Contradicting views

GrumpyMare

GrumpyMare

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Hello,

I'm a little worried about my cob's weight, though everyone keeps trying to reassure me he's fine. Anyway I've been given two contradicting viewpoints about how a horse should look from behind. One person I spoke to said that if you can't see the stomach from behind, it means the horse is an ok weight. However my other person tells me that the stomach should fill the gap where the thighs go in, giving the hindquarters a round appearance. Who is right if any and how should my cob look from behind?
 
Stand behind and look above the tail, if there is a furrow at the spine he needs to lose some weight until his bum top line is rounded without the dip above the tail.

One of the problems some people find with cob/heavy horse weight is that they are built more chunkily than say a TB, the rib cage is rounder so the sides stick out more.
 
he does have a very round bum with no dip (he did get an apple bum at one stage when I first unleashed him but that soon disappeared when we restricted the gazing) I'm more worried because his belly seems to hang quite low (or to me it seems anyway) He still has wither definition, and he works with a nicely rounded neck. He has a crest but it can wobble, which I'm told is ok?
 
Evelyn said:
Stand behind and look above the tail, if there is a furrow at the spine he needs to lose some weight until his bum top line is rounded without the dip above the tail.

One of the problems some people find with cob/heavy horse weight is that they are built more chunkily than say a TB, the rib cage is rounder so the sides stick out more.
Click to expand...

My horse has said furrow yet she is definitely not fat. I'm not sure if it's her pelvis or what but she is only 365kg for 14.1hh of Welsh D and you can see her ribs, no crest at all - if anything I am trying to put weight on her after she lost a lot when she had laminitis this summer. I think you are right that certain types have more difficult conformation to fat score, definitely. Very frustrating.

To OP - my instructor said my pony had those hollows on her hind legs too and that I had to get her to work more from behind to build them up. I have found that doing lots of hills is starting to make a difference.
 
I would LOVE to do hill work with my boy, as it really does strengthen the back end, but in Lincolnshire, at least the part I'm in, hills are a non occurence :(
 
He sounds fine to me, from your description.
Horses do not store fat under their bellies, so it doesn't really matter how low it is, it must be the way he is built, rather than extra weight. If he gets fat, his 'apple bum' will return to warn you.
 
Wow I totally didn't know they didn't store fat under the bellys, so what is it when the belly gets bigger if it's not fat? I have for example a picture of my boy taken as we unleashed him on grass (he was enormous) and then 2 weeks later after working it off, and there is a definite difference in gut size, what would this be?
 
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