Arab experts? Condition.....

[jumpthemoon]

Is anyone on here an Arab enthusiast/expert? I was talking to someone on the yard last night who has an arab, and to me it looks too thin (and to the girl who has it on loan). I would score it at between a one and a two going by the dodson and horrell fat scoring sheet. http://assets.cdn.earthgazer.net/b99abc4...fat-scoring.pdf

Basically, I can see it's ribs from across the yard, all of them, it has a sunken rump, hollows behind it's elbow in the girth region and one of the worst ewe necks I've seen.

The girl on yard has it on loan (from outside yard) and she bought it some conditioning feed yesterday (the winergy stuff - it's currently on the low energy but they are having to feed loads of it so swapped to the conditioning one).

Anyway, YO went nuts. She said that arabs aren't like normal horses and shouldn't carry any weight - if you can't easily see the ribs it is too fat and this horse is apparently just right. She told them not to swap it to conditioning feed and not to try to put weight on it.

Now, all the arabs I've seen look like normal horses weight wise - I've never seen them looking like this one? Is YO correct? (She has two arabs herself so I would normally assume she knows what shes talking about).

 

[amycov]

YO is wrong. No animal should have clearly visible ribs. Arabs are lightly built but should not be skeletons.

 

[BobbyMondeo]

Ive never heard that before....yes arabs are fine boned and yes they shouldnt carry too much wieght or they do actually go nuts lol, but they shouldnt have clearly visable ribs and ewe necks.

 

[zizz]

soe arabs are lightly built but not to the extent that you can see thier ribs from a distance!

 

[Ruth_Cymru]

I'm not an expert but I am an enthusiast and what you are descibing sounds much too thin to me. It does depend somewhat on the type of Arab as to how large/small a build they are, but the YO saying you should easily see ribs does not sit well with me.

 

[jumpthemoon]

Funnily enough on YO's two arabs their ribs aren't visible

so I don't know if she had a moment of temporary insanity?! I get the feeling that she wants to be in control of them as they are new to horse keeping and anything they do off their own back is wrong

She even went to the extent of telling them that it will get laminitis and have to be PTS if they put any more weight on it!

 

[Ruth_Cymru]

It may be worth the owner/loanee taking a look on arabianlines website, there are a lot of different types on there and all lookng well (as far as I have seen). It may give them a better view of what a typical arab weight should be.

 

[Silverspring]

[ QUOTE ]
She even went to the extent of telling them that it will get laminitis and have to be PTS if they put any more weight on it!

[/ QUOTE ]

Does the horse have a history of lami? Even if it did the poor horse sounds far from the correct condition! I don't like to see fat Arab and I think so people can see Arabs as being slightly undercondition because they naturally have bones that stick out a bit but ribs and rump should always be covered like a normal horse.

I have a light weight Arab, she's got a boney croupe which makes people think she's underweight, he back legs are a bit too long for her front legs which doesn't help the lean look. At the moment I can only just feel her ribs and her bottom has a firm but round feel, she is over weight due to the grass but not so over weight that I'm worried (they are out with lots of horse which should get the grass down soon enough!)

This time last year she was under weight and being fed oats, barley rings and oil to try and get condition on . When she was underweight (due to stress and lack of grass) you could see the line of her ribs at the back but not her ribs, her rump looked slightly sunken but did not quite dip away from her croupe, I would have scored her a 2 at this stage and I was taking action to get the weight back on!

Not sure what the YO's problem is but if you can see ribs across the yard then she needs something extra, they don't always gain weight quickly either so when they get under weight it can be a long haul to get it back on (part of the reason I don't worry about getting the little bit extra off my girl, put a saddle on an she just burns calories at the though of galloping about

)

 

[Grey_Arab]

I'm not entirely sure what ie 'normal' for an arab, but he does sound a bit on the skinny side, my boy is an arab and isn't like that...

 

[hussar]

Doesn't matter whether it's a lightly-built Arab or one with lots of bone - you shouldn't be able to see its ribs from a distance and its rump should be well-covered. The ewe neck might just be a matter of conformation but most Arabs do have a natural arch (like Grey_Arab's photo above).

 

[jumpthemoon]

I think the ewe neck is more due to the way it goes (it brings it's head up so high that its neck is vertical/bent backwards) but it's still nthing like Grey_Arabs pic. It doesn't have an ounce of fat on it (it's not very fit either) and I was suprised to notice the hollows behind it's elbow last night. I'm going to speak to the gilrs mum tonight on the quiet I think and tell her to look on the internet at pics of arabs so she can make her own mind up. Difficult situation for her though!

It doesnt have a history of lami and isnt out on a lot of grass either.

 

[Silverspring]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm not entirely sure what ie 'normal' for an arab, but he does sound a bit on the skinny side, my boy is an arab and isn't like that...

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for posting! My girl looks similar to your boy (only orange!) I think some people would look at that picture and say under weight as his you can make out hips, withers and the bum lacks a 'roundness' (ETS compared with say a WB) but it's just the conformation of Arabs.

I'm not syaing light weight Arabs should be under weigh but they are more likely to be accused of being under weight as they have these angles naturally. My friends Polish Arab is built like a bull, no one would ever say he was under weight as he naturally has a little plump bottom and lots of muscles

 

[Grey_Arab]

I see what you mean. He has always had withers like a small mountain range, makes saddling interesting at times! I would have said he was a smidge underweight, but not to bad considering we are just coming out of winter and he is 19

.

 

[mrdarcy]

As everyone else has said there's a difference between being fit and lean and being thin.

This is one of my arabs at the end of last years endurance season (he'd just completed a 64k ride):

As you can see he's not carrying much excess weight but you can't see his ribs and that's not just because of the mud!

You do have to watch arabs for getting too fat as they are very good doers but equally they shouldn't look like hat racks either.

 

[jumpthemoon]

Thanks guys. The pics you have posted look at least two stages higher than this horse in the condition scoring. He looks nothing like these - he makes them look obese! Even the one that's just done the 64k ride....(he looks really well btw!)

I'll see if I can sneak some pics of him later!

 

[Hippona]

My lad is not full arab....but he has the typical leanish frame and he always has an angular-ish bum...although it is rock hard with muscle ....this pic is a year ago when he was recovering from a period on box-rest...he has filled out more since then....he's never a tubster, he looks lean and angular compared to some of the natives/cobs on our yard so sometimes I think he's underweight but he's not...its just his shape. You can easily feel his ribs...but if I could see them from the other side of the yard I would be concerned......

Oops....pic appears tidgy.....don't know what happened there

 

[Pasha]

I'm sorry but for goodness sake, why do some people continue to label Arabs as something unique? They are first and foremost horses and they are condition scored the same as any other horse, taking confirmation onboard like you would with any other breed!

I have 2 - one very wide and chunky Russian x Polish and one (still chunky but not soo wide) Crabbet x Eqyptian.... yes Arabs are good doers for the most part, but like other breeds you get some that aren't and this poor chap clearly isn't if you can see his ribs!!!

They, like any breed of horse can be prone to Lami if allowed to get fat, unfit or through EMS/Cushings or concussion, but not because they are Arab!

Here are some pics of my new one a few weeks ago:

Sorry they are not great condition shots, but you get an idea x