Fat show horses

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Bojingles

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Sorry, I know this has been done many times but today I saw it today with my own eyes and I'm baffled. I took the comedy cob to a local show purely for the experience; it was her first show. My goal was purely for both of us to come home unscathed so I'm happy with our result! It was my first show too, so please don't think this is sour grapes - we just went along for the ride, as it were. But all the cobs in our class, as well as the CHAPS non-native before us, were all what I would describe as obese; dangerously so. My friend and I, both with what I would call decently lean horses, came last in our class. Our horses looked emaciated in comparison to some. Do you think my cob is too thin?? So my question is, why are show horses so fat? Is it to hide dodgy conformation? Or what? Can anyone explain?? I honestly don't get it and would love to hear an insider's view!! (ps her Dually is only this loose because she's eating)
 
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The joke here in NZ is that a cob is just an overweight park hack. But "proper" cobs are a bit of a rarity here anyway.

I have the same issues with Arabians. Becuase I come from an endurance background, most of what is in the show ring looks pretty unfit and flabby to me.

Your boy looks just fine to me.:)
 
She looks a healthy weight to me, she'll suffer less health problems in the long run than a fatty. Our three year old has absolutely packed the weight on in the last fortnight and is in my opinion far too fat, he's had his grazing restricted quite severely and still has some to loose before I will take him showing again. I'm sure if I did take him out, not one judge would comment on his blimpiness however in my opinion youngstock shouldn't be overweight and a working horse should be able to work without distress. At our last show I saw overweight hunters that would have dropped dead within 20 mins and very few fit working horses.
 
She looks a great weight.

Generally showing horses are fat as it's seen as a way of them looking well if you know what I mean. Bulking them up makes them seem well muscled etc . Personally I'd rather see something lean and fit than puffing its way round the arena. My coloured has been overweight in the past and I'm doing everything I can to maintain his weight as he is just now. I know of several showing people who feed their horses endless amounts of hay/haylage, giant hard feeds with calorific chaff, mix etc so that they are 'well covered' .
 
Hate to see overweight animals in the ring, however, my lean 3yr old cob, went up against a 3yr old fat thing last summer and beat it, the other cob was a nice type just fat, I don't care if my lad never wins again, he won't be allowed to get fat just to get a ribbon, I love him too much to let that happen
 
TBH I had the same thoughts at local show today... Some of the horses were horrendously overweight even to my quite inexperienced eyes...
 
Your horses' weight looks fine and the fact you came last doesn't mean it was purely based on weight even if the others were obese. I would hope that a judge was looking at type, conformation, markings, movement and the show whether in hand or ridden. I wouldn't let it put you off if you enjoyed the experience.
 
Find a picture of The Humdinger - one hell of a proper cob, well covered, well muscled and lasts all day doing both cob and coloured classes as well as every championship right to the end of the days Supreme and still has a spring in his step! It is possible to get well covered but fit horses in the show ring!
 
It will never change all the while we have some silly old duffers judging and rewarding obese horses huffing and puffing around a ring. The whole showing world needs a complete overhaul from the top down. What I also find disgusting is that some of those judges who rewarded fat lumps with red ribbons had ponies of their own at home starving and in disgusting conditions as was reported on H&H and in the national press do your own googling - HYPOCRITES!!! As you can probably see I loathe showing!!
 
Ive never seen a healthy weight horse of any breed be placed over an obese one because remember... Its not fat, its "show condition!"

Your boy looks good to me :)
 
We got a load of pamphlets from Blue Cross (they sent them free, bless 'em!) which we stuck on all the pens with fat ponies in them at one show. They are entitled 'Fat Horse Slim". http://www.bluecross.org.uk/80161/fat-horse-slim.html

So if you would like to do something wicked which is not as harmful or expensive as chocolate, here's your chance!

I do think we ought to get together and report the official vet as such gatherings to the RCVS for not doing his job! It probably wouldn't result in any disciplinary action but might just get noticed and talked about.

Another who hates shows (I'm always stuck on trailer watch anyway) and seeing obese animals of whatever species angers me. It is time to stop being nice!
 
It's dreadful isn't it? My friend took her two year old and got placed 6th. The judge commented that she was too long and tubular and she should put her in foal to drop her belly! A two year old,
 
Looks absolutely fine to me :) well done! I compete in the ROR classes with my fella, he's naturally a bit of a chunk, but my god some of the horses that walk into the ring don't even look like TB's. More like HW hunters, needless to say, the judges love them. Despite them heaving in the canter go round, yet they're supposed to be "athletic built" horses, hm. The mind baffles.
 
Fides said:
It's dreadful isn't it? My friend took her two year old and got placed 6th. The judge commented that she was too long and tubular and she should put her in foal to drop her belly! A two year old,
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OMG!!! And these IDIOTS are judging??? All the time we have ignorant people like this having influence horses and ponies will suffer. 95% of people will take this rubbish "advice" with a pinch of salt, but the other 5% will act on it....oh dear...
 
Im a regular spectator at the higher end shows and dont think its so bad, as EKW says some of these well covered horses are tremendously fit, a lot of the kids ponies do other activitied besides showing, i regularly see HOYS ponies going XC training etc and many are active members of the family. Ive seen ponies put down the line for being fat too and heard the judges comments.

I also see a lot of newbies who simply feed their equine up thinking thats all that matters - when you get one of those chubbies and a fully fit show horse next to each other the difference is stark
 
I'm not going to find pics as even with an image off Google I don't think its fair to do that

I saw two ponies recently that illustrated my point exactly. The best I could describe it as is that one was creasy, bulged in some very odd places, had rolls of fat over its withers and wobbled terribly where the other was certainly chunky but was the picture of hard muscle and fitness too.

