Are horses becoming victims of the size zero culture?

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FinellaGlen

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Bit of a tongue in cheek post really but when I was at a show this weekend with my Highland pony I kept overhearing comments from a little girl of around 8 or 9 about my pony's weight. She also had a grey pony but it was a delicate little thing and nothing like the chunky Highland breed. Every time I rode past her I could hear her saying to her mother, "Isn't that pony fat?" or "That pony isn't as good as mine is it Mummy. It's fat" or "There is that fat pony Mummy. It looks as though it should be called Sprout". Mummy kept answering with "Yes, it is far too round darling. Not like your pony."

It made me laugh really because my Highland is actually slightly underweight for her breed, not massively so, but she's definitely on the slim side. I started wondering if maybe all little girls are now beginning to aspire to the slender show pony types rather than the fat, hairy Thelwell types that most of us had as first ponies? Maybe someone should launch a celebrity pony magazine for little girls with dieting tips for making your Shetland into the Victoria Beckham of the horse world by restricting its calorie intake to 6 blades of grass per day?
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My pony is very light at the moment and we often get comments about the skinny pony when I walk her out. I think people just get used to their own horses so anything bigger/smaller looks different.
 
i dunno, i've seen it more the other way around... people think that by giving your pony all the grain he can eat, you're being kind!


little girl sounded like a brat though, and we have (had? he's retired about 30 mins drive away) a highland pony, and they are a TERROR to keep thin.
 
fed up of people being soo terrified of their horse putting on weight. some riding ponies (i don't mean all) would be fine getting some food and more exercise. some ponies get absolutely no food except hay living all summer with no grass in case they put on weight. they don't have laminitis risk but need more exercise. worst i have seen was weigh taping daily!!
 
I think perhaps the girl just isn't used to seeing cobbier types! Well stuff her and her spindly show ponies
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I think if anything the problem is the other way around, I see far too many fat horses (That are actually fat!) now.
 
I have to admit I'm terrified about my horse putting on weight because he has arthritis and I don't want too much pressure on his joints - and I'm paranoid about laminitis at this time of year. But at the moment he's living out, just getting used to the grass so his tummy is a bit bigger but he's so happy, and his tummy should go down soon. But when I say that he's getting fat, everyone else at the yard says he looks the picture of health - so maybe I am responding to a size zero culture - but its for my horse's benefit I think.
 
Yes, I agree. Whilst i hate to see a fat pony some breeds are 'meant' to be chunky. Take the shetland for example...

A friend took a NF into the ring (stallion, so was muscled and obviously carrying more weight than a gelding would!) and the judge marked it down saying it was fat! He really is not fat, and I think people go to either extreme. they either expect a native to be of the same physique as a TB or they let them pile on so much weight they waddle!

In the ring yesterday we came up against two ponies which were prime examples. A section C which was IMO obese (and won ) and a standard shetland which was far slimmer than i would imagine was 'correct' for a pony of that build (but it was still nice) and came 4th. The real hairies (and all of them were lovely nice proper little natives, some still showing clips as proof of being worked in the winter and fed correctly) didnt even get placed.

I wonder if judges are still giving out the wrong signals? It's one extreme or another.
 
I think I would have gone over and explained that I was riding a native pony, designed to do a job of work, and therefore it's bone structure and musculature is designed for that, the pony was not fat, actually he's a bit slim for his type.
What is the hritage of your pony, highlightingtheir ignorance and appalling manners!

How rude!

Edited to add - within a 2 week span, I had one judge tell me that Star was far too fat for her type, and then the following week, andoth judge (county level) said if Star was her's she would be carrying a LOT more condition.

Condition scoring - she comes in as in 'good' condition, tending towards the upper end.

There are a lot very ignorant people about.
 
I think the problem is that people are not able to distinguish between the skeletal structure (horses with a large ribcage are often called 'fat' despite carrying little condition), the muscle development, and the actual condition of the horse.
But they're idiots.
I have had this with my TB mare, who has a very large barrel, and is deep through the girth - I have had idiots who think condition = depth of girth.
They should all be slain.
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I think its a really sad day for little girls generally that they become so obsessed with weight that they pass comments about ponies anyway......and the mother encouraged the little girl....

Your pony is fat.so ugly..and the little girls is skinny and slight so a better pony??.what sort of message is that sending out?
 
It seems to be one extreme or the other these days, most horses seem to be thin or obese, there's very few that are actually the correct weight for their build.
I think a horses weight is often a reflection of the horses owners ideas about what is acceptable weight wise for themselves.
 
Yep, I have that problem with my big TB! He has the 2nd largest size of racing girth, but you can still sometimes see his ribs, he is huge and has a massive ribcage, so to cover them permanently would not only be impossible, it would be mean he would be grossly overweight!
Personally I see far too much overfeeding and fat ponies, but people don't seem to care as long as the pony gets rosettes!
 
May I join you - I would love to use a large axe please.

I am so pissed off with people saying Cairo is overweight as he weighs 740 k - he is a bloody clydesdale!

He has huge bone and is wide - he is meant to pull huge weights. The old chap he actually is at the light end of his weight range due to his old joints.

And my final rant - gypsy cobs are meant to have apple bums - but muscle not fat!!!!

My boys are bred for comfort not speed - just like me.
 
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May I join you - I would love to use a large axe please.



[/ QUOTE ]

Certainly - we could go on an axe slaying spree together
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I'd also like to point out that fitness and condition are two different things too...fitness is the horse's ability to do a specified task e.g. PN eventing, condition is the amount of fat/weight covering a horse. So an eventer may be fit, but have little condition (which is correct) whereas a dressage horse may be fit (for dressage) and carry more condition.
Another mini-rant point - when people are assessing a horse's condition, they should look at the neck, the hip, the spine, the tail head etc - to gain an overall picture, not just the depth of girth/grass belly.
So there!
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You can't win can you! Beau is what I would say is 'good' condition. You can just see his ribs, the muscles in his neck when he moves and he has a slight gutter on his rump (between the bones, not between bum cheeks), but he is more muscly than fat. Yet he still gets called fat just because he is Shire X! I mean - he is hippy, if he was a show cob he would need a fair bit more weight on him (I wouldn't call it condition as IMHO he is in VERY good condition right now for a normal riding horse).
 
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