElleSkywalkingintheair]

Mines pretty fit and lean for a cob but still has an apple bum and cant see her ribs. She is 14.3 and weighs 515kgs and is condition scored 3.5 by a nutritionist not me!

 

[shortstuff99]

I know not a coloured but my LW cob could get very fit and lean. I would do a lot of interval work to get it.

 

[Roxylola]

I'm a bit light on conformation shots, but I'd like this dude a bit leaner still
I'd say hes about a 6 on a scale to 10, but I'd like him somewhere around a 4-5 really. I dont think even a 4 would be sustainable long term, but if we can hover under 5 that will do

 

[IamMe]

Mine is Section D cross Connemara so not a true cob, but to look at she looks like a shrunk down show cob, (14.2hh) 6 months ago i could have sent you fit and lean pictures, but currently starting work after 3 months off having slipped on the yard and pulled her Erictor Spinea Muscles, we are 2 1/2 weeks into long reining in walk,

 

[paddi22]

mine has a barrel of a body but when she's fit she looks very lean

 

[Polos Mum]

Thanks all, I do need my 'cob' eye adjusting as maybe my idea of fit / lean might be unfair for his shape

 

[ElizabethAngela]

Mine is in hard work with no hard feed and off the grass at night, and he’s still 520kg and 4/5 condition score at 14.2hh. ? He’s a gypsy cob, probably took off a few kg when I clipped his legs!

 

[TheHairyOne]

Coloured one! Middle of winter and he's not been this thin since! He is a proper chunky cob.



And not coloured, but mostly vanner when I he was in his hardest work doing low level eventing.



It was neither easy to get him that fit nor easy to keep him that fit!

 

[JJS]

Far from it, but we're working towards it! As you can (hopefully) tell from the burrs in her feather, the sweat, and the dragged-through-a-hedge backwards look, this is Mary immediately post-hack. She's still only in light work, but I'm riding a lot more of late and making a real effort to slim her down. We're doing some short schooling sessions here and there, but mainly focusing on hacking at the moment while I build her fitness (we managed a four-hour adventure at one point last week). I'm relatively happy with her on the whole, but ever since she had Flower three years ago, her tummy has been a real problem area, so I'm hoping winter will help with that!

 

[P.forpony]

Not a cob but my ‘eye adjustment’ took a while on this one, it takes a long time and it’s a fine balance once you get them there.
Definitely worth it though.

 

[mavandkaz]

Ah, any excuse to post a pic.
This is my girl, she is a fair chunk of a cob. 14.3 and must be pushing the 600kg mark (not been weighed but travels in the horsebox heavier then my 550kg tb)
She's fairly fit and we do all the usual riding club stuff.
I can feel her ribs, and see the shadow of them when lunging. Her hind quarters have got bigger since I got her last year.
You do need to adjust your eye slightly, and 'lean' in the traditional sense will probably never happen, but there is definitely no reason they can't be 'slim'. This girly just needs to tighten her stomach muscles and she will pretty much be there.

 

[Polos Mum]

Oh you all have lovely horses. Very interesting that they still look (in photos which can be deceiving) quite high on the condition score even when hunting / eventing fit. Thank you so much I really appreciate it.

I think nice tight tummy makes a big difference in these photos so we'll work on core engagement rather than worrying about a slightly appley bum.

 

[ycbm]

I could feel his ribs easily.

 

[TPO]

Not my horse but this is the aspirational picture for Fat Cob!

 

[Polos Mum]

Wow TPO that is a big difference.

 

[paddi22]

TPO that's a super example.

mine would be very fit at times and people often don't think she is a cob. I'm sure 95% of people probably think in their heads she's too skinny but when they get a certain level of fitness they get streamlined with tight muscles and totally change shape, even their faces look finer. I genuinely think most people don't realise how lean cobs can get when in hard work.

 

[Annagain]

Not my horse so I won't post a picture but we have one on the yard. He's pretty fit - hacks for up to 3 hours about 4 times a week, goes to a riding club jumping lesson once a week and usually does a fun ride at a weekend. He did the badminton ride yesterday and his owner said he could probably have gone round again. He's on good grazing and comes in during the day to a net of mostly straw. He's still a bit on the porky side, probably 3.5/5 on condition scoring. My young hunter type is in half that amount of work, on the same grass 24/7 and is pretty much bang on weight wise. My retired boy has a bit of a tum for the first time ever but would still condition score less than the cob.

