Fat Versus Thin

[bensababy]

After reading another post i am interested to find out what is deemed by people as too fat/thin.

After visiting the Edenbridge and Oxted show Monday i was appalled to see how many fat/obese horses there were waddling round the show ring. IMO they looked disgusting and incredibly unhealthy.
Why is it that is seems more acceptable in the showing world nowadays to have fat/obese horses?

 

[BigRed]

Because the judges don't have the balls to mark them down.

 

[Shilasdair]

It isn't rocket science...condition scoring breaks it down into easy steps for those who are new to horse owning.
And you can estimate their weight (and tell if they are gaining or losing) with a weightape quite easily.
The only area for confusion is between condition (the amount of fat a horse is carrying) and fitness (whether it is capable of doing a specific job).
S

 

[seche]

I agree on the condition scoring front! I loathe obese horses - though seeing a horse "fit for purpose" is as it should be.
I would rather have a well muscled fit horse - not necessarilly ribby unless Advanced eventing or racing fit, I like to be able to feel ribs but not see them, and an "apple shaped" bottom is fine - so long as it doesnt wobble!!! and is fit.

 

[IdoShowing]

[ QUOTE ]
Because the judges don't have the balls to mark them down.

[/ QUOTE ]


I did Hickstead qualifiers on my show hunter & she kept doing well, but virtually every judge said that she needed to put more weight on, so i don't necessarily think that judges don't have the balls to mark them down, but that they like to see them fat!

At BSPS champs last year, judges were marking horses down for being too fat & telling their riders why they marked them down.

 

[kerilli]

i detest seeing fat horses and ponies, i've seen how much agony laminitis causes, and i really wish the judges would chuck horses out of the ring if they're gross.
i stand behind a horse and check its weight by the slope of its haunches up to or down to its spine. i've found this is the most reliable way of seeing its true condition, not be fooled by a fat grass belly etc.

 

[Shilasdair]

[ QUOTE ]
i detest seeing fat horses and ponies, i've seen how much agony laminitis causes, and i really wish the judges would chuck horses out of the ring if they're gross.
i stand behind a horse and check its weight by the slope of its haunches up to or down to its spine. i've found this is the most reliable way of seeing its true condition, not be fooled by a fat grass belly etc.

[/ QUOTE ]

Good point; I think novice owners get confused by the size of the horse's ribcage - if it is deep through the girth - and mistake this for a fat horse.
I look at the ribs, the covering on the neck and over the withers, the spine, the hindquarters, etc.
S

 

[bensababy]

i used to do alot of in-hand showing with my New Forest pony - and several times i got told he needed more "meat on his bones". My pony was never thin, he was in my eyes and my vets at a perfect weight. Anymore and he would have been fat. I would rather see him "perfect" than fat with "more meat on his bones".

 

[pinktiger]

i think now adays we are much more aware of complications of over weight horses. I think people are more tuned into wanting an athletic looking horse and working to put topline on rather, than trying to feed for it!!! (my serious pet hate is over weight horses,i watched a working hunter class recently and was quite suprised

as the weight of the horses considering their alledged(sp) job)!!!

 

[Kenzo]

Or is it pure laziness...sorry but sometimes it is just the owners that are down right lazy and let them get too fat.

Not in all cases, before everyone attacks me for saying that, I'm not saying everyone with fat horse doesn't care for them properly or are lazy owners, not at all.... but I do think I'm making a valid point for lets say 50% of the cases.

I am fully aware that some ponies/horses depending on there type etc do put weight on very easily, despite being on starvation type paddocks and regularly exercise and more specialised diet etc but some people just don't bother making the extra effort to keep them at a healthy weight and provide the necessary exercise and monitor the weight....like someone said, condition scoring, how many people do you know that have obese ponies that actually make the effort to get the tape measure out on a weekly basis, get a diagram me out and actually condition score there pony, look closely what they are feeding, make the changes at the right time of the year rather than when its too late when the pony/horse has already put the weight on, look closely at what exercise there pony/horse is actually receiving? make changes to their own regime to accommodate a fittening programme...even if it does mean going down to the yard at the crack of dawn to lunge them for 20minutes etc or making he effort to bring them in (depending on work commitments) or even asking someone if they can bob them in for a few hours etc

Prevention is better than cure, make the changes before they put the weight on, rather than moaning that their pony/horse is too fat...do something about it the and get off your backside! (sorry slight personal rant) but I'm sure there's plenty of others that are offenders of the above.

Again this is not my opinion of everyone with obese horses, as I know a lot of people do put the effort in and still it doesn't always make a huge amount of difference or shift a lot of weight, so please don't take offence, basically its a just a wake up call to those that perhaps need to buck their ideas up little before there horses gets laminitis.

 

[horsehaha]

Agree.
This is the first year out of the last 3 where I have been really concious of my routine and how that affects my horses weight, and whereas the past two years I've (by accident/wrong grazing etc etc) let them get abit podgy and THEN tried to work it off.
This year I've managed to get the routine perfect so that my two natives don't fluxuate weight alot but have stayed more or less the same and healthy.
Alot easier than trying to play catch up IMO. Its much harder to get the weight off than it is to prevent it in the first place.

 

[PapaFrita]

Sports horses (SJers, actually) carry less weight here than in the UK. I often think we're 20-30 years behind the UK, and horses do look more like the old-fashioned SJers /hacks etc, of the 60s and 70s. Course the heat must have something to do with it; a horse carrying even a little bit too much weight would surely struggle having to compete regularly in temperatures of 30c+
I think people in the UK are very used to seeing chubbier horses and that has now become the norm.

 

[bex1984]

It drives me mad when obese horses win showing classes. Obviously my pony is by no means a skinny rake, but I would say he is getting near to his ideal weight after a year of working hard.

I know people like to think of "good doers" as easy to keep and low maintenance, but I don't really agree with that. My pony has to have 24 soaked hay throughout winter, which is weighed to make sure it's the right amount (which has been calculated against his body weight), his grazing has to be restricted all summer (start of April - October), he has to be worked quite hard at least 5 days a week. It's all too easy to chuck them out in a field and think we're just doing what nature intended, but unfortunately typical horse fields couldn't be more different to the "grazing" natives would have access to in the wild.

It is incredibly hard work getting, and keeping, the weight off a native/cob, especially in summer, which perhaps explains why so many show horses are overweight (it's become the norm). I do think there is starting to be more publicity about the dangers of a horse being obese and perhaps in time this will filter through to the showing world - I hope so.

 

[Donkeymad]

[ QUOTE ]

I think people in the UK are very used to seeing chubbier horses and that has now become the norm.

[/ QUOTE ]

Completely agree. One of my pet hates is overweight horses (or any animals) but so many people just don't see when an animal is overweight.