English judges at Equifestival putting fattest horses first

Rowreach

Rowreach

Adjusting my sails
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Spent yesterday at the first of the 2 days of the Equifestival at Cavan, showing my 5yo RID mare. Most of the judges were brought over from England (and before I get accused of being anti-English, I am English myself:)).

There were some seriously obese horses in evidence, particularly in the cob classes, and these all headed the line ups. A friend with a fit, healthy looking cob was told she would have been placed higher if her horse had carried more weight (she spends her life trying to keep weight off him) :(

My mare was pulled in 4th in the l/w hunter class. The judge asked me what I did with her (a bit of everything, and she is pretty fit atm), and then she told me that while she was a lovely mare and had given the ride judge a super ride, she was not heavy enough and "if you are going to carry on showing her she must be much bigger all over" :confused::rolleyes:

Now a 5yo ID still has a fair bit of developing to do, so she may bulk out a bit given time, but the last thing I am going to do is force feed her into becoming a porker.

I thought judges in England were supposed to have got the message about the fat horses, but from the showing reports in H&H and the evidence I saw yesterday, this is clearly not so :(:(
 
Nothing new there then.... :rolleyes:

perhaps it would take a whole line of fatties to keel over with lami and lump up with hyperlipeamia for showing world to realise...
 
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tallyho! said:
perhaps it would take a whole line of fatties to keel over with lami and
Click to expand...

.....and land on the judges in a huge wobbly flump!

Quite honestly if you asked the winners to then go out and do a day's hunting, they probably weren't even fit enough for the first half an hour on the field.

Yes, I know it is the wrong time of year. But working hunter should be exactly that - a fit healthy working horse, not some flubbery lump who has stuffed its face to look bulked up and a fake look of healthy. FAT IS NOT HEALTHY - it is FAT and OBESE and dangerous.

I would've said back (and got thrown out probably), "well, if I want to go on working/hunting her, then I don't want her much fatter coz it will be detrimental to her health imho".
 
Would be interesting to have a vet in the ring along side judges determining the condition of these horses and their likelyhood to become lame or ill due to their weight.
Surely showing in the horse world is the same as dogs in the sense that you show in a sense to determine how useful the horse would be for breeding? (I know this is not always the case, but its generally the idea to find the best horses, right?) Well... health conditions surely go against this, as you wouldn't breed from an unhealthy animal. An animal that is prone to becoming obese, which is basically what they are showing, is not something I would want to be breeding from.....
 
Very sad! I don't really know anything about showing but when I see the odd class, the horses mainly look terribly obese and are not in any way penalised.

Good idea Sol! The vet should have the powers to remove any obese horse from the competition on welfare grounds - that would shake things up a bit!
 
well, don't know where the judges were from but it was the same at the Royal Highland-the cobs were huge and there were a couple that were lame and one that looked laminitic in that it really didnt want to move at all on the hard ground.
 
Me too loving the vet idea...he could condition score and those marks could go towards the overall placings. That would really make people think about the health of the horse!
 
One of the gross cobs was working in the same time as me in the morning, and I couldn't take my eyes off it, and thought that if it came in front of me if I was judging I would have put it last or asked her to leave the ring for the health of the animal :(

It came 2nd :confused::rolleyes:

Funnily enough re the comment about breeding ^^ my mare was 2nd in her breed class and qualified for the champs :) - different judge ;)
 
Well, I once wrote a letter to BHS Welfare when I was so livid about losing to a fatty. (I'm a bitter loser :rolleyes:)

You could always help my cause and send one too - include your suggestion of vets at shows! Super idea.
 
If anything the fat Vs fit has got worse in the past year or so IMO, my welsh cob has always been well covered, but has also always been fit and athletic (would quite easily hunt all day etc) and can gallop at the drop of a hat. this year all I've seen is bulled up stuffy animals who cant extend and gallop one straight let alone a good pipe opener on the hunt field. not that it makes a scrap of difference anymore.

I do think cobs and middle/heavyweight hunters have an awful lot to answer for, its type and skeletal/muscular build not just the weight it carrys.

you can have well covered and fit, but sadly it is few and far between (surely so they can hold the animal who is corned up out of its mind but too lardy to actually be able to go)
 
My vet was show vet at a show recently, there were 2 horses in particular that she spoke to the owners of - one was 3/10th lame in trot and the other laminitic!! Its apalling that people can get away with showing these animals, with no one questioning why they are in such an obese condition!
I struggle with my big fell mare's weight, and i think I always will, but was told the other day that she would have been the slimmest horse in the class at a local show!! Madness!!
 
I REALLY feel for those competitors with fit, well conditioned horses. I have been out of county level showing for several years now, but had heard that things were improving on the fat front. I went to Herts county a few weeks ago and was so disappointed to see so many fat horses there.

I actually felt a bit sorry for the judges in a way. If you're presented with a class of say 8 fat horses and one fit looking one, you aren't going to have any choice but to place fat horses. But obviously they should be talking to competitors and encouraging them to put their horses welfare first, not encouraging them to make them fat! I can't believe that some people will put winning a class above the health of their own horses. I'm really keen to get back into county level showing but this whole issue really puts me off.
 
There was a scarily obese horse at a British Dressage show I went to a couple of years ago. Lovely horse but when it moved its skin wibbled and wobbled and although it was only about 15hh it was twice as wide as the 17hh warmbloods.

Turns out it was a county winning lightweight (!!!!) cob. Says it all really. Stood next to competition fit horses the level of obesity currently fashionable in show horses was very clear and, quite honestly, horrifying.
 
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