 

[PapaverFollis]

I wish. I keep trying though! MrT has the potential to get visibly lean, he's got a small hunter frame in cobby dressing really. The Beast I don't think will ever, just because she's so difficult to get into good hard work, but we'll see. I have a few photos of her looking reasonably nice and slim and fit from last summer but Facebook is being weird. She then had two weeks off and completely ballooned again. It had taken over a year to get her to that point and in 2 weeks she got fat and lost a lot of fitness. And I kind of lost heart. Then she had winter off and then lockdown off and we're just slowly slowly building it all back up now. Again she could potentially be a more hunter frame though than a proper cob. So not really what you want pictures of! I just keep seeing the thread title and thinking "I wish!" ?

 

[PapaverFollis]

Ah, there we go. The thinnest Beast photo...

 

[paddi22]

it always amazes me how they can live on nothing! mine is never fed but will just blow up weight wise if she's off at all.
there seems to be a certain stage of work they get to where their body seems to change shape, but it only seems to be with heavy work. it must be like the way endurance runners and marathon runners are always very light in frame with no body fat.


when I have her on a normal light work week, it would be 2 x 2hr hacks, a dressage lesson and jumping at weekends. when she's doing that lowish level of work she looks like a cob again. it's only when we add in gallops work, and 4 hour plus hacks that she gets her sports body. I'l root out what it is, but there's a certain duration on a hack where you hit a time where their body burns the fat and they get lean but I think it's HOURS into it.

 

[vam]

Top one is at her slimmest, she did develop more muscle and a bit more over her butt but always felt a rib.
Bottom one is at her fattest, she was about 19 and wasn't doing the work she was.

The key to her was work. She was on ex cattle grazing but I never had issues as she was worked 6 days a week, schooling and hacking and always with some fast work. If not then it was hill work. Fed on hay and a bit of chaff and comp mix (we are talking well over 10 years ago, know a bit better now) she was out competing most weekends aff jumping or jumping ay home.
I'm actually finding it harder keeping my wb trim than I did her ? but I'm going back to making sure I do fast work, its seems getting the blood plumping works well.

 

[shortstuff99]

In the picture of mine you could just see the ribs. She was doing long format 3DE and making the time on all phases, jumping double clears so I would say pretty fit!

 

[P.forpony]

It’s definitely all in the work. Top photo of my podgy pony was in work 6 days a week RC bits and bobs schooling hacking for a few hours. Feed was next to nothing, a balancer and soaked hay.
Second photo of the mini racing snake ? was halfway through our first hunting season on ad lib haylage and 3 big conditioning feeds a day with lots of linseed.

 

[paddi22]

it's lovely seeing so many fit cobs. we run a lot of eventing clinics and it always annoys me when people come in on gorgeous cobs and then you see them sell them on down the line because they think they need to get sportier horses for even lower level eventing. I've friends who have absolutely amazing cobs doing one star with no issues. there seems to be a misconception about how much work they can handle and how little they need to be fed.

 

[Polos Mum]

Thanks all, I firmly fall (fell) into the too snobby for my own good category with regard to cobs. But the more he does and the more I see of these lovely horses out properly working them more like him - thanks all you've given me great inspiration.

 

[paddi22]

this was one of the chunkiest little gypsy cobs 13 hh, and it could just pop metre events no issue. it always made time xc and finished courses still going strong. the only downside was it was too much of a push for it over jumps over a metre, so it was stuck at that level, whereas a lighter pony you could bring up the heights more easily. but this pony flew around events.

just from the cobs I've ridden, they seem to split into two groups. one are ones that just flip into sports gear when they get fitter, but there are some that get fit but temperament wise they just don't get the kind of hotness or spark to enjoy pelting around an xc course, and those ones I wouldn't event as it's just not their nature. you either get the feel that they are up for it, or they just aren't. but I suppose it's the same with any breed!

 

[exracehorse]

My Cob x he’s ridden every day. Sometimes twice. Very good doer. When I broke my leg last year and he wasn’t ridden for 6 weeks, the weight quickly crept up.

 

[GoldenWillow]

 

[GoldenWillow]