Fat horses!!!!!!

MontyandZoom

MontyandZoom

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I have a terrible time keeping the weight on Monty and have spent two years perfecting his feed to keep him a good weigh without be a crazy. Alot of people at my field have been very 'helpful' in telling me what I am doing wrong.

We have a fatty field and a thinny field in Summer. I was poo picking in the field with all the lush grass (LOADS of it!) and one of the horses came over to me. I have NEVER seen anything like it. He has a massive crest and the gutter down his back is horrendous. There are a few horses like it in my field. I know it is hard to put weight on or to keep it off with some horses by why on earth is that horse turned out in a field full of long lush grass when there is a perfect field next door with rationed grazing.

I don't understand why people let their horses get so fat!!!!

I have noticed alot more fat horses at events recently. Do you think it is getting worse?
 
I think people don't want to be 'mean' to their horses by giving them less grass. If they only realised how mean they are actually being by making the horse so fat and prone to all sorts of nasty things.
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Its not hard to keep wieght off, I have a large irish who only has to look at grass be it winter or summer and he would go like a barrell if he wasn't turned out with Greenguard Grazing muzzle on. He had two weeks off last summer and came in like a barrell and he had is muzzle on, put him on NAF Slimline and worked him every day for two months, the weight came off and he was back to normal. Muzzles are not cruel in fact not using one and letting ones horse get obese could be classed as more cruel as it can then end up with all sorts of health problems. There were 4 v overweight horses on the yard recently they were around 150 to 200kg overweight, the vets constantly warned these people about obesity in their horses, the horses had visible large fatty lumps on their bodies, the owners did nothing these horses were only ridden occasionally and thus just kept putting on weight in the end they left to go somewhere with more lush grazing!!!!!!!!!!!! The YM warned the owners on a regular basis about the obesity of their horses and they took no notice.

The former ILPH were doing roadshows last year about obesity in horses, if you contact them they could send you some leaflets which you could leave lying around in the tack room and hopefully they might read them. Do younot have a YO or YM who can speak to them about the obesity of their horses, some people just don't understand about obesity in horses.
 
i love making fat horses loose weight!!!! it makes me happy!!! it myt be a slight obsession
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i dont understand why people let it happen there are so many options that i dont think there is any excuse!!!!
there's a fatty on my yard that its owner has bought all the low calorie feed for but then feeds it by the bucket load which defeats the piont!!!! although over the last 3 weeks she has found him a rider and stopped pumpin him full of food so things are looking up!!!!!

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Unfortunately we are just a field owned by a farmer who takes little interest. My friend has a tbx who is a good doer so she is muzzled and she got loads of flack for it.

The other thing is, I don't understand why people keep feeding them! They are on good grazing at the moment and most are ridden out just in walk once a week. They don't need hard feed!!!!! Zoomy is an argentine tb and she is in medium work and lives out 24/7. In summer she gets a handful of chaff with a vit and min supplement and suprise suprise........she is still alive! Why on earth people think they need a mix is beyond me.
 
I think the problems happen because horses now are turned out on fields that are far too good and rich for them. Horses can survive on much less lush grass than cows.

Ours do get a grass belly in the first week of being turned out on a 'fresh' field, but not fat. Their grazing is good enough, and varied with lots of herbs and rough grasses as well as typical grazing grasses. They also have areas of thistles and nettles in their fields for added variety. The patches of not so good grazing make them work harder for their food - more walking - which in turn helps keeps the weight off.

I wouldn't be able to put a muzzle on - don't like them and my horse would pull it off - but would turn out on v poor grazing if my horse was a fatty
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I saw a tethered gypsy horse the other day and it was the fattest thing I have ever seen, don't know how it was still standing
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I'm itching to get my hands on my friend's mare! She is HUGE. Gutter on her bum, massive shoulder pads and a crest like a stallion! It's a shame because she has a pretty little face, fine legs and then the body of a hippo! When I first met her last year the mare fitted FB's saddle almost perfectly - I wouldn't even try to put it on her now she has a back like a table top! My friend is well aware that the mare is over weight and has taken her and her other mare away from the farm that they were living at, brought them home to her place and now has them on very restricted grazing (this mare had laminitis last February from scoffing clover and rich pasture and friend is terrified she will get it again). The problem is work, friend has a full time job and, although she has no problem with the mare on the ground, is very nervous of riding her as friend is a very gentle soul and the mare needs a firm hand or takes the p*ss dreadfully. I love riding mare, she's great fun - likes to push the limits but responds well to being ridden with confidence.

I sort of suggested that friend takes MoM, who could do with some more weight on to be honest, as a companion for her other mare and I have her fatty for a couple of months across the summer and put her in boot camp. Now we just need MoM to be fit to travel and we can discuss it in more detail...
 
Your telling me! When I got my mare a month ago she was morbid! She is on large paddock with very little grass on it and hay and is finally looking like she is loosing some weight but friends think i'm being mean not having her on better grazing!
 
Urrgghh it crazes me. As I've posted on here, we have just had a haffy mare come back from loan horrifically obese. Aparently she has been on 14 acres before she came home. She's got a gutter down her back and literally wobbles when she walks. It makes me so angry people let horses get like that....especially when the people that had her on loan kept saying how good she looked. What is wrong with these people!?
 
Don't, there is one the same in with my mare. It is humoungously overweight - solid crest, no feelable ribs even if you jumped up and down on them, fat pads everwhere and bum cleavage you could park your bike in. She is only young too. Hardly get ridden, and then only at the walk. The owner's own measurements though make you realise she doesn't know what obesity is. My own mare has put on noticeable weight this week and she is old, and has never been a fatty so it shows how dangerous the grass is. A mask is the answer, but even though a horse of similar build and height is wearing one, she doesn't take the hint. Mind you, she doesn't come down that often so probably hasn't even noticed the problem.
 
I bought my fat mare in January...

Still losing weight...in a starvation paddock... I didn't want to as thought I was being cruel but now she has lost a bit she has got so much more energy.

so she is staying on restricted grazing for all the summer and I WILL get her perfect (cob)

but had to laugh to day as I was grooming all her mud off and found she had some bingo wings!!!

They are definately going!! It's working but it's a slow process.
 
tell me about it i have a 14.2 cob in my field and you have to really press to fill his ribs ,ive tryed being polite to owner regards to helping to cut his grass by strip grazing or even put a muzzle on , she doesnt ride it or even lunge
now shes gone and brought another thats in the same situation
 
I think half the time it is ignorance and people like to see horses out eating nice lush fields of grass. Coupled with the fact that some people won't be told! It is no different to humans that are overweight and still eat too much and exercise little...some of them can't see the problem either.
You can only look after your own really...I get up at 5am during the summer to exercise mine beofre work and use only a quarter of the field I rent as he is always on restricted grazing. So I leave the rest to get rediculously long all summer and get a farmer to cut it.
 
Show her MY reply to this thread when she is having the horse put down due to laminitis -

YOU ARE A SILLY, SILLY, SILLY, IRRESPONSIBLE, CRUEL AND UNFIT owner.
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Thank you. I really must stop opening these threads as my blood pressure takes hours to settle.

And while you are at it, report her to WHW (ILPH as was) They might give her a jolly stern lecture.
 
am i right to quote that alot more people are showing overweight horses because of judges i cant see why tho im sure i see this somewhere
 
I read an interesting comment in the Vet Record today about owner perceptions of healthy weight, apparently many people now consider a horse of the correct weight to be too thin!

Mind you, this problem is by no means restricted to equines, cats and dogs are just as bad, if not worse.
 
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