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This is the boy my sharer was harassed while riding!! Apparently he "is too thin to be a welsh cob" Well - the latest is I should be prosecuted for "starving" him!!!!

I think this is the best he has looked weight wise - he is slim,fit and full of beans. He's an RC allrounder NOT a show animal! I wouldn't want him much less TBH as he would look gaunt - but I cannot see that he's thin in any way!!

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He arrived like this

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I know what I prefer!!
 
I cannot see how anyone could think he looks starved:confused: he is in great condition, fit, yet well covered with good muscle tone but he probably tells everyone he gets starved because he's a pony and they always want more than they get:D
 
So basically he arrived in 'show' condition and is now 'normal' .. He looks the perfect weight to me! So many fattys around nower days that when people see a horse of the correct weight they think it's starved!

He is gorgeous! (:
 
ImmyS said:
So basically he arrived in 'show' condition and is now 'normal' .. He looks the perfect weight to me! So many fattys around nower days that when people see a horse of the correct weight they think it's starved!

He is gorgeous! (:
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Ummm yes!! Poor sod was puffing and blowing just walking round the block - about a mile!! It's been a long, hard slog as we couldn't just starve him! The weight has come off slowly and carefully with a good excercise programme as well as a decent diet! We let him come out of this winter on the slim side and now he has really blossomed with a lovely coat and muscle tone but no flab!! I'm really pleased with him.
 
maisie06 said:
Ummm yes!! Poor sod was puffing and blowing just walking round the block - about a mile!! It's been a long, hard slog as we couldn't just starve him! The weight has come off slowly and carefully with a good excercise programme as well as a decent diet! We let him come out of this winter on the slim side and now he has really blossomed with a lovely coat and muscle tone but no flab!! I'm really pleased with him.
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You've done great, it's no easy task getting a cobby type slim and fit so congratulations, must be very rewarding! :)
 
He could be a poster boy for equine weight watchers, looks absolutely fantastic now, but the before pic :eek: :eek: is revolting, poor boy! Were you weightaping/bridging to find out how much he has lost?
 
He looks much better imo!!! Spot on healthy :)


I recognise that yard for some reason!
 
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He looks great to me for a welshie! If he was any other breed I'd maybe want a shaving more off him but I appreciate how hard it will have been to even get him down to this weight so big pay on the back to you and your sharer!
 
rhino said:
He could be a poster boy for equine weight watchers, looks absolutely fantastic now, but the before pic :eek: :eek: is revolting, poor boy! Were you weightaping/bridging to find out how much he has lost?
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He started around 580kg......disgusting - and is now a slimline 449kgs. The now was on a weighbridge - the before on a tape so a guesstimate really,but he's lost well over 100kgs and looks and feels great for it.
 
Jenni_ said:
He looks great to me for a welshie! If he was any other breed I'd maybe want a shaving more off him but I appreciate how hard it will have been to even get him down to this weight so big pay on the back to you and your sharer!
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He does have quite a big frame and lots of bone. His ribs are easily felt as are his shoulders, and hips. To shave anymore off I feel he would look a bit gaunt on those big bones of his! He will never look like a TB type, but this is great and I feel he is spot on, yet we still get the too thin comments, only at shows though - dressage people remark how nice he looks!
 
He is stunning! Well done OP. Why are people accusing you of starving him?

Whilst he is what I would consider a perfect weight, this can be achieved in 'right' and 'wrong' ways:

Right

Trickle feeding, double and tripling up nets, bringing in from the grass for up to 3 hours, muzzling.

Wrong

Allowing to be out during night/or day and then bringing in with a tiny net that he would finish within an hour, or no forage at all, so that he is left without forage for periods of 5 or more hours.

Both these methods achieve the same results with weight, but the second one causes all kinds of problems such as gastric ulcers and an unhappy, stressed horse.

OP, your horse looks a very happy chap. I suspect your methods have been the former.
 
Ask The Blue Cross (www.bluecross.org.uk) to send you some of their Fat Horse Slim leaflets and drop them at strategic points around your yard!