I think some people think these horses stand in 23 hours a day, get driven to a showground unloaded, look pretty, come home and get put in the stable again - I'm sure thats the case for some but not the majority - the amount of work and varied work that some of these animals do is unreal
 
Firstly I really really dislike showing.
I agree that there are far too many fat show horses out there, and that there is still a strong judging bias towards overweight horses.

That said, I do appreciate that there are some cracking exampes of really well conditioned show horses out there - pure muscle, and that takes a lot of time and effort which is often difficult to achieve in an amatuer set up.

What I would say though, at the lower end of showing is that there are a loot of poorly conformed horses, poorly trained horses and those not true to type. It doesn't matter if they are fat, thin or perfect - those types simply are not going to be at the top of a line up. It is then often easier for an owner to blame the 'fat horse culture' for their lack of rosette rather than accept their horse just isn't up to standard.
 
Before I begin can I just say how beautifully marked your horse is. And secondly, IMO yours is a perfect weight. You can clearly see she is only slender because is fit. I can't see any ribs or hips so you have nothing to worry about. Some people love their cobs on the chubbier side zx
 
Personally I've never 'got' showing either. Who gives a fig about ones person interpretation (which can differ totally from another persons) of a breed standard. It fits the standard, but is it really up to the job / work? So judge xyz thinks you have a nice horse, so what, it is one persons personal opinion. That these horses are overfed to produce unfit flabby horses is abuse and in some cases shortens their lives. Starvation is prosecuted, over feeding should at the very least not be rewarded & unacceptable, all obese specimens should be removed from the ring before judging begins. Crufts champions are now checked by a vet to ensure their health isn't compromised, how about having vet checks on competitors before they enter the ring to check for soundness & obesity.

I go to county shows, & the national final of a large series of shows. The heavyweight classes are/were a joke. Only obese animals placed, the ground shook when they lumbered past with laboured breathing. A cob should be athletic as another horse. A heavyweight hunter should look like it could hunt, not had several seasons on lush pasture. There should be no issue with major shows introducing vet checks.

Hell with what the judge thought, your cob is healthier & happier for not being a mister blobby.
 
Your horse looks beautiful.... hats off to you :)

The problem is many people want a quick result... so they feed their horses up and instead of a well muscled, fit, athletic horse who has probably taken months and months of hard work to get to that condition, you get lots of 'well covered' horses that are basically just blobs of fat, made to look pretty.

I am fairly inexperienced in showing (in as much as I have no interest what so ever in doing it myself, except once to support a charity event!). My old horse was nowhere near perfect in confirmation, but was a lot better than many of the horses and ponies on show (fit, muscled, and ideal weight), he moves beautifully, has the most gorgeous head, and generally is a pleasure to view (still at yard now training people in lateral/dressage work).... The judge rarely flicked an eye over him... Slightly frustating when many in my classes had not even bothered to trim up, plait, wash white bits, wear correct clothing, lead appropriately etc... Don't get me wrong, we weren't perfect but we tried hard, against many that looked like they had dragged themselves and overweight horse outta bed only minutes before!

I can usually spot those that have been worked to that fitness and health, and others which have been fed... you only have to take a look at the slightly emerging cellulite starting to appear on butts and necks!
 
I picked up a copy of Pony Magazine annual 1969 this morning. The writing sounded straight from Brief Encounter but boy did the ponies look tough. The tops show winners looked like they could three hours in a riding school and there was a NewForest that looked a bruiser being dragged round a ring but definitely no fatties.
 
Your horse is a nice weight and I suspect that might not have been the issue and you don't know unless you spoke to the judge. She looks a little inbetween types to me - not hairy enough/deep enough through the girth for a full traditional but not with that lighter 'prettiness' that the coloured 'natives tend to have with more refined welshy-type heads.
 
A good hunter should look like it would last all day in the field when it canters round. My aunt is a judge, and she sends anything that she thinks is labouring to the end of the line.
 
It is so true, but yet I keep on going :D

Some of the judges at my local show are brilliant, while others (judge told my 12 year old sharer her pony was lame and that she was a vet, she is in fact a teaching assistant!) are useless.

I entered the same class both ridden and in hand and went up against the same horses/ponies in each. I came first in the in hand and told my pony looked fit and it was a pleasure to judge a pony that wasn't overweight. I came last in the ridden as he was too underweight... *Sigh*

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Thanks for your replies everyone, very interesting reading! Haffiesrock, says it all, lol!

Yeah I'm well aware weight wouldn't have been the only factor; our complete inexperience wouldn't have helped and the judge told me I needed to run faster ;). He also said she had a bad case of bog burn (she didn't; I'd had to take her luxuriant feathers off to shift the mites some months ago). I really only went along to get her and myself some experience at getting out and about in the lorry and behaving around lots of other horses (had mixed results with this one!). I don't intend to show regularly. My main question was WHY this bulkiness is deemed desirable. This was a small local level show and believe me these horses were not fit!
 
I also think it's disgusting. Was at Royal Windsor on Friday and whilst watching the showing classes in the main ring between the showjumping and the dressage I couldn't help but notice how obese the cobs in there were. I appreciate that a cob is a heavier build by default but how people can justify the health problems that go along with enormously obese horses just to win some rosettes I do not know. It was disgusting. I was with my University riding club as well, and a lot of the girls I was with are slightly more novicey and have never had their own horses before, just ridden riding school horses - but they all commented on how disgustingly overweight the poor beasts were!!

edited to add - also saw a bit of the working hunter class and there was a monstrously fat horse in there who if I remember rightly came pretty high up. Poor horse could barely finish the jumping portion of the class and was heaving at the end of his gallop in his show, nevermind a full day's hunting!

I am not talking about well muscled and good condition horses, either. There is a blatant distinction in my mind and it's easy to tell which is fat and which is muscle.
 
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