They sent me a heap of them (fr free, but they deserve a donation) which we then took great delight in surreptitiously depositing on pens at a local show, but don't tell anyone!:D:D:D
 
He looks perfect..and i would say there are far too many horses about who need weight watchers..I would rather see a horse just right than carrying weight (his own i mean not rider wise!) and not wishing to insult anyone in any sphere or with any breed, I just think some people keep their horses a little too well/fat and to me that is as much a welfare issue, if not more so, than being underweight.keeping one fit & sleek like this you're not putting added pressure on his heart/system and will be hopefully less prone to all the nasties that go hand in hand with keeping them too well/fat. Well done you, you've obviously put alot of hard work & thought in and that, I can only say is very commendable..they are probably just b*tching or jealous x
 
Ignore what everyone tells you, as said on here, he looks just perfect. In fact, my welsh cob looks the same weight wise, so they do exist and it is nice to see them not obese :)
Although I've had a much easier time than you as mine's weird and manages his own weight- I have actually had him showing his ribs while on ad-lib hay and hard feed- he did look a bit strange when he was that thin, much prefer the chunkier breeds a little more covered than you would expect a TB to be :)
Well done you, the before photo looks like its another horse!
 
I get the same , my mare is just right but she's thin going by other liveries who's horses are obese. People only see fat horses as the norm these days
 
Overweight/obese sec D's or C's for that matter are my absolute pet hate.
WPCS try by holding seminars for judges etc but Im not sure its making one iota of difference. I've been told that I need to put serious weight on my 3 yr old?? For what - a rosette? - I think not!
Good for you and don't ever be tempted to go down that route as he looks great :D
 
He is fit, not thin!! I had this last year with my boy when he was hunting fit. Most of the horses at my yard are overweight and so he looked skinny compared to them - but he was just fit! There is a difference although a lot of people don't seem to realise this. And too fat for a Welsh Cob?! Who said Welsh Cobs had to be obese?! He looks lovely, you should be proud that you are managing to keep him a healthy weight especially with all the extra grass around this year. :)
 
Wagtail said:
He is stunning! Well done OP. Why are people accusing you of starving him?

Whilst he is what I would consider a perfect weight, this can be achieved in 'right' and 'wrong' ways:

Right

Trickle feeding, double and tripling up nets, bringing in from the grass for up to 3 hours, muzzling.

Wrong

Allowing to be out during night/or day and then bringing in with a tiny net that he would finish within an hour, or no forage at all, so that he is left without forage for periods of 5 or more hours.

Both these methods achieve the same results with weight, but the second one causes all kinds of problems such as gastric ulcers and an unhappy, stressed horse.

OP, your horse looks a very happy chap. I suspect your methods have been the former.
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It's a mad showing freak that is accusing me of the starving!! Says perfect condition for a cob is borderline laminitic :-(

Oat straw has been our friend, in a trickle net mixed with hay hanging from a rafter!!! He's on restricted grazing at present with some old, stalky hay to munch, and my trotter cross in before him to take the grass down!!
 
cambrica said:
Overweight/obese sec D's or C's for that matter are my absolute pet hate.
WPCS try by holding seminars for judges etc but Im not sure its making one iota of difference. I've been told that I need to put serious weight on my 3 yr old?? For what - a rosette? - I think not!
Good for you and don't ever be tempted to go down that route as he looks great :D
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Good for you Cambrica - I could not bring myself to do it either.
 
is she/he thinks that perfect cob weight is broderline lamenetic then there is something seriosly wrong with them!!! i feel sorry for their horses, i was froever trying to get weight off my cob x, the lady at my yard always used to accuse me of starving my horse, unfortunatkey he was very poorly bless his soul, and she knew he was poorly and still acused me of starvatiuon!!. he was pts earlier this year (RIP harvey boy 19.3.12) she told me i killed my horse to my face, she figured he could have kept the weight on if he was fed right, even tho i had vets out every week to access him etc, he was oin a bale of hay a day to himself and were talking a tb x cob 15.2!! ....it hurts to hear stuffg like this but you have to let it blow over your head...her cob is ext ovrwght and i told her she was cruel to let her get that fat...the next day i saw her lunging her and has been ever since!! haha!! just goes to show, ovrwght horses are too common these days, people dont recognise a healthy, fit horse when they see one now days.

i think your boy loooks fab!!! keep up the good work, tell them to look at their own horses next time !! lol
 
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